By Colleen Jenkins
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty on Monday to deserting his duties in Afghanistan in June 2009 and endangering the lives of fellow troops, a step toward resolving the politically charged case that could send him to prison for life.
The 31-year-old Idaho native told a judge in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that he walked off his combat outpost in Paktika province and headed to a nearby base to report "critical problems" in his chain of command.
But he got lost after 20 minutes, was captured by the Taliban several hours later and spent the next five years in captivity.
The dangerous search for him that ensued - and the Taliban prisoner swap that won his release in 2014 - drew wide derision from soldiers and Republicans. During last year's presidential campaign, Donald Trump called Bergdahl "a no-good traitor."
In court on Monday, Bergdahl admitted wrongdoing but said he never intended to put anyone at risk.
"I didn't think there'd be any reason to pull off a crucial mission to look for one guy," he said, adding his actions were "very inexcusable."
In a 2016 interview with a British filmmaker obtained by ABC News/Good Morning America and aired on Monday, Bergdahl rejected the notion that he sympathized with his captors.
He has said he endured torture, abuse and neglect at the hands of Taliban forces and was confined to a small cage for more than four years.
He pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy without any sentencing agreement with prosecutors, lawyers said. The latter offense carries a possible life sentence.
Jeffrey Addicott, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, said defense lawyers are betting the judge will give Bergdahl a lighter punishment.
Army Judge Colonel Jeffery Nance can consider Bergdahl's time in captivity, but Addicott doubts it will help the soldier much.
"He knew what the Taliban was, and he inflicted that on himself," said Addicott, now a law professor at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.
Bergdahl, who remains on active duty in a clerical job at a base in San Antonio, said he tried to escape his captors up to 15 times.
The first attempt came on the day he was caught, he said. Blindfolded, with a blanket over his head and his hands chained behind his back, he decided to run from the village where he had been taken.
But he quickly was tackled, he said, and taken to another location.