A 24-year-old soldier in the U.S. Army was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for attempting to aid the Islamic State in launching attacks against American service members.

Pfc. Cole Bridges, who also goes by Cole Gonzales and hails from Ohio, attempted to offer material support to a recognized foreign terrorist organization and was involved in a plot to murder U.S. soldiers, federal prosecutors revealed this week. Bridges entered a guilty plea for both charges in June 2023.

On Friday, a judge in the Southern District of New York handed down Bridges’ sentence, which also includes a decade of supervised release after his prison time, as stated by prosecutors. They had requested a 40-year prison term for him, according to court documents.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams condemned Bridges’ actions as “a profound betrayal.”

“Cole Bridges leveraged his Army training to pursue a chilling objective: to carry out the brutal killing of his fellow servicemen in a planned ambush,” stated Williams. “Bridges aimed to harm the very soldiers he was sworn to protect and, even more disturbingly, sought to assist individuals he believed were associated with a dangerous foreign terrorist group in orchestrating this attack.”

Bridges’ attorney, Sabrina Shroff, declined to provide comments on the case.

Bridges joined the Army as a cavalry scout in September 2019 and was stationed with the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Prior to this, prosecutors noted he had engaged with online propaganda and demonstrated support for the Islamic State.

At that time, the Islamic State was facing significant losses in territory due to U.S. and coalition military actions, particularly in Iraq and Syria. The group had also claimed responsibility for various terrorist attacks throughout Europe, including the 2014 San Bernardino attack in California and a deadly truck assault in New York in 2017.

About a year after enlisting, in the fall of 2020, Bridges began communicating with someone who posed as an Islamic State affiliate, claiming to have connections with militants in the Middle East. This individual was later revealed to be an undercover FBI agent.

Throughout these conversations, Bridges conveyed his dissatisfaction with the U.S. military and expressed his intention to assist the Islamic State, according to federal prosecutors.

He offered training and strategies to individuals he believed were Islamic State fighters planning attacks, including suggestions for potential targets in New York City. Additionally, he shared sections of an Army training manual and combat guidance, believing this information would aid the Islamic State in planning future operations.

By December 2020, Bridges escalated his involvement by providing the FBI operative with detailed instructions for attacking U.S. forces, including diagrams of military maneuvers designed to optimize future offensives against American troops. He also advised on reinforcing Islamic State bases, suggesting strategies to wire areas with explosives aimed at U.S. soldiers.

The following year, Bridges took further steps. In January 2021, he recorded a video of himself in Army body armor, standing in front of an Islamic State flag and showing his support for the group. Shortly afterward, he filmed another video in his barracks while his roommate slept, delivering a propaganda message in favor of an expected attack on U.S. troops, utilizing a voice changer for anonymity.

A week later, FBI agents arrested Bridges at a command post in Fort Stewart. Notably, Bridges’ father was also a service member, serving as a helicopter pilot, and was scheduled to deploy shortly after his son’s arrest. In February 2021, a grand jury in New York indicted Bridges on the two charges.

Currently, Bridges is confined in the Metropolitan Detention Center located in Brooklyn, based on federal prison records.

“We remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of both our Army and our nation,” stated Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, the commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command. “We urge all Army personnel to stay vigilant and report any insider threats to the appropriate channels.”

This week, federal prosecutors also charged a 27-year-old Afghan national in Oklahoma for allegedly conspiring to execute a terrorist attack with his brother-in-law on Election Day, with both men accused of plotting on behalf of the Islamic State.