Blake Hall
Does Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, controversial soldier and accused deserter, qualify for the Purple Heart or Prisoner of War medal? Technically, yes. Whether or not he deserves those medals remains up in the air.
Today at a pretrial hearing at Fort Bragg, Bergdahl’s legal team met with military lawyers to discuss how to handle the 300 pages of classified information that comprise the evidence in Bergdahl’s case. The defense currently has very little access to it, and it hoped that this hearing would help them get their hands on important documents to build Bergdahl’s case.
During the hearing, Bergdahl’s attorney Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt asked the judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, why his client was not permitted by the Army to wear medals he is technically qualified for. Bergdahl’s captivity and wounds suffered at the hands of the Taliban put him in the running for the POW Medal, the Purple Heart, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the NATO Medal, but the Army has refused to issue them.
Rosenblatt said that the withholding of Bergdahl’s medals was “prejudicial to Bergdahl’s case because he is required to walk in public while wearing a uniform that shows he is not authorized for awards directly associated with his case.”
The POW Medal is awarded only to service members held captive while fighting in a conflict with an opposing force. Bergdahl spent five years in Taliban custody, and the medal would acknowledge that he was held against his will.
The Purple Heart is awarded to service members wounded in the line of duty by a foreign enemy. Bergdahl was tortured during his five years of captivity, and Army doctors have already concluded the he needs “a lifetime of medical care” to treat his injuries.
The Afghanistan Campaign Medal is given to service members who spent 30 consecutive days fighting the war in Afghanistan. Bergdahl made it five weeks before leaving his post, and thus qualifies.