The contentious case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl , the soldier who walked off his base in Afghanistan and into Taliban captivity in 2009, has culminated with the 31-year-old pleading guilty to desertion and misbehavior charges that could result in a life behind bars.

So surprising was his plea that the judge overseeing his case, Army Col. Judge Jeffery Nance, asked Bergdahl twice whether he understood the decision, to which Bergdahl replied, “yes,” the Associated Press reported.

Bergdahl’s actions, which triggered dangerous search and rescue operations at the time, have divided Americans for years. He has been criticized by many people over the years, including Donald Trump , who as a presidential candidate in 2015 called Bergdahl a “dirty rotten traitor,” and the soldier was also the focus of the second season of the wildly popular podcast, “Serial.”

Eight years after he fell into the hands of the Taliban, Bergdahl’s story has found new resonance in today’s political world. But who is he and why has his story attracted so much controversy and criticism?

Here are some answers to those questions:

Who is Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl?

Bergdahl is an Army soldier whose departure from his combat post in Afghanistan in 2009 generated much media attention and debate.

He was born in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 1986. His parents are Robert and Jani Bergdahl.

Before joining the Army, Bergdahl was discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2006 after only 26 days in basic training with an “uncharacterized discharge” — a term used for discharges before the completion of 180 days of military service, per The Washington Post. Bergdahl later joined the U.S. Army in 2008 and was based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, before deploying to Afghanistan in 2009.

Bergdahl had a journal, according to The Post, and its contents described a young man struggling with his thoughts. In one excerpt published by The Post, Bergdahl wrote the following:

“I’m worried. The closer I get to ship day, the calmer the voices are. I’m reverting. I’m getting colder. My feelings are being flushed with the frozen logic and the training, all the unfeeling cold judgment of the darkness.”

Details about Bergdahl’s life and military record were the subject of a profile in Rolling Stone magazine published in 2012.

How did Bergdahl end up in captivity by the Taliban?

Bergdahl left his small combat post called Mest-Balak in the early morning hours of June 30, 2009, Rolling Stone reported. Hours later he ended in the hands of the Taliban.

Accounts of his disappearance have differed. The Taliban claimed he was drunk and was ambushed while returning to his vehicle. The military has disputed that account.

The “Serial” podcast offered that Bergdahl made a conscious decision to walk away and that at some point had second thoughts and got lost in the open desert.

According to “Serial,” the Taliban described Bergdahl as a “golden chicken” who would later be used as a pawn to trade in a prisoner swap. Bergdahl was held in a cage and tortured, according to his account recorded in interviews with filmmaker Mark Boal and aired on the “Serial” podcast.

Why did Bergdahl leave his station?

The question of whether psychological distress or a conscious decision led Bergdahl to leave his base was the focus of a military investigation that resulted in charges against him.

Bergdahl appeared to be dissatisfied with his military unit, according to his interviews aired on the podcast, and suggested that he wanted to trigger a DUSTWUN — a term used to describe a missing soldier — to draw attention to the problems in his unit.

The theory that he made a conscious decision to leave his post was also supported by an account reported in Rolling Stone in which it describes the moments before he walked away from his post:

In the early-morning hours of June 30th, according to soldiers in the unit, Bowe approached his team leader not long after he got off guard duty and asked his superior a simple question: If I were to leave the base, would it cause problems if I took my sensitive equipment?

Yes, his team leader responded – if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.

Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost.

How was he released?

Military efforts to rescue Bergdahl had been unsuccessful for a number of years. On May 31, 2014, then-President Barack Obama announced Begdahl’s release as the result of a prisoner swap that got five Guantanamo Bay detainees released to Qatar.

Bergdahl was handed over to special forces in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. Video of his release was later made public.

Taliban propaganda video captures helicopter landing in an Afghan clearing and American prisoner being handed over by armed guards holding white flags. A video released through th ...

How was Bergdahl’s release received in the U.S.?

Obama announced Bergdahl’s release at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden on May 31, 2014. In his remarks, Obama commended the Qatar government and the military’s role for their role in his release.

“[Bergdahl] wasn’t forgotten by his country because the United States of America does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind,” Obama said at the time.

In the White House Rose Garden, President Obama delivers a statement about the recovery of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- an American soldier who has spent nearly five years in captivity in ...

Then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also lauded Bergdahl’s release as “a powerful reminder of the enduring, sacred commitment our nation makes to all those who serve in uniform” and that the U.S. government “never forgot Sgt. Bergdahl,” according to the Huffington Post.

But those remarks are no longer on the website of the U.S. Department of Defense. It is unclear whether those remarks were deleted after an investigation later found that it was Bergdahl who had abandoned his post.

Months after his release, Bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior.

Trump called Bergdahl a traitor and some Republicans called for an investigation.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/489000750270263296

https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/580816810196516864

Many people who cheered Bergdahl’s release, including some Democrats, also changed their minds about the Army Sergeant once more was learned about his capture and about the lives that were risked in his search.

“Bergdahl statement was when he was initially reunited & long before we realized what he had n fact done,” former Sen. Scott Brown , D-Massachusetts, tweeted on Monday.

https://twitter.com/SenScottBrown/status/919949322292117504

Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, and Nathan McDermit, a political reporter with CNN, pointed out on Twitter that some of the same voices that applauded Bergdahl’s release had suddenly fallen quiet or had their tweets deleted.

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/919949960141041664

https://twitter.com/natemcdermott/status/919958888501383169

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Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

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