Former POW Bergdahl set to return to U.S. Army active duty: reports

[July 14, 2014]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was set to return to regular active duty status as early as Monday, having completed therapy and counseling following his return from captivity in Afghanistan, according to reports.

Bergdahl, who was released in May after five years as a Taliban prisoner of war in Afghanistan, will work at the Army North headquarters at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, the New York Times and CNN reported, citing defense officials.

Officials characterized the move as "part of his reintegration into Army life," according to the Times. Two soldiers will be assigned to assist Bergdahl, and he will live in barracks, the newspaper reported.

He will meet with investigators probing his disappearance from his Afghanistan outpost in 2009, the newspaper reported.

Bergdahl has been permitted to venture off base during several weeks of treatment at an Army hospital in Texas.

He was captured in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, in unclear circumstances. He was released on May 31 in a prisoner swap for five Taliban leaders held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.

The release initially sparked a wave of euphoria in the United States that quickly turned into a political debate over whether he had abandoned his post and whether the prisoner swap should have gone ahead.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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