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WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held captive for five years by the Taliban, had a mental-health disorder marked by odd, eccentric behaviors and social isolation when he walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009, documents released by his defense team showed. An Army Sanity Board Evaluation in July 2015 found Bergdahl had schizotypal personality disorder, a psychiatric condition marked by unusual fears and beliefs, the inability to form interpersonal relationships and eccentric behaviors. The condition is different from schizophrenia, which is marked by hallucinations and a disconnect from reality.

Bowe Bergdahl arraigned in court martial at North Carolina Army base FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Wearing a dress blue uniform, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl faced a military judge Tuesday for the first time since the U.S. Army decided to proceed with a military trial that could result in a life sentence for his disappearance in Afghanistan in 2009. Bergdahl, who was held by the Taliban for five years after he walked off a base, was arraigned during a short hearing on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a relatively rare charge that carries the severe punishment. If convicted of...

This week, the US Army announced that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will stand trial on charges of desertion and "misbehaving before the enemy." Bergdahl was returned to the US in exchange for the release of five terrorists in 2014. Bergdahl spent five years with the Taliban after leaving his military post in Afghanistan in 2009. At the time of the exchange, President Obama welcomed Bergdahl home saying that he had "served with honor and distinction." Press Secretary Josh Earnest denied that the Army's decision to court-martial him invalidated the President's earlier praise of the man, saying that "in our country a...

"The U.S. Army Forces Command's Commanding General referred two charges today, Dec. 14, in the case of United States vs. Sgt. Robert B. Bergdahl to a General Court-Martial," the Army said in a statement. "The two specific charges referred under the U.S. Armed Forces' Uniform Code of Military Justice are: (1) Article 85: 'Desertion with Intent to Shirk Important or Hazardous Duty;' and (2) Article 99: 'Misbehavior before the Enemy by Endangering the Safety of a Command, Unit or Place,'" the statement added.

After a preliminary hearing, Army officials are recommending Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl get off without jail time or a punitive discharge for walking off his Afghanistan military base in 2009. He could even get back pay and lifetime disability payments. The recommendation leaked out Sunday, infuriating some of Bergdahl’s former platoon-mates. Instead of examining Bergdahl’s crimes, the hearing whitewashed them. Why the cover-up? To make President Obama look good. Last year, Obama was criticized for swapping a “dream team” of five top Taliban warriors from Guantanamo for a deserter who had fallen into enemy hands. Reinventing Bergdahl as a hero makes...

<p>The attorney defending Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl says that the officer who presided over his Article 32 hearing last month is going to recommend that he face a lower-level court martial, thus sparing him a long prison sentence.</p> <p>An Army officer is recommending that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Saturday.</p>

The odd case of Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl got even weirder during his Article 32 hearing conducted by Army officials Thursday and Friday last week. The Article 32 procedure is the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury, except that the accused has quite a few more rights. Unlike a typical grand jury, the Article 32 is presented before a single hearing officer, not held in secret, allows defense counsel to be present and to cross-examine witnesses, and to call their own. All of this occurred at Bergdahl’s hearing. Army prosecutors called Bergdahl’s immediate chain of command to testify. They...

full title...Former Taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl hit with charge that has rarely been used since WWII and could mean life behind barsMilitary prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan. Earlier this year Bergdahl was charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the United States to bring him home. And now he has also been charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries...

Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan. Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case.

When Army Sgt. Patrick Hart decided a decade ago that he would not serve in the war in Iraq, he expected to follow the same path as thousands of American war resisters during the Vietnam era and take refuge across the border. But after five years of wrangling with the Canadian immigration system, he came back to the U.S.—and ended up in a military prison. The country that once welcomed war resisters has developed a much different reputation during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan: Supporters say no U.S. soldier who has sought legal residence in Canada, either as a...

n addition to desertion, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl faces an unusual charge: misbehavior before the enemy. Of the two, it is the far more serious charge, carrying with it a maximum punishment of life behind bars, a dishonorable discharge, a reduction in rank, and the loss of the tens of thousands of dollars of pay and benefits Bergdahl earned after joining the military over six years ago. The misbehavior charge is so rare that there aren’t many examples of how the military justice system has handled it in the past. The Army said that it had such a case in...

The Obama administration gave the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl extraordinary insider access to the military’s hunt for their son by having them take part in a series of secure video conferences with senior commanders as well as White House and State Department officials. A former government official involved in American hostage issues said he had never heard of giving a family such access and questioned whether sensitive information could have been conveyed to Robert and Jani Bergdahl and somehow leaked out. A family spokesman said he knows of no such breach. Soon after Sgt. Bergdahl went missing in...

A 2009 NCIS investigation into Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s activities while in Afghanistan reveal that there is clear evidence Bergdahl was “going over to the other side with a deliberate plan,” Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night. Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer and Fox News contributor, said two senior sources told him that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation included a forensic review of his computer, which show Bergdahl’s apparent intent to travel to Uzbekistan. “He was going to go off to Uzbekistan,” Shaffer told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. “He had made contact...

If Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were convicted of “misbehavior before the enemy” a century ago, he might also have been subject to a humiliating send-off. His sword might be broken or his insignia ripped from his uniform in front of his unit. Along with desertion, Bergdahl was accused last month of violating the little-understood Article 99 of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice — misbehavior before the enemy — for abandoning his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and thereby endangering his unit. Although desertion cases are not uncommon, few military lawyers have ever prosecuted, or defended, a misbehavior before the enemy...

While the Army has decided to charge Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and "misbehaving before the enemy," his lawyer, Eugene Fidell, contends that Bergdahl never intended to desert. "Sgt Bergdahl had serious concerns about the lack of discipline in his unit," Fidell contended. "Rather than engaging in idle griping, he took the initiative to try to resolve the problem by conducting an independent inspection of the standards and practices of the Taliban. It was his hope that what he learned could help reform the way US troops behaved while in the field." "His plan was thwarted when the Taliban refused...

The Army has charged Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and has referred to an Article 32 military preliminary hearing which is the military version of a grand jury. Their job is to determine whether the charges against Bergdahl are sufficient for a court-martial trial or whether they should be dropped altogether. The court proceedings will be held at joint base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The charges filed against Bergdahl under The Uniform Code of Military Justice are articles 85 and 99. Article 85 – Desertion. Definition: Any member of the armed forces who, without authority, goes or remains absent from...

During his indoctrination into the “Religion of Peace” Bowe Bergdahl, who has now been charged with desertion, was taught about the Islamic way of life. Here is what Islam says about various topics. TORTURE Qur’an 5-33 says, “The punishment for those who wage war against Allah and His Prophet and make mischief in the land, is to murder them, crucify them, or cut off a hand and foot on opposite sides…their doom is dreadful. They will not escape the fire, suffering constantly.” TERRORISM Qur’an:8:12 “Your Lord inspired the angels with the message: ‘I will terrorize the unbelievers. Therefore smite them...

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who was recovered in Afghanistan last spring after five years in captivity, faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, according to his lawyer.

A Marine who vanished from his military base in Iraq in 2004 and was later shown in captivity in a video on Islamist militant Web sites was found guilty on Monday of desertion after spending most of the past decade in Lebanon. Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, was found guilty of deserting with intent to avoid hazardous duty and desertion with intent to remain away permanently, said Marine Capt. Stewart Coles, a spokesman at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where the trial took place. Hassoun also was found guilty of losing government property — a 9mm M9 pistol that authorities said he...

In a recent post at The Federalist, senior editor David Harsanyi noted that, based on recent reports from Fox News and NBC News, it appears as though the Defense Department is set to charge Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion: Leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009 “in the middle of a combat zone, potentially putting the lives of his fellow soldiers at risk.” For the record I was deployed to Afghanistan from October 2009 to September 2010; I arrived in-country after Bergdahl “went missing,” but remember hearing some scuttlebutt regarding the incident shortly after arriving from some guys who...