The sentencing phase of a military trial for Army sergeant Robert "Bowe" Bergdahl is still underway. Bergdahl is accused of deserting his fellow soldiers back in 2009.
A Central Texas family said they're watching the trial intently because they believe their son would still be alive had Bergdahl not deserted.
2nd Lieutenant Darryn Andrews was an officer in the Army and serving our country in Afghanistan when Bergdahl disappeared from his post.
"Took himself off restrictive duty and said if his men were going, he was going," Sondra Andrews, Andrews' mother, said. Andrews had suffered a concussion.
While out on a mission, Andrews stepped out of a truck to help his men pull a vehicle from a hole caused by an IED.
"Everybody was focused on the truck, and Darryn looked up and saw a Taliban step out from behind the wall and fire off an RPG. Darryn hollered RPG and knocked the guys around him down and then he took a direct hit," Andy Andrews, Andrews' father, said.
2LT Darryn Andrews died on Sept. 4, 2009, on his parents' 41st wedding anniversary.
"Every time we talked to him, from the time Bergdahl left until Darryn got killed, I'd ask him what he was doing, he'd say 'well, we're getting ready to go outside the wire to look for this idiot that deserted,'" Andy added.
Members of Andrews' platoon as well as Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn have said Andrews and five other soldiers died as a result of the search for Bergdahl. But, the Army has never said the deaths were connected to the search for Bergdahl.
"The soldiers that were there were required to sign a non-disclosure statement that they wouldn't talk about looking for Bergdahl. The ones we heard from are no longer in the Army," Andy said.
Bergdahl has since pled guilty to deserting and is awaiting his sentence.
"Why should he not be punished? There are six men who are no longer with us. I have two grandchildren that don't have a dad. I have a daughter-in-law that's a widow, a widow at 27-years-old with one small child and was expecting another. I have a son that doesn't have a brother, a twin brother," Sondra added. "I will not be happy with anything less than life. I do not think he deserves freedom."
"Tell me who decided that the life of a traitor like Bergdahl was worth my son's life? And nobody's answered that question yet," Andy said.
Bergdahl could face life in prison.
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