'Bowe Bergdahl deserted and these Americans lost their lives searching for him': The bitter backlash from soldiers who served with Taliban POW as the SIX men who were killed looking for him are revealed

The Facebook group 'Bowe Bergdahl is NOT hero!' has 5,400 members

Men who served in his unit in Afghanistan are now emerging to say they believe Bergdahl deserted before he was captured

Bergdahl e-mailed his parents saying he 'was ashamed to be an American'



Military seems to acknowledge Bergdahl, 28, could have committed some kind of violation

However, officials say he likely won't be punished: 'five years is enough'

Former squad leader said Bergdahl always talked about seeing what was on the other side of the mountains



Not everyone is welcoming Bowe Bergdahl home with open arms. Some of the men who served with the Taliban POW believe that he deserted his post. And they say six American soldiers died because of his actions.



Bergdahl's release, brokered with the Taliban in exchange for five Guantanamo detainees, has ignited fury in some corners of the U.S. military community and re-opened old wounds.

'Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him,' former Sergeant Matt Vierkant told CNN.



A former superior of the 28-year-old soldier, Greg Leatherman, said he hopes the military investigates Bergdahl and questions whether he did, indeed, desert his post in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.



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Obama also brushed aside questions today about the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's capture by insurgents in 2009, saying the U.S. has an obligation to not leave its military personnel behind

Cover-up? Bergdahl, the last American hostage from the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, was released this weekend in a prisoner exchange that saw five Guantanamo terrorism suspects freed. Meanwhile, some of the soldiers who served with Bergdahl say they were made to sign a highly unusual non disclosure agreement covering his disappearance

The Facebook page 'Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a hero!' has 5,400 members and bears a picture of the six paratroopers who lost their lives while looking for their captured comrade.



A White House petition to punish Bergdahl for being absent without leave (AWOL) has nearly 2,000 online signatures.



These critics say that even after five years of Taliban captivity, Bergdahl gets to come home to his family - but six of his comrades never made it back alive.

'I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on,' Mr Vierkant said.

The men who are said to have died looking for Bergdahl are: Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, 29, and Private First Class Morris Walker, 23, who were killed in an IED explosion on August 18, 2009.

Staff Sergeant Kurt Curtiss, a 27-year-old father of two, who died in a firefighter on August 26, 2009.

Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, 34, and Private First Class Matthew Michael Martinek, 20, died after a rocket-propelled grenade ambush on September 4, 2009.

Staff Sergeant Michael Murphrey, 25, was killed in an IED blast on September 5, 2009.

Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, 29, (left) and Private First Class Morris Walker, 23, (right) were killed in an IED explosion on August 18, 2009. They were looking for Bergdahl when they died



Staff Sergeant Kurt Curtiss, (left) a 27-year-old father of two, who died in a firefighter on August 26, 2009. Staff Sergeant Michael Murphrey, 25, (right) was killed in an IED blast on September 5, 2009.



Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, 34, (left) and Private First Class Matthew Michael Martinek, 20, (right) died after a rocket-propelled grenade ambush on September 4, 2009.



Most members of the military community voice support for Bergdahl, however.



When a discussion on the Facebook page of his battalion filled up with negative comments, a moderator chimed in: 'I challenge any one of you who label him a traitor to spend 5 years in captivity with the Taliban or Haqqani, then come back and accuse him again. Whatever his intent when he walked away or was captured, he has more than paid for it.'



Stories from the soldiers in Bergdahl's unit have begun to emerge of a young man whose mind had begun to wander.



Mr Leatherman said Bergdahl 'always looked at the mountains in the distance and talked of "seeing what's on the other side."'

'He walked off. He left his guard post. Nobody knows if he defected or he's a traitor or he was kidnapped.

'What I do know is he was there to protect us and instead he decided to defer from America and go and do his own thing.

'I don't know why he decided to do that, but we spend so much of our resources and some of those resources were soldiers' lives.'

- Former Private First Class Jose Baggett

One Twitter user who calls himself only Cody and offers a detailed description of Bergdahl's disappearance said Bergdahl had begun behaving strangely before his disappearance.



He said Bergdahl told him: 'If deployment is lame, I'm going to get lost in the Mountains and make my way to China.'

The twitter user's identity could not be verified by MailOnline.

Rolling Stone magazine also quoted emails Bergdahl is said to have sent to his parents that suggest he was disillusioned with America's mission in Afghanistan, had lost faith in the U.S. Army's mission there and was considering desertion.

Bergdahl told his parents he was 'ashamed to even be American'.

Bergdahl, who mailed home boxes containing his uniform and books, also wrote: 'The future is too good to waste on lies. And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong.'

The military seems to tacitly acknowledge that Bergdahl violated military regulations of some kind. However, officials also say he's unlikely to be disciplined for it.



One source told CNN: 'Five years is enough.'

Soldiers described a massive effort by the U.S. Army to recover Bergdahl after he was taken captive - one in which soldiers were ordered to go on patrols and take risks in ways they never would otherwise.

Twitter user Cody, who claims he served with Bergdahl, said the search left Bergdahl's comrades vulnerable.



'While searching for him, ambushes and IEDs picked up tremendously. Enemy knew we would be coming,' he wrote.



'So without (Bergdahl) going missing we wouldn't have been in certain places.'

Furthermore, drones, planes, helicopters, soldiers and even food were diverted to the mission. CNN reports that the lack of resources led to a delay in the military closing Combat Outpost Keating. On October 3, Taliban insurgents overran the base and killed eight American soldiers.



Former Private First Class Jose Baggett, 27, who served in Bergdahl's company, told CNN that he lost two friends in the search for the captured soldier. And he blames Bergdahl for the deaths.



He said: 'He walked off. He left his guard post. Nobody knows if he defected or he's a traitor or he was kidnapped.



'What I do know is he was there to protect us and instead he decided to defer from America and go and do his own thing.



'I don't know why he decided to do that, but we spend so much of our resources and some of those resources were soldiers' lives.





