Since an Army general has finally demonstrated the backbone, rarely seen nowadays among his peers, to defy the White House and proceed with the prosecution of Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, the liberal media is doing its very best to downplay the possible seriousness of the charges. Even conservative venues are repeating the deceit that the desertion charge carries a maximum penalty of five years confinement while the lesser known second charge can result in a life sentence at maximum.

I hate to disappoint all the liberal Democrats and their media mouthpieces whose war heroes always seem to be tainted, often so much so as to be heroes to our enemies, such as John Kerry and Jane Fonda, both venerated by Communist Vietnam, but the truth is that both charges against Bergdahl do, in hard fact, carry the death penalty. For the charge of desertion, it is this subparagraph from Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that puts the lie to the liberal misinformation campaign:

(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.

Violations of the seldom-used Article 99, Misbehavior Before The Enemy, also may bring the ultimate punishment:

Any person subject to this chapter who before or in the presence of the enemy-

Runs away;
Shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;
Through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;
Casts away his arms or ammunition;
is guilty of cowardly conduct;

Article 99 continues with several additional offenses but the money phrase is the one with which it concludes:

Shall be punished by death or such punishment as a court-martial may direct.

So, as you can see, while the media is doing its very best to sugarcoat Bergdahl’s treachery, they are clearly wrong and their boy Bowe is in big trouble, particularly if any infantry NCOs, his true peers, are seated on that court-martial panel. The reason for the media’s deception is patently clear; they are seeking desperately to cover for their beloved Obama, who foolishly traded the equivalent of five enemy general officers for this one sorry slug of a deserter who is not even a legitimate sergeant. Bergdahl, a private first class when he deserted, was promoted in absentia in accordance with military policy regarding POWs. There must be millions of us former sergeants across America, who earned our stripes the hard way, who would dearly love to rip those chevrons from Bergdahl’s arms and make him eat them.

Or maybe save one set of stripes and make that worthless wimp in the White House choke it down.