Posted on 10/23/2017 5:02:00 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will appear Monday before a military judge who will determine his punishment for endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan. Before delivering his sentence, the judge will have to resolve a last-minute defense argument that new comments by President Donald Trump have tainted the case.
Bergdahl faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty last week to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Prosecutors made no deal to cap his punishment, so the judge has wide leeway to decide his sentence after a hearing expected to take several days.
The judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance, is expected to weigh factors including Bergdahl's willingness to admit guilt, his five years of captivity in the hands of the Taliban and its allies, and the serious wounds that several service members suffered while searching for him.
Prosecutors are expected to put on evidence or testimony about soldiers and a Navy SEAL who were seriously wounded by gunfire during these search missions, including an Army National Guard sergeant who was shot in the head, suffering a traumatic brain injury that put him in a wheelchair, unable to speak
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
He’ll stay in prison until the sex change is approved and the rat president is in his second term.
Beefy and the scrawny fag should both face a firing squad, period. The queer did far more damage and walks.
Needs to be Life in front of a firing squad.
life?
How many good men died looking for him?
Death sentence for treason.
now.
Should be shot a dawn to the tune of Danny Deever.
Beat me to it. He stays until he pulls a Chelsea Manning.
I can see a sentence of 8-10 years confinement, reduction in grade to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a Dishonorable Discharge. I think the last is very important since the Obama people said that Bergdahl served “With Honor and Distinction.”
The firing squad should be comprised of their widows and/or mothers.
AP did their damn best to spin this positively for Robert Bowdrie Bergdahl, but didn’t have anything to work with except to bash Trump.
If that is the final sentence, then someone needs to shiv him in prison.
It seems his Muslim captors had their way with him. Like they would with a goat or camel
Death!!!
And he loved it.
In the olden days bergdahl would be shot for colluding with the enemy. Now it looks like we’ll be supporting him for the rest of his life. Too bad.
By JONATHAN DREW Associated Press Oct 22, 2017 Updated 16 hrs ago RALEIGH, N.C.
One soldier who searched for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl uses a wheelchair now, unable to speak because of a head wound. Another still can't fully use his right hand. Still another searcher saw a leg wound from enemy fire end his career as a Navy SEAL.
Those wounds might be considered by the judge who will determine Bergdahl's punishment on charges that he endangered his comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. The sentencing hearing opens Monday for Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to misbehavior before the enemy and desertion.
Here are the stories of wounded searchers who are part of the case against Bergdahl.
Army National Guard Master Sgt. Mark Allen
Army National Guard Master Sgt. Mark Allen had already served in Iraq and could have begged off another deployment, a family friend said
. "He told me that he was coming back to a frontline unit because they were going to be deployed and he didn't want his guys to go alone," said Robert Stokely.
Deployed to Afghanistan, Allen was shot in the head in July 2009 while searching for Bergdahl. The traumatic brain injury dramatically changed life for Allen, his wife and two children. Once an avid outdoorsman, Allen depends on a wheelchair and can't speak.
Allen's wife, Shannon, declined to be interviewed. But the toll was evident as she sat crying in the courtroom the day Bergdahl pleaded guilty.
Before being wounded, Allen gave words of support to Stokely after his son — National Guard Sgt. Michael Stokely — died in Iraq in 2005.
"If you want to look at the best America has to offer, look at the Allen family," Robert Stokely said.
Former Army Cpl. Jonathan Morita
Former Army Cpl. Jonathan Morita of California was a reservist and Iraq veteran taking college classes when he was recalled for Afghanistan duty
. "I was at home enjoying life as a civilian — going to school, working at a job," he said by phone earlier this year.
During the search mission that left Allen wounded, a rocket-propelled grenade shattered Morita's hand. The projectile didn't explode, but he needed multiple surgeries.
Morita can't bend the thumb or index finger on his right hand. He's had to learn again how to brush his teeth and write.
"Imagine doing things with your three fingers," he said. "I can't even change the oil on my car."
He said he's trying to live as normally as possible, but still feels anger toward Bergdahl: "Every time I hit my finger on something, there's only one image that pops in my head, and it's him."
In a second interview, Morita said he was struck by Bergdahl's comment in court that he didn't think such a large search would be mounted for him.
"I manned those missions," he said. "I mean anybody who's ever watched 'Black Hawk Down' would know that we do that."
Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch
Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch, a former Navy SEAL, said his team had 90 minutes to plan a separate search mission under poor conditions. But he felt the mission was crucial.
"I did not want Sgt. Bergdahl's mother to see her son executed on YouTube," Hatch, who lives in Hampton Roads, said in a statement.
Their helicopters came under fire as they were landing to search near the Pakistan border.
Hatch testified his leg was hit by AK-47 fire, and a military dog that helped locate enemy fighters was killed. He now runs a nonprofit providing care and support for military and law enforcement dogs.
He credits survival to team members who quickly applied a tourniquet. "They saved me from bleeding to death," said Hatch, who entered the pretrial hearing limping.
My vote would be life in prison. Desertion on the battlefield is bad. Criticizing America as worse than the Taliban since his return shows a complete absence of remorse. Lock him up!
Life would be too long for taxpayers to support him. Twenty years is enough.
Weren’t four soldiers killed while looking for him?
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