By Jake Tapper
(CNN) -- Much attention has been given to the claim made by the former platoonmates of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl that he is partly to blame for the deaths of six soldiers who were killed in the months after Bergdahl disappeared.
Some soldiers have gone
so far as to say the six died while searching for Bergdahl. Others say
he is indirectly to blame -- after Bergdahl vanished, essentially every
operation became a mission to find their lost colleague in one way or
another, they say.
"I can't really say I
blame Bergdahl to the fullest extent," former Staff Sgt. Justin Gerleve,
Bergdahl's squad leader, told CNN last week, "but if he wouldn't have
deserted us, these soldiers very well could have been in a different
place at a different time, rather than the place at the time of their
death."
Soldiers killed after Bergdahl left unit
Interviews with soldiers
familiar with the specific missions in which the six died suggest the
charge is complicated -- but not without merit given how much the 501st
Parachute Infantry Regiment became focused on "PR" -- personnel recovery
-- after Bergdahl vanished from his guard post on June 30, 2009.
"The fact of the matter
is, when those soldiers were killed, they would not have been where they
were at if Bergdahl had not have left," said former Sgt. Evan Buetow,
Bergdahl's former team leader. "Bergdahl leaving changed the mission."
Those charges were repeated by
a noncommissioned officer who requested anonymity because he is still
in the Army, one who described himself as a two-time voter for President
Obama, lest anyone think his comments were political in any way.
"If Bergdahl hadn't left
it's entirely plausible that they wouldn't have had those follow-on
missions or been where they were," said the NCO, who served in the
501st.
Some also argue that the
personnel recovery mission angered the local population, and created
patterns in troops' movement that made insurgent attacks easier.
None of that has been
enough to quell critics who accuse the soldiers of smearing Bergdahl and
exaggerating the role his disappearance played in the deaths of the six
men.
A New York Times story
cited by critics of the soldiers from the 501st now calling Bergdahl a
deserter doesn't go into much detail about the six men from Bergdahl's
battalion, instead focusing on a separate attack that killed two
mortarmen.
Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel said he didn't "know of circumstances or details of U.S. soldiers
dying as a result of efforts to find and rescue Sgt. Bergdahl."
A U.S. official told CNN
last week that Pentagon and Army officials have looked at the claims,
and "right now there is no evidence to back that up."
The six men killed were
in the 501st Infantry. All of them were killed in Paktika Province
between August 18 and September 6, 2009, after the intense initial
search for Bergdahl concluded but within the two- to three-month period
when, by accounts from more than 20 members of the 501st, essentially
every mission in the province had a PR component to it. One of those
killed was from Comanche Company, two of those killed were in Bergdahl's
Blackfoot Company, three were from Headquarters Company.
Here are the
circumstances and details, gleaned from interviews with more than a
dozen troops in the 501st, all of whom said they were motivated entirely
by getting the truth out, regardless of the politics.
1) August 18, 2009 -- Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen and Pfc. Morris Walker were killed by an IED
Bowen and Morris were
part of Headquarters Company, but attached to Comanche Company, which
"was conducting a recon of polling sites in order to prepare for the
election on August 20," recalls a former officer from the 501st, one of
whom describes his politics as left of center but who asked not to be
named because of the rhetoric and accusations being leveled against
troops who served with Bergdahl.
In the aftermath of the
initial search for Bergdahl, called DUSTWUN (for DUTY STATUS:
WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN), the officer recalls, "there were numerous polling
sites that had to be closed because security was so poor. Their platoon
slept overnight at a remote site, and when they started rolling again
the next morning, an IED detonated.
A 501st soldier with Comanche Company recalled the device "had been located right under their right back tire."
The mission was not
specifically focused on personnel recovery but the officer said he
believes Bergdahl's disappearance played something of a role in the
attack since this "was the absolute worst part of western Paktika
province, and it was the subject of numerous air assaults in July" that
were directly focused on Bergdahl. "I believe those contributed to the
worsening security situation."
Bowen, 29, was from San Antonio, Texas. Walker, 23, was from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
2) August 26, 2009 -- Staff Sgt. Kurt Curtiss is killed by small arms fire
This incident occurred
after the battalion received information that the Taliban shadow
sub-governor of Sar Hawza district in Paktika province -- a man who went
by the name "Muslim" -- had effectively taken a local clinic hostage as
he received medical treatment for wounds he received during the
election, according to the former officer from the 501st.
To the leadership of the
501st, the name "Muslim" prompted an immediate response as he was
supposedly connected to Bergdahl's captors, the former officer said.
An intelligence source
told CNN the incident involved a commander with the terrorist Haqqani
network, working directly for Mullah Sangin Zadran, the Paktika shadow
governor, widely believed to have Bergdahl in his custody. "He was
important as part of the mission to get to Bergdahl," the source said.
The former 501st officer echoed that detail: "The relation to Bergdahl made him a priority target."
The 4th Platoon from
Delaware Company was sent to seize the Taliban official. Some from the
insurgent group surrendered, but "Muslim" was nowhere to be found.
"Curtiss took his squad
to search an empty building adjacent to the clinic that the Afghan
National Police had supposedly cleared," the officer recalled. "It was
empty, but a storage room door was wedged shut. He and his squad kicked
in the door, and Curtiss was the first guy in."
Troops there that day say "Muslim" had been in the room hiding with three bodyguards, who shot Curtiss.
Additionally, 501st
sources say, the insurgents threw Curtiss' grenades at the squad, after
which a two-hour firefight ensued -- one that ended with Apache
helicopters strafing the building. The building caught fire and killed
all the insurgents except for one bodyguard, who was severely wounded.
Curtiss' body was recovered before the fire.
Curtiss, 27, was from Salt Lake City, and had already done two deployments in Iraq. He left behind a wife, son and daughter.
3) September 4, 2009 -- 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews and Pfc. Matthew Michael Martinek are attacked by an IED and a rocket-propelled grenade
Andrews and Martinek
were in Bergdahl's company, Blackfoot, and were in the village of Palau,
just outside of Yaya Kayhl, one of the last places where Bergdahl was
believed to have gone. After Bergdahl disappeared, local Afghans and
intercepted Internet chatter placed him in that area, according to
multiple sources with the 501st.
Andrews and Martinek were there to conduct atmospherics -- basically check anything and everything around Palau.
According to several
sources in Blackfoot Company, among the many questions those soldiers
wanted answered was: where is Bergdahl? Where are the guys who have him?
Was Palau connected with the insurgents -- who by then it was believed
-- had transported Bergdahl to Pakistan?
But the platoon hit an
IED. In the aftermath, a cluster of soldiers tried to hook the vehicle
up to chains for the wrecker and were stuck out there for hours on end.
In the midst of the effort, an RPG hit them and an insurgent ambush
began, according to multiple soldiers with Blackfoot company.
Andrews yelled that the
RPG was coming and knocked a bunch of guys out of the way. "Jason watch
out," were said to have been his last words, soldiers told Andrews'
father. He was killed instantly.
The ambush brought
relentless amounts of RPG and heavy artillery fire on the platoon.
Martinek was trying to call for air support when he took a severely
debilitating artillery round. He lived long enough to get to Landstuhl
in Germany where he was taken off life support and died on September 11.
Other members of the
platoon faced severe wounds, from a jaw blown off, to deafness, to
severe psychological issues from that day, according to sources in
Blackfoot company and the 501st. It wasn't a formal DUSTWUN mission, but
it wasn't unrelated, the former 501st officer said.
Moreover, says Buetow, Blackfoot Company's mission tasking was about to change.
"We were told we were
moving south to start focusing on another area of the province," Buetow
says. "Our four-day mission to Observation Post Mest was going to be our
last trip out there before moving south. Bowe Bergdahl left, so we then
stayed in that area for several more months. We stayed in the area
because Bergdahl was last known to be in that area. If he had never
deserted, Andrews and Martinek would not have been on patrol in that
area."
Andrews, 34, was from
Dallas. He and his wife had a 2-year-old son and were expecting their
second child when he was killed. Martinek, 20, was from Dekalb,
Illinois.
Andrews' heroism eats at
former Spc. Jose Baggett, a member of Blackfoot Company. "He pushed a
sergeant out of the way" of the RPG, "and now I'm stuck watching"
Bergdahl get attention from politicians, the military and the media "and
they're dead and he's alive."
4) September 5, 2009 -- Staff Sgt. Michael Murphrey is hit by an IED
Da Dila Panegir village
was part of an area that had been subject to searches during the
DUSTWUN, and Comanche Company was charged with trying to win the locals
back. That day they conducted a foot patrol to hand out supplies and
meet with the leaders. In the course of the mission, Murphrey stepped on
a pressurized plate that unleashed an IED and was severely wounded; he
died at Forward Operating Base Sharana's hospital the next day.
That mission "wasn't an
exact search, it was a 'Keep your eyes out for Bowe Bergdahl while
you're there,'" said former Spc. Joseph Cox of Comanche Company, who
calls Murphrey his best friend and squad leader.
And yet, the intensity of the DUSTWUN search had also enraged Afghans, soldiers said.
"Our platoon alone
conducted more than 20 inserted missions operations within three days.
There were massive insertions to find him," Cox said.
"This mission was
probably the least related to Bergdahl" of the four missions, the former
officer said, "but it was definitely in an area previously targeted --
an area where they already hated us before, but hated us more because of
the search."
Murphrey, 25, left behind a wife, son, and daughter.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby had no specific comment about the four operations.
"Each death in war is
tragic in its own right," Kirby said. "We will always keep in our
thoughts and prayers those we have lost, as well as their families. The
Army will review the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Bergdahl's
disappearance and captivity. Our focus right now is on making sure Sgt.
Bergdahl gets the care he needs to recover and reunite with his family."
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