Furious Trump vents on Twitter as Bowe Bergdahl avoids jail time for desertion: Soldier is demoted and fined for endangering fellow troops when he abandoned his post and was captured by Taliban
A military court judge spared prison time for admitted deserter Bowe Bergdahl
Instead of serving jail time, Bergdahl will be demoted from sergeant to private, receive a dishonorable discharge and have to pay a $10,000 fine
A dishonorable discharge means that Bergdahl will lose all or most of his veteran’s benefits
Bergdahl has said that he abandoned his post in Afghanistan in 2009 to report his ‘unfit’ platoon leader
But he was quickly captured by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, leading some to suspect that he deserted on purpose to join the group
However, Bergdahl has always denied accusations of treason and he has never been charged with aiding an enemy
President Obama secured his release in 2014, in exchange for freeing five Guantanamo Bay prisoners
By ASHLEY COLLMAN
DAILYMAIL.COM
3 November 2017
Bowe Bergdahl will not have to serve jail time for desertion.
In a stunning announcement on Friday, the judge deciding the case demoted Bergdahl to the rank of private, dishonorably discharged him and ordered him to pay $1,000 from his paycheck for the next 10 months. The judge made no other comments in his ruling.
The decision was considerably merciful compared to the 14 years in prison that prosecutors had asked the judge to order.
Several soldiers were injured in the search for Bergdahl, after he deserted his post in Afghanistan in June 2009. He was subsequently captured by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
President Trump reacted to the news on Friday, tweeting that the decision was a ‘complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military’.
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