A preliminary hearing took place last week that brought about the claim that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl did not desert his platoon, but rather decided to walk 19 miles to a larger outpost to air his grievances about the Army to a general. It was then, and only then, that he was "captured."

These grievances, reports The Washington Post, developed while Bergdahl was in basic training and continued throughout his first five weeks of service. The claim is that during his platoon's mission, he was frustrated with his leaders and upset that they "weren't going after the Taliban as aggressively as he wanted." All of this according to Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, assigned to thoroughly interview Bergdahl, who testified at the hearing.

Dahl spoke on Bergdahl's earlier diagnoses of depression when he failed to make the cut for the Coast Guard. “He wasn’t ready for it,” Dahl said. “He was overwhelmed, found himself in the hospital and was released.” Bergdahl had been found sitting on the floor with blood all over his hands, presumed to be a bloody nose.

The WaPo article lists Bergdahl's "grievances," revealing the man's mental state:

Bergdahl received a waiver to enlist in the Army. He was physically fit and well regarded for his work ethic, but quickly became disenchanted with his fellow soldiers and the Army’s training program. Among his gripes: He couldn’t believe higher-ranking soldiers wanted him to lock his wall locker to prevent theft and saw pre-deployment training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., as “lame,” Dahl said.

Bergdahl was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, of Fort Richardson, Alaska. There, he took offense to a motivational speech made by the senior enlisted soldier to the entire battalion. The command sergeant major said in jest that, like other soldiers, he liked to pillage and plunder, but Bergdahl took it literally, Dahl said.

In Afghanistan, there was another misunderstanding, Dahl said. Soldiers from Bergdahl’s unit weren’t all wearing their whole uniforms one day, a violation that upset then-Lt. Col. Clinton Baker, Bergdahl’s battalion commander.

Baker launched into a tirade to get his point across, kicking rocks in the process. Bergdahl was convinced that Baker had disturbed an Afghan grave, a suggestion that perplexed the others present, Dahl said.

Dahl added that it is believed that his off-the-grid upbringing of "relative isolation" in Idaho led to his inability to relate properly with others. He is described as being "unrealistically idealistic" and "a harsh judge of character."

“I think he absolutely believed that the things he perceived were absolutely true,” Dahl said.

In their interview, Bergdahl told Dahl that the reason he picked the night to leave was because he knew another platoon was on its way the next morning and felt confident that there would be enough manpower to look for him. And search they did, for 37 consecutive days. Six of his fellow soldiers were killed in those efforts. However, Dahl insists that those deaths can't be directly connected to Bergdahl's disappearance. But officials do blame the incident for altering security and for hastening their search and rescue plans.

Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, believes his client should not be court-martialed for any charges brought against him. He argued that Bergdahl should only be given the maximum penalty for being AWOL for one day (30 days of confinement) because everything changed the second he was captured. However, Army prosecutor Maj. Margaret Kurz sees it entirely different:

One does not just walk away into the Afghan wilderness and then return as though nothing happened.