Alex Sombath

English 2010
Open Letter Assignment

This was a writing assignment for my course, my opinion in this assignment does not
represent anyone and are my own opinion for this very assignment.
Dear People of America,

I want to discuss Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who deserted his post. While putting lives in
dangerous situations during the search and rescue efforts in hostile territory, he tried to join the
Coast Guard and failed out after 26 days due to psychological reasons. I dont understand how
the Army let him join in the first place. He was then assigned to the 501st Regiment 25th Infantry
Division in Alaska. Prior to his deployment, there was a guy in his unit named Specialist Fry,
James who said Bergdahl told him If this deployment is lame, Im just going to walk off into the
mountains. I truly hope he does not receive a lenient punishment and escape justice like Chelsea
Manning who only served seven years out of her thirty-five year sentence. It angers me that
Bowe degraded his Loyalty to his brothers in arms, his duty to fulfill his obligations as a soldier,
his selfless service to the nation and his fellow comrades, and last but not least. Brought dishonor
to our country and the army.
The soldiers creed is instilled in our brains during basic training. I am a warrior and a
member of a team and I will never quit, two lines from the creed and this sack of shit just
throws it out the window by walking away from his base and into the mountains of Afghanistan.
Then getting himself captured by Taliban and held for five years. Which the U.S. then made a
deal with his captors to release five high valued targets for Mr. Bergdahl. America does not
negotiate with terrorists and we dont know if he shared any information regarding how our
military trains. Currently, he is facing desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and
endangering the safety of a command. According to the U.S. Code, both charges would put Bowe
in prison for life or that hell face the death penalty if the courts choose to do so. I know its a
touchy subject, but if I was out there. I would be pissed off because I had to look for some dude
who decided to just walk off post. What If something happened to me during the search and
recover operations? My mother would be devastated if two soldiers in dress blues knocked on
our door and said that her son died in Afghanistan. I think he should face the death sentence
because during the search efforts, at least two soldiers were killed in action. I understand that
when we go to a combat zone lives will be lost during war, but in this case there shouldnt have
been any.

Sincerely,
Sombath, Alex
 Purpose and choices:
The main point I wanted the people to know that was this guy Bowe shouldnt get a light
sentence at all. He should get the maxim penalty for his crimes and like I mentioned about
Chelsea Manning who was pardon by former president Barrack Obama. Escaped his thirty-five
year sentence. I wanted people to know that this guy was a shitbag. Which in our definition, is
described as someone who is not a good soldier, lazy, and so on.
At first I decided to write to the president, but then changed to maybe the people of the
United States people after we discussed in class that it would fit better. More people would relate
like my brothers and sisters who are currently serving or are veterans. Since I am a current
service member, I used my opinion to try and get people who were likeminded and civilians to
understand where I was coming from. I also thought by adding America does not negotiate with
terrorist, would remind people how a strong nation like ours should react.
When I first decided what to write about, I wasnt sure what to do it on. This story just
popped into my mind after reading about current events about the release of Chelsea Manning.
Im usually neutral about these times of stories with soldiers, but this one with Bowe got to me
because he was so stupid to leave. He mentioned that he didnt like what the army was doing at
times which I think is normal but if you had the common sense. You would do your time like
everyone else and get out after your contact is over. Then you could whatever you wanted to
because now you dont represent the Army. After we discussed other peoples topics in class, I
had to idea to maybe write to my future kids as well or something along those lines, but I decided
that I was already invested in the Bowe situation and just kept with it.
Sources:
Savage, Charlie. Bowe Bergdahl, Facing Desertion Trial, Asks Obama For Pardon Dec 2,
2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/bowe-bergdahl-asks-obama-for-
pardon.html?_r=0 Accessed Jan 31, 2017
Hastings, Michael. Americas Last Prisoner of War Jun 7 2012
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607 Accessed
Jan 31, 2017
Dickstein, Corey. Bergdahl Not on Obamas December Pardon List Dec 21 2016
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/12/21/bergdahl-not-on-obamas-december-pardon-
list.html Accessed Jan 31, 2017
U.S. Code Code 899 Art. 99. Misbehavior before the enemy and 885 Art. 85. Desertion
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/885
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/899
Accessed Jan 31, 2017