Bowe Bergdahl
| Bowe Bergdahl | |
|---|---|
Bergdahl, c. 2009
|
|
| Birth name | Robert Bowdrie Bergdahl |
| Born |
March 28, 1986 Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S. |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America |
| Service/branch |
 U.S. Army (2008–present) U.S. Coast Guard (2006, 26 days)
|
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division |
| Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan (POW) |
| Relations | Robert "Bob" Bergdahl (father) Jani Larson (mother) Sky Albrecht (sister) |
| Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
 Paktika Province, where Bergdahl was captured |
|
| Coordinates: 32°30′N 68°48′E / 32.5°N 68.8°E |
| Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
 Khost Province, where Bergdahl was released |
|
| Coordinates: 33°18′N 69°54′E / 33.3°N 69.9°E |
Robert Bowdrie "Bowe" Bergdahl (born March 28, 1986) is a United States Army soldier who was held captive by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan from June 2009 until his release in May 2014. The circumstances under which Bergdahl went missing and how he was captured by the Taliban have since become subjects of intense media scrutiny.
Bergdahl was released on May 31, 2014, as part of a prisoner exchange for five Taliban members who were being held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. This exchange and the ceremony announcing it, held in the White House Rose Garden, generated controversy in the United States. On December 14, 2015, the U.S. Army announced that Bergdahl would be tried by general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. In 2016, Bergdahl's case was the focus of Season 2 of Serial. During his presidential campaign 2016, Donald Trump denounced Sgt. Bergdahl as a “dirty rotten traitor,” and similar statements, dozens of times.
Bergdahl was born in 1986, in Sun Valley, Idaho, to Robert Bergdahl, a commercial truck driver, and his wife Jani (Larson) Bergdahl. He is of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. He has an older sister, Sky Albrecht. Both Bergdahl and his sister were home schooled by their mother in Hailey, Idaho. The family attended Sovereign Redeemer Presbyterian Church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He received a GED certificate through the College of Southern Idaho. As an adult, Bergdahl studied and practiced fencing and martial arts before changing to ballet classes at the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum, Idaho. He has never owned a car, and rode his bicycle everywhere. He spent time in a Buddhist monastery between 2007 and 2008.
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Wikipedia