The Latest: Bergdahl gets no prison time for leaving post.
The Latest on the sentencing hearing for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (all times local):
11:40 a.m.
A military judge has found that Bowe Bergdahl should serve no prison time for endangering his comrades by walking off his Afghanistan post.
The judge also gave Bergdahl a dishonorable discharge, reduced his rank to private and said he must forfeit pay equal to $1,000 per month for 10 months. The judge made no other comments.
Bergdahl appeared tense, grimaced and clenched his jaw. His attorneys put their arms around him and one patted him on the back.
Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and had faced up to life in prison. The judge had wide leeway because Bergdahl made no deal with prosecutors to limit his sentence.
Prosecutors had sought stiff punishment because of wounds to service members who searched for Bergdahl after he disappeared in 2009. He was held captive by Taliban allies for five years.
The defense sought to counter that evidence with testimony about Bergdahl’s suffering during five years as a captive of Taliban allies, his contributions to military intelligence and survival instruction and his mental health problems.
He deserved a firing squad! What a travesty of justice! 🙁
I guess obama proclaiming he was a hero was the real influence in this case, huh?
And what does this prog judge think he owes the families of the soldiers who suffered trying to rescue this garbage? What has the Pentagon come to?
Walking free now (excluding the $10,000 fines) means that he has to watch his back for the rest of his life.
He is a man without a country and people have long memories.
Aaaaaaand the judge is a democrat.
In other words, he goes free just like obama and the clintons.
What a sorry world (and that poor sailor taking pictures for his kids did how much time?)
Sucks to be him.
He better sleep with one eye open forever.
We have open Commies and Black Power Fisters parading around at West Point. This decision was almost a foregone conclusion.
If a GI in a German stalag had ratted out his fellow prisoners to the Nazis, and was tried for it after the war, I highly doubt he would have walked free based on time served in a POW camp.
Looks like an 0-6 bucking for a star in our PC Army. I’m sure the families of those maimed and killed looking for this deserting piece of trash are equally concerned about his “mental health problems”.
And if I got caught looking crossed-eyed at a tranny I’d have to mortgage my house to avoid jail.
There is no justice in the United States. Laws only apply to conservatives.
Well, like the Democrat Media said, what can you expect from a hero like Rose Garden Bowe who was forced to serve with a bunch of babyraping psychopaths.
He will probably run for and win a senate seat in Massachusetts now.
1) Throw the JUDGE in prison.
2) Bergdahl to be found on the side of a road full of “justice.”
So he’s free to roam Trump’s America. This is a bit like turning a sex offender loose into gen pop.
@Davy, “There is no justice in the United States. Laws only apply to conservatives.”
This makes me sick to my stomach. Will we ever return to a country of law and order?
The confluence of Øbama’s politicization of the judiciary with his wussification of the military command structure. The nation sowed the wind by electing this clown twice; the reaping is far from done.
Karma is a bitch!
Give it time.
I am totally ENRAGED.
Will he receive Veteran’s benefits from the VA?
He’s a deep state operative and collaborating with our enemies just like John McCain. It a travesty of justice this traitor escaped the death penalty.
i am hoping some one eliminates this poor excuse for a human
Not surprised by this verdict. After the Korean War ended, very few of the POWs who betrayed their fellow prisoners for better rations and warmer clothes were sentenced to prison time after the war. Same thing with pilots who were broken by torture and were court martialed after they returned for aiding the enemy with false statements about germ warfare and collaboration with the enemy. After the Vietnam war, most of the charges that were brought by senior officers against POWs who collaborated with the enemy were dropped by the military brass without going to trial. Look up Robert Garwood for a similar case from the Vietnam war.
Figured it would go down like this. Sad, isn’t it, when a person admits and pleads guilty for something and essentially nothing happens.
If only someone could figure out why so many liberals (and jihadists) have “mental health problems”.
If he’d been Christian instead of muslime he’d be doing 20 years!
I didn’t know that Obama could appoint Military Judges. I’ll bet this Judges retires in a month or so. He’s a stain on the uniform he wears.
This CANNOT be reality!
Comment in the earlier thread about bergdahl:
>>>>The Generals and the perfumed princes in the pentagon abdicated their responsibility the weeks before Berdahl returned to the US.
Nothing I have seen or heard indicates a change of thought by the politically appointed generals.
“A Chapter of Military Shame” in an otherwise stellar History of Honor and Sacrifice.
No, Justice will not be served anytime soon.
A facsimile of justice will be handed down with parole coming in a few years (if he goes to Prison at all).<<<<
The Army readily accepts the shame it has brought to itself.
Unfortunately, they brought that shame to every person who served honorably in all the US Military.
GUTLESS Treasonous Bastards !
CSen bastard deserved a bullet and may still get it. Now he joins Bradley asswipe Manning as poster boys for Democratic justice. The “judge” should watch his back too- a real POS.
Berdahl’s attorney says they will appeal the sentence, claiming the dishonorable discharge is unfair. Hopefully the judge that hears the appeal will see how unfair the sentence is and lock him up.
I’d bet real money this “judge” (of what, I don’t know) is either a Democrat or, otherwise, an anti-Trumper who wanted to make a loud, public rebuke of the President’s claim as a candidate that he “would send him to prison!” I can just hear that “judge” thinking: “Oh, yeah? Well let’s just see what you think about that? Nothing you can do about it, Trump.”
The defense KNEW SOMETHING ABOUT THE JUDGE
You don’t dismiss prosecutor’s plea deals unless you are 100% sure you can get a better deal with the judge who can issue no prison time, or indefinite.
You don’t GAMBLE with your life like that. They put all their chips on the table knowing the judge was going to let him walk.
Private Eddie Slovic was unavailable for comment.
Can military folks explain something to me. If you’re dishonorably discharged what’s the purpose of demoting him to private? I thought a dishonorable discharge meant you are basically erased from military history, no VA benefits, etc. With that said why does it say he must forfeit pay, shouldn’t that be part of a dishonorable discharge?
Pretty damn sad day when you can be a deserter during war and endanger the lives of honorable soldiers and it’s not even a jail offense.
He’s one lucky bastard just like Bill Ayres was to be let off the hook like this. Hey Bo move back to Idaho and never show your face outside of Hailey, Id. ever again and count your lucky stars the judge let you skate. You’re just lucky you weren’t born 70 years earlier because they would’ve shot you for desertion back then just like they did to Pvt. Eddie Slovik. This whole thing sucks and is a terrible travesty of justice.
A dishonorable discharge? These days that’ll probably open doors for him. The left will hail him as a hero and parade him in the press. See Bradley Manning.
This whole thing sucks, he’s just lucky he wasn’t born 70 years earlier because they would’ve put him in front of a firing squad just like they did to Pvt. Eddie Slovik for desertion.
Can the families of the men injured or killed looking for this traitor sue him?
Remember Eddie Slovic!!
Look up Robert Garwood. He was a Marine deserter who mistreated fellow POWs and probably led enemy soldiers on patrols and ambushes against Americans in Vietnam. Far worse than anything Bergdahl was charged with after he deserted in Afghanistan. There seems to be a sense that these men had suffered so much during their captivity that they didn’t need more punishment. Things were very different during WWII, when more than 21,000 men were severely punished for desertion, including Private Slovik, who was the only one actually executed for desertion.
Don’t forget that he had gotten busted at that pot farm raid while awaiting to go to court over this within the last year or so too.
Marco, honorable Vietnam men were treated like shit. They were pissed on by their country’s leaders, military and many sorry ass excuses for American citizens.
I honestly wouldn’t blame any of them if they still had hate for many of their countrymen. I still today cry when I think of how they were spit on when they returned.
A Travesty. I wonder how many
“bucket lists” his name just
got put on?
I’m not defending Bergdahl for his dishonorable behavior, or Garwood for that matter. The U.S. military justice system doesn’t seem inclined to sentence deserters and collaborators to additional punishment after years of captivity in harsh conditions. All of the men convicted of desertion and sentenced to death during WWII had their sentences commuted after the war was over. Private Slovik was the only soldier executed for desertion during that war. That’s the only reason anyone remembers his name.
wtf? A terribly outrageous outcome that farther undermines confidence in the leadership of government institutions.
As i understand it (but clowns like obummer changed so many rules) a Dishonorable Discharge means no VA benefits or qualifying to really even being called a “Veteran.” No sublemental ssa payment for burial or getting a flag for your coffin.
I conducted at least 5 funerals for men with DD and each left instruction not to mention service or discharge.
So for what it is worth these men become pariahs – our Country just doesn’t do the shame walks anymore.
Bergdahl walks into a biker bar: (Biker): Say, aren’t you the late Bowe Bergdahl? (Bergdahl): Yes, I am Bowe Bergdahl. (Biker): Chose your method of death.
At least we don’t have to call him Sgt. anymore — it denigrated a lot of sergeants I know.
It sure sends the wrong signal to all our finest serving overseas.
Risk their life to save a fellow soldier? For who, for what?
Maybe the message here is – if betrayed by one of your own on the battlefield, if you want justice – shoot the sob asap.
Don’t rescue him and bring him home for a circus that drags on for 3 years before insulting you. Again.
Maybe someone will take care of his Treasonous ass and visit him in the dark of night!
Deserters used to be shot not coddled. He better watch his back.
Everybody who signed on that military “judgment”, their careers should officially be over on today’s date!
How is it that a traitorous coward can walk right into the enemy camp and then turn around and claim their “horrible captivity” as an out? I am STILL ENRAGED. An hour on the treadmill and a couple hours of listening to music didn’t help AT ALL.
“Hello, Secretary of the Army? … This is President Trump … yes, thank you … that Judge that let that traitorous coward off … yes, him … you might want to make his next assignment Little America, Antarctica. Thanks”
ORWW
The “demotion” basically says the promotions: Cpl, Sgt were motivated by bad PC Pentagon “Deep State” folk who were thousands of miles removed fro Pft Berg.
‘Former combat squad leader. Not Army.
I hope someone blows his brains out…….
An INJUSTICE was done to everyone concerned in the matter other than the traitor.
Think about that for a second, and then explain to me why I shouldn’t take the law into my own hands and execute this piece of shit wherever I find him.
Judging by the reaction by the military community on IG, this guy might not live long.
TSUNAMI
Make sure it happens in Idaho at the same time you are on vacation in Florida.
You need receipts and witnesses for evidence.
I for one will swear you were in Florida and thanks for the receipt for the Oranges I bought.
“Any Bowe Bergdahl found here at dusk, will be found here next dawn, suitable for trash pickup.”
well, since bergdahl gets no jail time, the least PDT can do now is pardon assange, and maybe snowden as well….you know….”just because”……long as it’s not “chelsea”…….
i cannot BELIEVE the testes of this piece of shit, to actually APPEAL this sentence…”oh deary deary poor poor me, i cannot live without my benefits”…..hope the appeals judge recognizes the truth, and gives the POS life….gen pop at some military prison, hopefully…..with no fancy security…..