Bowe Bergdahl

Bowe Bergdahl
Birth nameBeaudry Robert Bergdahl[1]
Born (1986-03-28) March 28, 1986 (age 38)
Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S.
Service / branch U.S. Army (2008–2021)[2][3]
U.S. Coast Guard (2006, 26 days)[4]
RankSergeant
UnitBlackfoot Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division
United States Army North (Fifth Army)
Battles / warsWar in Afghanistan Surrendered

Beaudry Robert "Bowe" Bergdahl (born March 28, 1986) is a former United States Army soldier who was held captive from 2009 to 2014 by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[5][6][7][8]

Bergdahl was captured after leaving his post on June 30, 2009. The circumstances under which Bergdahl went missing and how he was captured by the Taliban have since become subjects of intense media scrutiny. He was released on May 31, 2014, as part of a prisoner exchange for five high ranking Taliban members who were being held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Bergdahl was tried by general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy,[9] and on October 16, 2017, he entered a guilty plea before a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[10] On November 3, 2017, he was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private and fined $1,000 per month from his pay for ten months, with no prison time.[11] The fine and reduction in rank took effect immediately, while the discharge was stayed pending appeals to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and later to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which affirmed the sentence on August 27, 2020.[12] Bergdahl then filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to have a U.S. federal judge review his sentence.[13][14] On July 25, 2023, the judge issued a ruling that voided his 2017 court-martial conviction.[15]

  1. ^ "Full Transcript of Bowe Bergdahl Statement". p. 145. Retrieved October 30, 2017. On the birth certificate it's Beaudry Robert Bergdahl.
  2. ^ Hastings, Michael (June 7, 2012). "America's Last Prisoner of War". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
  3. ^ Dickstein, Corey (September 26, 2023). "Justice Department seeks reinstatement of Bowe Bergdahl's court-martial conviction". Stars and Stripes. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2024. All this, . . . , and the passage of over two years since the plaintiff became a civilian, . . . Bergdahl's attorneys wrote.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference wpostjune2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Pamela Hess; Lolita Baldur (July 19, 2009). "Bowe Bergdahl: Soldier Captured In Afghanistan Identified As 23-Year-Old Idahoan". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  6. ^ Declan Walsh (July 19, 2009). "Taliban release video of captured US soldier". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  7. ^ "U.S. soldier captured by Taliban: 'I'm afraid'". CNN. July 19, 2009.
  8. ^ "Obama statement on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl". The Washington Post. May 31, 2014.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference referred-court-martial-abc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Bowe Bergdahl pleads guilty to desertion". BBC News. October 16, 2017.
  11. ^ Andone, Dakin (November 3, 2017). "Bowe Bergdahl receives dishonorable discharge, avoids jail time". CNN.
  12. ^ Hodge Seck, Hope. "Court Upholds Bowe Bergdahl's Sentence Despite Trump 'Dirty Traitor' Comments". Military.com. Military Advantage. Retrieved July 9, 2021. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces handed down a decision Thursday on the sentence, which was delivered in 2017 and has already been upheld at the lower appellate level.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference MC20210219 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference MC20210819 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reuters20230725 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).