This whole thing with the return of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the Afghanistan prisoner of war, took me back to 1968 when I considered walking away. Like him, I was also 22 years old.
I've seen pictures of the post he walked away from in Afghanistan and that also reminded me of my post in Vietnam.
My illusions of the cause were broken after just four months in that country. We were all hated by the locals. Bad stuff was happening and it was all for a lie. It wasn't just me; most of us felt that way in 1968.
I got on a C47 and went on an unauthorized R&R to Thailand.
Two weeks later, the girl I had met didn't want me to leave, said she'd go with me, up to northern Thailand.
It sounded pretty good but I thought of my mother and never seeing her again. And I had buddies back in Vietnam; some of them I'm still in touch with today.
So I went back to Vietnam and had to fill 2,000 sandbags for my punishment. I was told I earned the sandbag beret and, oh yeah, was promoted to E5 within a few weeks.
Then the war escalated, the Navy Seals, the mad minutes, the dead pregnant woman. The coup de grace, the Christmas skirmish and friendly fire. Severe and chronic PTSD for three quarters of my life. What a price we pay for our loyalty.
And the consequences are severe, no matter what we do.
I can't know his motivation for walking away, but I think five years as a POW, all alone like that, should be enough.
Yet I fear the last pound of flesh will be demanded. I fear they will now throw him in a U.S. prison.
Jim Hale
Kingston
Commentary on 06/17/2014