First, I think there is some deal here...they will count the five years with the Taliban as part of this.
My bet is that it’s a twenty-year sentence with five taken out for credit. He does fifteen.
He was never suitable for the Army...had they just done ten minutes of research on his ‘wash-out’ from Coast Guard school, the Army would have prevented all of this episode...so I don’t give the Army a clean slate on this. This guy was never suitable for the team-work required. From what I’ve read...he’s got a behavior-level of a 14-year old kid.
Desertion is bad enough but I remember when this all started, one of the military contributors on Fox said that the "Misbehavior Before the Enemy" was the big one.
The government could have asked for the death penalty for that one and the general stated that that is usually what the government asks for in these cases.
Bergdahl might have made a deal to plead guilty for removal of the death penalty.
Something happened.
0 was trying to grease the skids with that "hero" and "serving honorably" chit but IIRC, six guys died looking for this whack-job.
That sort of stuff doesn't just go away...unless you're Hillary.