“If you could set aside the circumstances of Bowe’s capture…….Bowe would be a huge success story for the Army.”

As Sarah Koenig interjects into the quote above in Episode 4, you can’t. Or you shouldn’t. While listening to both of these episodes I couldn’t shake two images: the conditions and anxiety that Bergdahl endured for five years, and knowing he is solely responsible for being captured (and the coincidental symmetry that whether you were at OP Mest or stuck in a 6 x 6 cage by the Taliban, you were there of your own accord). Even with the conditions he endured, the situations can’t be separated, certainly not by anyone who has spent time in the military. Well….to a point.

As I’ve stated before I don’t like the conditions of this season. With Bergdahl’s future in doubt and Koenig unable to question him on the validity of his statements it’s in BB’s best interest to portray himself in the best possible light. And I think that’s exactly what he did in Episode 1. Episode 2 seemed to confirm it, even if the confirmation came from an unlikely source: the Taliban. Finding the truth seems to be taking a backseat to the story this season, unlike last season when the season revolved around the search for the truth.

Having said that, I tend to believe Bergdahl in these two episodes. And if you do believe Bergdahl then you believe he lived five years of hell the likes that few people have ever endured. Forced to watch beheading videos, tortured, starved, living in squalor, and stuck in solitary is bad enough. Throw in constant diarrhea, the anxiety of living with the constant fear of death, the inability to communicate with your captors, and stuck in a cage and you have to have at minimum some admiration for him, circumstances of his capture notwithstanding.

I’ve written before how the male species loves to inject himself into a situation and wonder how he would perform. Whether the situation is a WWII scenario, sport situation, or something on today’s news, it’s a favorite pastime of guys. Trying this with Bergdahl’s situation is impossible. You may think you could endure, or come up with a plan to escape (I had my own, it involved spelling out my name in the desert for the drones overhead after escaping) but the truth is there no way any of us know. It also makes me wonder why John McCain is so hell bent on seeing Bergdahl punished. He is one of the few men alive who does understand. Like I said before, for those of us who served, walking off your post is a enormous deal but very few know what it’s like to be a POW. You would think McCain might cut the kid some slack.

I don’t blame BB for participating in the videos. As Koenig brought up, captured pilots in Operation Desert Storm participated in such “propaganda”. The military, and families, would much rather you come home alive then resist and be killed. I did like the rumor of Bergdahl playing soccer with the Taliban. Some sort of alternate universe version of the movie “Victory”.

Even before this episode I had already formed an opinion of what I think should happen to Bergdahl. I believe he should get a bad conduct discharge, reduced in rank, and if possible not be allowed to profit from his decision (not sure if this is legally possible). Initially I went back and forth as to whether he should be dishonorably discharged. There’s certainly cause for it, but I also think the Army deserves some culpability for accepting and deploying someone like Bergdahl. So while I am disgusted with him for walking off his post, I don’t see how further incarceration solves anything.

I’m not sure where this Serial season goes from here. Personally I’m not interested in the macro of the situation. What the government did to get him back? The overall question of should have we been in Afghanistan eight years after 9/11? The Army’s role in deploying someone like Bergdahl?  I wanted to hear more from his platoon mates. The micro of being a soldier in Afghanistan. Addressing and investigating his claims of bad leadership. Less politics and more from the boots on the ground.

So I’m not sure I like where this is going. But I’ll listen anyway.