Your empathy for Bergdahl gave you away as just another disgruntled veteran. You have every reason to be after the fiasco you endured. I hope that you were drafted and didn't volunteer. Today's military is all volunteer. A deserter has to be a proven latent conscientious objector, diminished capacity; or, a crime victim (incl. being told to carry out unlawful orders) before I'll criticize a chain of command's legal retribution. It's called military ethics. It's likely that you didn't serve long enough; or, in enough positions for yours to become well rounded.
BTW: All that gibberish about dirty uniforms and socks is probably just something some military legal beagle, who never spent a day in the field that wasn't for training, came up with. Whoever wrote the story just didn't know any better and ran with it. Makes no difference to the gist of the case as it's not part of the EEI (that's essential elements of information for you grunts).
PS: If you didn't see my post in Cellar META, starting Veterans Day, all honorably discharged veterans can register to use the online military PX.
https://www.shopmyexchange.com/