Bowe Bergdahl: US sergeant spared jail for desertion in Afghanistan

He walked off his post 2009 and was subsequently captured by the Taliban and held hostage for five years.
Sentencing: Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been spared jail
AP
Chloe Chaplain3 November 2017

A judge has ruled that US Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl should not be jailed for endangering fellow troops after he walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

The military judge also gave him a dishonourable discharge, reduced his rank to private and said he must forfeit pay equal to 1,000 dollars (£765) per month for 10 months.

Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban and spent five years under brutal captivity by the insurgent group after he wandered away from his post.

He had faced up to life in prison after pleading guilty to desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy.

Discharged: Bowe Bergdahl arriving at the Fort Bragg courtroom
AP

Prosecutors had asked Army Colonel Jeffery Nance to send Bergdahl to prison for 14 years for the hardships and injuries endured by service members who searched for the soldier after he left his combat outpost in Paktika province in June 2009 without permission.

Defence lawyers had said the 31-year-old Idaho native, who experts testified has several mental health conditions, should be spared confinement.

​Bergdahl's case made him a polarizing figure. He drew withering criticism from political leaders in Washington and fellow soldiers, both for the dangerous efforts to find him and the 2014 Taliban prisoner swap brokered by the Democratic Obama administration that secured his release.

President Donald Trump previously called Bergdahl "a no-good traitor who should have been executed."

Defense attorneys argued at Bergdahl's sentencing hearing at Fort Bragg in North Carolina that he was a young, hardworking soldier who did not understand the full consequences of his actions when he deserted.

Bergdahl, who has said he wanted to report problems in his unit, apologized in court this week for the suffering he caused his comrades and admitted he had made "a horrible mistake."

Discharged: Bowe Bergdahl poses in front of an American flag

Prosecutors, however, said Bergdahl knew his disappearance would trigger alarm in the war zone.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Bergdahl suffered during his years as a prisoner of the Taliban, but argued that did not diminish the pain of fellow service members who were injured during the futile hunt for him. (Reporting by Greg Lacour; Writing by Colleen Jenkins)

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