Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl receives zero jail time, dishonorable discharge

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl received a dishonorable discharge after Friday's court ruling was handed down, which did not include any jail time for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after he abandoned his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

What are the details?

The judge ruled that Bergdahl's rank would be reduced from sergeant to private, and he would be made to pay a fine of $1,000 per month out of his pay for a period of 10 months.

Eugene Fidell — Bergdahl's civilian attorney — at a news conference after the sentence was announced, said, "Sgt. Bergdahl has looked forward to today for a long time. As everyone knows he was a captive of the Taliban for nearly five years, and three more years have elapsed while the legal process unfolded. He has lost nearly a decade of his life."

According to Fidell, Bergdahl plans to appeal the dishonorable discharge. The dishonorable discharge won't take effect until all appeals are exhausted, Fidell said, but the demotion in rank and the forfeiture of pay take effect immediately.

WRAL-TV reported that Bergdahl, 31, appeared "shaken" as his sentence was announced.

Bergdahl, who originally faced a possibility of life in prison, pleaded guilty to the charges in October and opted to be tried by a military judge rather than a jury.

President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to the news on Twitter.

He wrote, "The decision on Sergeant Bergdahl is a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military."

The decision on Sergeant Bergdahl is a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017