Bergdahl explains on Serial – Season 2 that ,”DUSTWUN is the radio signal that’s put out over the radio when a soldier goes missing in a combat field.” DUSTWUN is the abbreviation for duty status—whereabouts unknown.
The following video was released by the Taliban. It shows Bowe Bergdahl being released to a U.S. Special Operations team on May 31, 2014. The audio from this video can be heard in the podcast from 0:35 to 3:04.
Photo provided by The New York Times
Bergdahl was posted at Outpost Mest in Afghanistan.
Jon Thurman who was in the same company as Bergdahl described it as “probably the worst place humanly imaginable” because it lacked trees, plumbing, electricity, water, shade.
Bergdahl’s plan was to disappear from OP Mest and then reappear at Forward Operating (FOB) Sharana which is 20 miles southwest of OP Mest. The panic caused by a DUSTWUN would alert the CIA, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, and the Army. Although he would likely get in trouble, Bergdahl’s goal was to draw attention to he poor leadership.
“I figured I’d stay in there until people got the situation cleared up, you know? I was fully confident that when somebody actually took a look at the situation, and when people started investigating the situation, that people would understand that I was right. You know, what was going on was a danger to the lives of the men in that company. The idea was I’d rather be sitting in Leavenworth than standing over the body of Nascimento or Coe or somebody like that. And understanding that if somebody had done something, they’d still be alive.” – Bowe Bergdahl
Before he gets to FOB Sharana, the Taliban capture him and he is taken hostage.
Episode 1 focusses on Bowe Bergdahl’s retelling of his motives for leaving base and walking listeners through his plan.