US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been spared prison time for endangering fellow troops when he deserted his post in Afghanistan in 2009, earning the ire of US President Donald Trump.
Bergdahl, now 31, was captured by the Taliban and spent nearly five years under brutal captivity by the insurgent group. He had faced up to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy.
The sentence drew swift condemnation from Trump, who called it "a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military" in a Twitter post from Air Force One as he flew on the first leg of a trip to Asia.
As a Republican candidate for president last year, Trump, now the military's commander in chief, called Bergdahl "a no-good traitor who should have been executed".
In a military courtroom at Fort Bragg in North Carolina late on Friday morning, Bergdahl trembled as he waited to hear his punishment.
Army Colonel Jeffery Nance delivered the sentence in a hearing that lasted just two minutes. He ordered Bergdahl should be dishonourably discharged from the service and also recommended that he be demoted to private and forfeit $US10,000 in pay.
A dishonourable discharge typically means a loss of all veteran and military benefits, including health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
That could pose difficulties for Bergdahl, who, according to testimony, suffers significant nerve damage as a result of malnutrition and torture while a prisoner of the Taliban and has several mental health conditions.
Bergdahl's actions in Afghanistan drew withering criticism from political leaders in Washington and fellow soldiers, both for the dangerous efforts to find him and the Taliban prisoner swap brokered by the Democratic Obama administration that secured his release in May 2014.
Nance, acting on a defence motion, had previously ruled that Trump's comments had not influenced him nor affected Bergdahl's chances of a fair sentence, but said he would consider them a mitigating factor.
Defence lawyer Eugene Fidell said on Friday that Americans should be offended by Trump's behaviour.
"President Trump's unprincipled effort to stoke a lynch-mob atmosphere while seeking our nation's highest office has cast a dark cloud over the case," the lawyer said.
Defence lawyers had argued during Bergdahl's sentencing hearing that he was a young, hardworking soldier who did not understand the full consequences of his actions when he deserted.
Bergdahl, who has said he wanted to report problems in his unit, apologised in court this week for the suffering he caused his comrades and admitted he had made "a horrible mistake".
Fidell said Bergdahl was especially grateful for "those who heroically sustained injuries" searching for him after he left his combat outpost in Paktika province in June 2009 without permission.
