"LOGANVILLE, GA (WXIA) – Once hailed a military hero, US Army Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl could now face life in prison.
Nine months after he was freed in a controversial prisoner swap, Berghdahl is charged with desertion and endangering fellow soldiers.
Soldiers from Georgia, from the National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade, risked their lives searching for Bergdahl when they thought he was an unwilling captive of the Taliban in Afghanistan.Master Sgt. Mark Allen of Loganville was among them; he risked his life during the search and he will never be the same.
He cannot speak for himself now. He is paralyzed and needs constant care because he was shot in the head by an enemy sniper in Afghanistan.
Allen was wounded while he and his fellow Georgia National Guard soldiers were trying to find and rescue Bergdahl soon after he disappeared in 2009.
Allen's wife, Shannon Allen, was not aware of the circumstances when she and the community welcomed her wounded husband home in December, 2011.
But now, many blame Bergdahl -- not only for Master Sgt. Allen's brain injuries and paralysis, but also for the deaths of at least six other soldiers who also helped search for Bergdahl.
They could never have known, then, that Bergdahl would be charged with desertion.
This past June when the U.S. traded Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners and brought Bergdahl home, Shannon Allen unleashed her fury in a Facebook post that shot around the world --
"Meet my husband," she wrote, "injuries directly brought to you by the actions of this traitor," Bergdahl.
On the phone with 11Alive News on Wednesday, Ms. Allen said she would not comment now on the decision to charge Bergdahl with desertion.
But last June she was quoted in the Walton Tribune [subscription required], saying, "I wish [Bergdahl] no ill will. I am glad he is no longer a prisoner... People lost their lives - even Mark, who no longer has the life he had before. I just think [Bergdahl] needs to face the consequences. He still needs to be held accountable for what he did."
One of the two charges against Bergdahl -- endangering the lives of fellow soldiers -- carries a maximum penalty of life in prison."
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