Bowe Bergdahl at San Antonio medical facility after return to US soil

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/13/bowe-bergdahl-san-antonio-medical-facility-us

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Bowe Bergdahl, the army sergeant who was freed last month after five years in Taliban captivity, was in stable condition at a military medical facility in Texas on Friday, able to walk on his own and driving the process of reintegrating back into society at his own pace.

“He appeared like any soldier would when they see a two-star general, a little bit nervous but again he looked good,” Major General Joseph P DeSalvo said at a press conference.

Bergdahl, 28, was captured by the Taliban after he disappeared from his post in Paktika province, Afghanistan, in 2009. He arrived at the San Antonio Military Medical Facility on Fort Sam Houston on Friday morning, after spending 12 days at a military hospital in Germany.

Army officials said Bergdahl had not yet spoken to his parents, and that his family was not in Texas. In a statement read by army officials at the press conference the Bergdahls, who live in Idaho, declined to say whether they would travel to Texas.

The New York Times reported that Bergdahl has spoken with a long-time friend, a woman named Kim, in a brief phone conversation.

While Bergdahl is at the medical facility, he will receive daily medical and mental-health treatment. There is no set timeline for reintegration, as treatment is dependent on his progress and decisions.

Colonel Bradley Poppen, one of the officers who spoke at the press conference, said soldiers who are reintegrating after being in captivity are treated as normal people who have had to come up with coping mechanisms to deal with their situation, and need help returning to their previous way of life.

“Our goal is to help [reintegration subjects] understand how what was functional at that time is not functional now,” Poppen said. “We don’t see them as pathologically damaged.”

Fox News reported on Friday that Bergdahl may have been held in solitary confinement for as long as two years, and “did not see another human face” during that time.

The military has attempted to keep Bergdahl out of the media spotlight since his release, and officials said he was not aware of the controversy surrounding the deal that secured his return, which involved the release of five Taliban fighters from detention at Guantánamo Bay.

“We expose them more and more to events around them,” said Poppen. “At some point in time he’ll be exposed to the media inquiries on him.”

The Pentagon said in a statement that a “comprehensive review into the circumstances of his disappearance and captivity” is being conducted.

The answers that the review comes up with will also determine whether Bergdahl receives the $300,000 in back pay he is owed for the time he spent in captivity. If he is declared to have been a prisoner of war, he could receive another $300,000.