![\"hatch\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Hatch-e1563738428729.jpg\")
\nRetired Navy SEAL James Hatch, wearing a bite suit, helps train a Norfolk K-9 unit dog in Norfolk, Va., in 2015. Hatch’s leg wound from enemy fire while searching for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl ended his career as a Navy SEAL. Hatch’s wounds and others will be weighed by the judge in determining Bergdahl\u2019s punishment on charges that he endangered his comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. (Bill Tiernan\/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)<\/p>\n
Came across this while posting Bergdahl’s appeal. It’s a miracle none were killed in searching for the deserter, but lives were changed forever because of his crime. Apparently Hatch’s wounds, and those of two others, weighed lightly on the Judge. Bergdahl was reduced in rate to E-1, lost all pay and allowances, and was awarded a BCD. These were considered sufficient punishment.
\nI disagree.
\nFrom the Army Times:<\/p>\n
By: Jonathan Drew
\nRALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 One soldier who searched for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl uses a wheelchair now, unable to speak because of a head wound. Another still can\u2019t fully use his right hand. Still another searcher saw a leg wound from enemy fire end his career as a Navy SEAL.<\/p>\nThose wounds are expected to be considered by the judge who will determine Bergdahl\u2019s punishment on charges that he endangered his comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. The sentencing hearing opens Monday for Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to misbehavior before the enemy and desertion.<\/p>\n
Here are the stories of wounded searchers who are part of the case against Bergdahl.<\/p>\n
Army National Guard Master Sgt. Mark Allen had already served in Iraq and could have begged off another deployment, a family friend said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me that he was coming back to a frontline unit because they were going to be deployed and he didn\u2019t want his guys to go alone,\u201d said Robert Stokely.<\/p>\n
Deployed to Afghanistan, Allen was shot in the head in July 2009 while searching for Bergdahl. The traumatic brain injury dramatically changed life for Allen, his wife and two children. Once an avid outdoorsman, Allen depends on a wheelchair and can\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n
Allen\u2019s wife, Shannon, declined to be interviewed. But the toll was evident as she sat crying in the courtroom the day Bergdahl pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n
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Jonathan Morita of California, who served as an Army corporal, was reservist and Iraq veteran taking college classes when he was recalled for Afghanistan duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at home enjoying life as a civilian \u2014 going to school, working at a job,\u201d he said by phone earlier this year.<\/p>\n
During the search mission that left Allen wounded, a rocket-propelled grenade shattered Morita\u2019s hand. The projectile didn\u2019t explode, but he needed multiple surgeries.<\/p>\n
Morita can\u2019t bend the thumb or index finger on his right hand. He\u2019s had to learn again how to brush his teeth and write.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine doing things with your three fingers,\u201d Morita said. \u201cI can\u2019t even change the oil on my car.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s trying to live as normally as possible, but still feels anger toward Bergdahl: \u201cEvery time I hit my finger on something, there\u2019s only one image that pops in my head, and it\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch, a former Navy SEAL, said his team had 90 minutes to plan a separate search mission under poor conditions. But he felt the mission was crucial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not want Sgt. Bergdahl\u2019s mother to see her son executed on YouTube,\u201d Hatch said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Their helicopters came under fire as they were landing to search near the Pakistan border.<\/p>\n
Hatch testified his leg was hit by AK-47 fire, and a military dog that helped locate enemy fighters was killed. He now runs a nonprofit providing care and support for military and law enforcement dogs.<\/p>\n
He credits survival to team members who quickly applied a tourniquet. \u201cThey saved me from bleeding to death,\u201d said Hatch, who entered the pretrial hearing limping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
No words. Read the rest here: Army Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"