After spending five years in Taliban captivity, Bergdahl was freed last weekend and is currently undergoing evaluation at an American military medical facility in Germany. But when news of Bergdahl's release spread, several in the military, including his own platoonmates, expressed anger at the price the United States had to pay to get him back, both in the five mid- to high-level Taliban figures exchanged for him and in the effort and lives lost in ultimately fruitless searches for Bergdahl shortly after his 2009 capture.
"He knew what he was doing when he deserted us. It was premeditated. It was thought out," said Spc. Cody Full. "He was not captured. He was not forcefully taken off the base. He left on his own accord... I don't think someone who deserts during a time of war should be able to desert and get away with it."
The Pentagon has never stated that Bergdahl walked off his base, noting that any inquiries into what happened were missing Bergdahl's side of the story. An official investigation, classified "secret," was opened but it was never completed, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday.
