Reality Check: Six Soldiers Died Searching for Bowe Bergdahl

On June 4, Breitbart News reported the names of six soldiers who lost their lives searching for Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl after he was reported missing in Afghanistan’s Paktika province on June 30, 2009.

These soldiers were killed trying to recover Bergdahl, a soldier then feared lost but now–following an Army investigation–charged with deserting his fellow soldiers.

The lives of six soldiers were sacrificed in attempts to find an accused deserter, and five Taliban commanders were later released from Guantanamo Bay and given to the Taliban in exchange for Bergdahl. It sounds like a script Rod Serling would narrate, yet it is really just a microcosm of President Obama’s military strategy, or lack thereof.

Those soldiers were Private First Class Morris Walker, Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, Staff Sergeant Kurt Curtiss, Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, Private First Class Matthew Martinek, and Staff Sergeant Michael Murphrey.

The Daily Beast described the circumstances of their various deaths. Walker and Bowen were killed with an IED “during a reconnaissance mission,” Curtiss was “shot in the face and killed,” Andrews and Martinek were killed in an ambush, and Murphrey was killed with an “improvised land mine.”

Breitbart News salutes these brave soldiers, each of whom gave their all in the search for a fellow soldier who appeared to be lost at the time. Their courage and their deaths are honorable and ought always to be remembered and treasured by every American.

At the same time, every American ought to be outraged that these six lives were lost, and that insult was later added to injury via the terrorists-for-Bergdahl swap which Obama pushed through without following the proper protocol for assessing such an exchange. Breitbart News has previously reported that the US Government Accountability Office said Obama broke the law by not giving Congress the 30 days advance notice he was supposed to give before any such exchange took place.

American blood and American lives are both too great a treasure to lose in searching for deserters. America’s future safety is far too important to risk by whimsically releasing Taliban commanders from captivity, just so we can give White House speeches about recovering a lost son who was never really lost to begin with.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.