Sgt. Bergdahl with one of his captors

By David Martosko, Mar. 26, 2015, Daily Mail

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the enlisted U.S. soldier who left his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was later ransomed from an Islamist extremist network by the Obama administration for five Taliban leaders, was charged with desertion and 'misbehavior before the enemy' buy the U.S. Army on Wednesday.

But he won't face the death penalty if a military court martial finds him guilty of 'Desertion with Intent to Shirk Important or Hazardous Duty.' The level of that charge the Pentagon levied on him carries a maximum of just a 5 year prison term.

The other charge, however, 'Misbehavior Before the Enemy by Endangering the Safety of a Command, Unit or Place,' could send him to a military prison for life.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice describes examples of that crime as running away from a fighting enemy, throwing down his weapons, abandoning his platoon or other fighting unit, or otherwise purposely failing 'to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy.'

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