rickair7777

I'm surprised. The army tends to flee like the french in the face of controversy. I expected this one to wither and die.

But I think he should get about five-for-one credit for time served...

NY Times
A top Army commander on Monday ordered that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a court-martial on charges of desertion and endangering troops stemming from his decision to leave his outpost in 2009, prompting a huge manhunt in the wilds of eastern Afghanistan and landing him in nearly five years of harsh Taliban captivity.
The decision by Gen. Robert B. Abrams, head of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., means that Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, faces a possible life sentence, a far more serious penalty than had been recommended by the Army’s own investigating officer, who had testified that a jail sentence would be “inappropriate.”
In a terse statement after the decision, Sergeant Bergdahl’s chief defense lawyer, Eugene R. Fidell, said that General Abrams “did not follow the advice of the preliminary hearing officer who heard the witnesses.” Mr. Fidell said that the hearing officer had also previously recommended against a prison sentence.
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The decision followed a recommendation from the Army lawyer who presided over Sergeant Bergdahl’s preliminary hearing in Texas in September that the sergeant face neither jail time nor a punitive discharge and that he go before an intermediate tribunal known as a “special court-martial” where the most severe penalty possible would be a year of confinement.
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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Credit U.S. Army That recommendation, made by Lt. Col. Mark Visger, came after the Army’s investigating officer, Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, testified for the defense that prison would be “inappropriate.”
General Dahl, whose report formed the basis for the Army’s prosecution, also said that no troops died specifically searching for Sergeant Bergdahl and that no evidence was found to support claims that he intended to walk to China or India or that he was a Taliban sympathizer.
Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, was freed in May 2014 after President Obama approved trading him for five Taliban detainees who were being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The exchange drew condemnation from Republicans and widespread claims that the sergeant had been a defector and that a half-dozen or more American troops had died searching for him.
The Army originally charged Sergeant Bergdahl in March with one count of desertion that carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and one count of endangering the troops sent to search for him, which carried a maximum of life imprisonment.
At the Texas hearing, an Army prosecutor, Maj. Margaret Kurz, described a frantic but fruitless search for Sergeant Bergdahl in the weeks after he disappeared.
“For 45 days, thousands of soldiers toiled in the heat, dirt, misery and sweat with almost no rest, little water and little food to find the accused,” Major Kurz said. “Fatigued and growing disheartened, they search for the accused knowing he left deliberately.”
The prosecution’s witnesses included Sergeant Bergdahl’s former platoon leader and company and battalion commanders, who all recounted the scramble to find the soldier after he was reported missing early on June 30, 2009.
His former platoon leader, Capt. John Billings, testified about his “utter disbelief that I couldn’t find one of my own men.”
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Csy Mon

The moral question is:
Should you get life in prison for being stupid?
The second question is: Should you get life in prison for not following orders and for deserting your post?

Question # 1: No, not his fault that he is stupid.
Question # 2: Yes.

WesternSkies

Serious question, why were US troops with "little water and little food"?

Or we could take a page from history and brand the side of his face with a "D" and send him back to feeding himself. I'd take the branding vs life.

rickair7777

If re-supply was inconvenient, they would have kept pressing on in the search for a presumably abducted comrade. Obviously they had enough food and (especially) water to avoid a physiological crisis, if not comfortable amounts.

Lurking

Max Penalty for Desertion in a time of War under UCMJ is Death

5yrs if to avoid hazardous duty

3yrs if ended in arrest

2 yrs if you turn yourself in

Alfred E Newman

My bet is that the trial will not convene till the current administration is gone, so as not to add to the [well deserved] embarrassment. If not I foresee a not-guilty verdict irregardless of the legal merits for the above stated reason.

cencal83406

Irregardless?

Alfred E Newman

Uh oh! I'm gonna get court marshal'd for bad english! Hope Bergdal isn't my cellmate....

RhinoPherret

It all good my brother.

I understand Bergdal has connections with the TOLLYBAND!

Grumble

Its not club med, it's a war zone. Sometimes re supply doesn't happen. We went without any sanitation or food for 10 days at one point... MREs and shtting in garbage bags, until we ran out of garbage bags.

Glad to see the Army still has some leadership willing to do what's right, the sad reality is his career is probably over but the respect he's garnered for doing the right thing is worth more than another star.