Former Md. Platoon Mate Glad Bergdahl Charged With Military Crimes
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- For the first time, we're hearing details about Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's time as a Taliban prisoner--just one day after the Pentagon announces they plan to pursue charges against him for deserting his post.
Derek Valcourt has more on what Bergdahl says he endured.
He describes brutal beatings, cruel treatment, injuries and repeated attempts to escape.
For the first time, Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is publicly detailing the five years he spent as a Taliban prisoner after the Pentagon charges he deserted his post and fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in 2009.
In a statement released by his attorney, Bergdahl says at times his Taliban captors chained him to a bed spread-eagle and blindfolded, or kept him inside a cage. He says he tried to escape approximately 12 times. His captors took turns beating on him, even beating the bottoms of his feet and parts of his body with a copper cable.
But those details aren't earning him sympathy from some of his fellow platoon mates.
"He's a traitor and a deserter," said Baltimore veteran Kenneth Worthem.
Worthem served on the front lines with Bergdahl in Afghanistan. In a WJZ exclusive, he told Mary Bubala the soldier went AWOL.
He's among many in his platoon glad Bergdahl has been charged with military crimes and upset that six fellow soldiers were reportedly killed in the search for Bergdahl.
"I think that life imprisonment would be the best thing. Anything less than that and I feel like it would be cheating because those men are gone," said Josh Korder, former unit member.
The military believes Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban within a half-hour of walking away from his post. He was freed from captivity last summer in a controversial prisoner swap in exchange for five detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay.
If found guilty, Bergdahl could spend the rest of his life locked up in a military prison, although military defense attorneys say that's highly unlikely because he's already been a prisoner of the Taliban for five years.
What they say is much more likely is that the military is trying to make sure he does not earn any of the compensation that he is currently eligible for because he was a prisoner of the Taliban.
The army will hold a special hearing in Houston, Texas to determine if there is sufficient evidence to formally court marshal Bergdahl. A date for the hearing has not been set.
