and i don t believe there was any political impact on that process. now we re going to the second phase of that process, does the evidence warrant a trial? and that general abrams will make that decision, i m convinced he will not be involved in any of this political nonsense that we saw in washington. from your vast experience and your time in the army, how often is it that general abrams in his position would so overrule and change the recommendation from the hearing officer thatard has? well, we don t know what the hearing officer s recommendation we know what his lawyer says it is. we all yeah, bergdahl, we do know the officer in charge of the investigation, a different officer, two-star general, who brought forward all the evidence did he was the one that obviously recommended the charges, he also as a result of that investigation, he did testify at the prehearing, his name is general doll, he said in his judgment, he believed the
was under a delusion his company, his entire battalion was led by incompetent leaders, not true but he believed it. he was going to leave the out post and run to enemy territory darkness and get to another base and meet with the general because he knew that his departure would trigger alarm bells. he could show up and say here i am, i m who you are looking for and let me tell you how bad our men are being led. crazy but that s what the army says is his plan. he got captured and never made it to the other base. what do you say about the possibility of him serving time for desertion. giving mental problems which he admitted existed and factors they looked at, he did not believe jail time was appropriate and remember, this is a two-star general highly respected and thought that his investigation was extremely well
desertion. sergeant bergdahl was freed after five years of captivity in a controversial swap for five detainees at guantanamo bay. but once back in the u.s., the army charged bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior. he could spend the rest of his life behind bars if court-martialed and convicted. our martin savage is following this case for us. martin, this was a preliminary hearing into whether bergdahl should be court-martialed, but this testimony from the general, that s a pretty significant advocate, is it not, for bergdahl in this proceeding? reporter: yeah, absolutely. the charges against bergdahl are desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. and they are very, very serious. but the fact that the army s lead investigator here, this is a two-star general, who talked to bergdahl, who listened to all of the evidence that was gathered about why he left his post, the fact that this man would say, under oath, he doesn t believe that bergdahl should go to jail would possibly
hearing for sergeant bowe bergdahl to determine if he should be tried in military court. charged with desertion, and misbehavior before the enemy, for leaving his platoon in afghanistan in 2009. casey stiegel is live for us in san antonio. so, casey, what witnesses has the defense called today? reporter: we heard testimony from major general kenneth dahl. a key witness, the one who led the u.s. army s investigation into the case and he also interviewed sergeant bowe bergdahl at great length following this release from the taliban. dahl says the 29-year-old soldier told him that he left his post because he thought his platoon was in danger, because of its leadership, and that he actually wanted to invoke a search so that he could get the attention of a general. dahl also testified that bergdahl ran for eight hours before he was eventually captured. the two-star general told the court today he does not believe bowe bergdahl should serve any
and makes a less than impressive start. he excels in hi-jinx and hell raising. he earns more dem merits than any other cadet. he may not be a serious student. he graduates last in his west point class but it is not because he s dumb. it is because half of his fellow cadeting already dropped out to fight in the civil rar when custer leaves the academy he is still uncertain. he proves to be a courageous warri warrior. rushing in battle and taking huge chance ds. custer, of course after a horse shot out from under in the most daring hand to hand combat and emerged a two-star general.