Serious head and hand wounds described by Bergdahl searchers

The testimony came during the sentencing phase for Bergdahl, who faces up to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Bergdahl was held captive by Taliban allies for five years after abandoning his remote post in Afghanistan in 2009.

Several witnesses described a search mission by U.S. and Afghan troops to comb two villages for information related to Bergdahl days after he disappeared.

Among the most vivid testimony came from Jonathan Morita, describing how his hand was shattered by a rocket-propelled grenade. He has since had multiple surgeries and is left without full use of his right hand.

"Right about here is where they sowed on my thumb where it was dangling off," he said, pointing to a picture of sutures displayed on a video monitor.

He said he can't bend his index finger and thumb and had to learn again how to write and brush his teeth with limited mobility in his dominant hand.

He was with a half-dozen U.S. troops that were accompanying a larger group of Afghan soldiers on the July 2009 search mission when they were ambushed by insurgents using small arms, machine guns and explosive projectiles. One rocket-propelled grenade hit Morita's rifle, shattering his hand. A second landed nearby, lodging shrapnel in his left elbow.

"I just thought I was going to definitely die right there in Afghanistan," said Morita, who earned the rank of sergeant before leaving the Army.

After his injury during the firefight, he said he "pulled out a Bible, read a quick verse" and then grabbed a handgun to return fire before a medical helicopter arrived.

Nearby, Master Sgt. Mark Allen suffered a head wound during the ambush. National Guard Staff Sgt. Jason Walters testified that Allen was trying to make a radio call when Walters saw him get hit by a bullet.

"I watched just as a cloud of his blood came out the side of his head," Walters testified.

Walters became emotional when he described tending to his friend's wound.

"I grabbed a pressure bandage, and started. Sorry ma'am," he told a prosecutor before pausing and resuming testimony. "I started treating his wound ... telling him to hang on."

Allen now uses a wheelchair and is unable to speak, requiring assistance for everyday tasks such as getting out of bed. Walters said it was difficult visiting Allen in a hospital after the deployment.

"Seeing him like that is something I don't wish anyone would have to see," he said.

While Bergdahl acknowledged at his plea hearing that his actions triggered the search missions that resulted in the wounds, his lawyers argued Thursday that there's a limit to his responsibility for a lengthy chain of events including others' decisions and enemy fighters.

"Enemy forces were the direct cause of the horrific wounds to Master Sgt. Allen," said Army Maj. Oren Gleich, a defense lawyer.

The defense contends that the rescue mission was poorly planned and ill-advised, arguing that Air Force Lt. Col. John Marx, who was a captain in 2009, didn't have the training, qualifications or expertise to lead the mission.

Prosecutors replied that time was of the essence in the search for a missing American soldier, so the forces had to use the manpower and equipment they had on hand.

The defense showed a video Marx shot while searching for Bergdahl that showed an approaching sandstorm. As Marx was moving forward, he says, "Headed South. Can't see (expletive). All for a dude who decided to walk off."

Retired Army Col. Robert Campbell, who commanded the 1/40th Cavalry, used his helicopters in Afghanistan to move soldiers from one town to another while were searching for Bergdahl. He testified that he was managing 10 high-risk missions at a time, but his men were "willing to assume greater risk because time is not on your side. The gain is you get an American soldier back."

Allen's wife is expected to testify Monday. Gleich told the judge he believes it's appropriate for her to testify to the wound's effects on Allen himself, but the defense could object if prosecutors steer her toward testimony that goes too far into the impact on his family. The judge, Col. Jeffery R. Nance, said he would have to wait and see what the objections were before weighing in on the defense's stance.

Nance also is waiting to rule on a defense motion to dismiss the case or limit the sentence because of critical comments about Bergdahl from President Donald Trump.

Greg Pickney, a former military judge, said the delay may have something to do with hearing from the witnesses who have been waiting for years tell their story.

"That also signals, at least to me, he's not going to throw out the case based on unlawful command influence, but he's probably crafting some sort of remedy that going to limit either the amount of confinment or the type of discharge," Pickney said.

Bergdahl, a 31-year-old soldier from Hailey, Idaho, has said he was caged by his captors, kept in darkness and beaten, and tried to escape more than a dozen times before President Barack Obama brought him home in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.