An Army National Guard sergeant has testified about seeing a fellow soldier shot in the head while searching for Idaho U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl after he left his post in Afghanistan.
National Guard Staff Sergeant Jason Walters testified about the July 2009 mission during a sentencing hearing for Bergdahl, who faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges of misbehavior before the enemy and desertion.
At Bergdahl’s sentencing hearing Thursday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Walters said he saw blood fly from the head of a comrade who was shot in the head and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Wounds to several service members are part of prosecutors’ case that Bergdahl deserves stiff punishment for endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.
He was held by Taliban allies for five years. The 31-year-old soldier from Hailey was brought home by President Barack Obama in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
The judge recessed the hearing until Monday when the prosecution is expected to call its final witnesses. (AP)
