This morning, we posed a question about the news, now we’re posting the best comments. Join the conversation!

The Question of the Day: How much time should Bergdahl face for his crimes and why? From the comments, here are the answers:

Lois Lane:

I’m amazed that desertion only gets you five years. It seems the penalty used to be death?

I don’t know how one qualifies his “misbehavior before the enemy.” How exactly did he misbehave? The nature of this would matter if I were the judge.

At an absolute minimum, all of his rank should be stripped; money gained from being in the military while in captivity should be paid back, and he should be dishonorably discharged.

Seawriter:

Let’s see.

He deserted in the face of the enemy.

His desertion led to the death of several soldiers from his unit, as they searched for him, unaware he had deserted.

Shame he cannot pay as much for his actions as his fellow soldiers did. While it is not Bergdahl’s fault Obama tried to use Bergdahl to juice Obama’s favorables, it is Bergdahl’s fault his fellow soldiers are dead.

The Whether Man:

This is tough to me. He was not psychologically equipped for deployment, which they should have known because he washed out of Coast Guard training before joining the Army. There’s also no question that he paid pretty heavily for his actions during his captivity. Five years for desertion and additional time for misbehavior before the enemy, but life seems too harsh to me. He’s a complete idiot who made terrible, dangerous choices, so he should do time. But I don’t understand the calls for execution. Even if people did die searching for him (which is not 100% clear to me, based on everything I’ve read on his case), his death wouldn’t fix that.

Doc Jay:

Let’s examine his own words before deserting: “I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools.… The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at.”

He planned this. He cost fellow soldiers their lives. If the Army wants to have discipline it must make examples of such a high profile horror shows.

Twenty years.

You thought I was going to say wood chipper, didn’t you?

Eugene Kriegsmann:

Every soldier or military man or woman is thoroughly schooled in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, UCMJ, when it comes to certain specific acts, among them desertion. What happened to him after he deserted is of no concern to a courts martial board. That he was held in captivity by the enemy does not in any way exonerate or ameliorate his behavior. Nor do the deaths and injuries incurred by those who went looking for him. He should receive the maximum penalty for the act as prescribed by the UCMJ, no more, no less. The only effect that the consequences of his actions had on his unit are that they should prevent an unearned and unjust pardon or reduced sentence. The prescribed sanctions for specific acts are based on a presumed effect that that particular action will have on a soldier’s unit and comrades.