Bergdahl Faces Court-Martial for Desertion

A top Army commander on Monday ordered that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a court-martial on charges of desertion and endangering troops. The decision comes despite a recommendation for lesser charges for the soldier who left his remote Afghanistan outpost in 2009, prompting a deadly manhunt and his own five years of captivity with the Taliban. In a statement, Bergdahl counsel Eugene R. Fidell decried the charges, saying, “The convening authority did not follow the advice of the preliminary hearing officer who heard the witnesses... We will continue to defend Sgt. Bergdahl as the case proceeds.”