Back on U.S. soil: Bowe Bergdahl arrives at San Antonio military medical center after five years of captivity in Afghanistan

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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl landed on American soil in the early hours of Friday morning after more than five years in captivity spent with the Taliban.

The deeply controversial POW landed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio at 2.35am local time and was taken to nearby Brooke Army Medical Center. The Idaho native is expected to be reunited there with his family.

No media were allowed to witness the former prisoner's return.

He is not scheduled to make any public appearances ahead of what is being referred to as Phase 3 of his reintegration process.

'Our first priority is making sure that Sgt. Bergdahl continues to get the care and support he needs,' said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby on Thursday.

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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl landed on American soil in the early hours of Friday morning after more than five years in captivity spent with the Taliban. Pictured are people as they are greeted on arrival at Lackland Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas, early Friday morning

Inquiry: A General is due to begin an investigation into the capture of Bowe Bergdahl, believed to be the man circled. The 28-year-old was flown to a Texas base, above, on Friday

Long journey: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl landed in Texas on Friday morning after flying in from Germany

Greeted: Bowe Bergdahl is met on the runway. The controversial soldier is currently in Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio after being flown from Ramstein Air Base in Germany

Sgt. Bergdahl landed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio after 1am local time and was taken to nearby Brooke Army Medical Cente

The spokesman said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel 'is confident that the Army will continue to ensure that Sgt. Bergdahl receives the care, time and space he needs to complete his recovery and reintegration.'

A spokesman for the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl says they are overjoyed their son has returned to the United States.

Col. Tim Marsano said in a statement emailed Friday that Bob and Jani Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, don't plan to make any travel plans public and are asking for privacy as they concentrate on their son's reintegration.

Bergdahl will now spend time with a special team which has been preparing for his return since the U.S. Army first knew that he had been taken captive. The team trained every six months for a week at a time.

‘It's a very gradual, phased approach in trying to re-acclimate the person back to society, back to freedom,’ Marc Gonsalves told CBS News.

Gonsalves knows what it's like to go through ‘reintegration’ at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC).

He and two other American civilians were brought to BAMC after being held captive for five years by Colombian rebels after their plane crashed while working on a U.S. drug interdiction mission.

‘Coming back from that is not as easy as you would think. Especially when we're held in isolation that long. Especially when you're living under the threat of being killed at the moment.

Bergdahl was taken directly to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio

'So it's not as simple as “hey, I'm free. Now I can go to McDonald's (and) drive cars.” There's a lot more to it than that,’ Gonsalves said.

Phase 3 of Bergdahl’s re-integration plan will include medical care, as well as psychological and legal support. He will also slowly be reunited with his family.

‘The first visit with my family was only about 45 minutes long, but by the time those 45 minutes were over, I was anxious, I was sweating, I had a migraine headache. I was overwhelmed by all these different kinds of emotions,' Gonsalves said.

According to the military, there's no telling how long Phase 3 of Bergdahl's reintegration will last and how long he will be in San Antonio.

Since his prisoner exchange for five Taliban prisoners held in Guantanamo, Bergdahl has been recuperating under supervision in the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Indeed, according to NBC News, Bergdahl was in sufficiently 'good enough physical condition' to return to the United States before today, but was 'not ready psychologically or emotionally'.

Before he left: Bowe Bergdahl (left) was a member of Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion 501st infantry Regiment (Airborne) 25th Infantry Division

According to the military, there's no telling how long Phase 3 of Bergdahl's reintegration will last and how long he will be in San Antonio

Furthermore, he has still not spoken to his family back in Hailey, Idaho, who canceled a homecoming party for the captured soldier after huge question marks about his desertion and wisdom of the exchange raged.

His fellow soldiers have painted a picture of a comrade who walked away from his post in eastern Afghanistan and the Taliban has alleged that it did not kidnap him - rather they found him wandering aimlessly along a road.

The Pentagon has promised that they will be exhaustive in discovering why he was held for the best part of five years by the Taliban and the Obama administration has defended the decision to free him.

Bergdahl was released from Taliban captivity on May 31 and has been at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since June 1. He was deployed in eastern Afghanistan when he disappeared in June 2009.

His return to the U.S. coincides with a pair of letters he wrote being leaked to The Daily Beast.

Bergdahl writes from a Taliban 'prison', urging his family and the government to postpone judgement regarding the circumstances of his desertion.

Exchange: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, stands with a Taliban fighter in eastern Afghanistan as he prepares to be freed in a swap in which the U.S. swapped five Taliban detainees, a diplomatic victory for the insurgent group

First leg of the journey home: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in white, heads towards a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan as he prepares to leave Afghanistan

He then goes onto explain, in small amounts of detail why he walked away from his base in 2009.

'Leadership was lacking, if not non-existent. The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men that where actuly (sic) the ones risking thier (sic) lives from attack,' he writes in a letter dated March 23, 2013.

It is one of two letters sent by Bergdahl to his parents and obtained by The Daily Beast.

'If this letter makes it to the U.S.A., tell those involved in the investigation that there are more sides to the cittuwation (sic),' he adds. 'Please tell D.C. to wait for all evadince (sic) to come in.'

The Daily Beast said they obtained the letters from sources in contact with the Taliban. They have been confirmed to be the same letters delivered by the International Red Cross to Bergdahl's family.

They are the first personal response from Bergdahl himself on the circumstances surrounding his captivity. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the letters or why the soldier left his base.

Taliban Dream Team: Abdul Waq-Hasiq, top left and suspected war criminal Mohammad Fazi, top right, Khirullah Khairkhwa, bottom left, and Mohammed Nabi, center, and Norullah Nori, bottom right, were released under the deal brokered with the Taliban and the Qataris

It said that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has 'already made clear that the Army is going to review the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and captivity,' adding that 'we need to reserve judgment until that process is complete.'

While the handwriting in the letters, one from 2013 and one from 2012 is different, officials who have seen the letters have deemed them to be from the pen of Sgt. Bergdahl.

The first letter is dated, November 27 and is addressed in care of 'Geneve Red Cross' and claims the sender is 'POW Bowe Bergdahl, US Army Afghanistan War Prison.

The letter is addressed to 'Father Robert Bergdahl, USA'.

'To my friends & family, in regards to the circomestance (sic) here, I am as well as can be here,' he writes. 'I am given food and drink.'

Bergdahl mentions recent rain in Afghanistan and muses about spring back home in Idaho.

Day of joy: President Barack Obama looks to Jani Bergdahl and Bob Bergdahl, the parents of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Saturday, May 31, 2014, as Bob Bergdahl speaks about the release of their son

Too soon: A sign celebrating the release from captivity of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl stands on a street in the soldier's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - a celebration in the town in his honor was canceled soon after

Some of the letter is redacted and he continues, 'I pray everyone is well. I think about you all every day. And all the things that happened in my life. I miss you all, but as papa says, God’s will be done. All things happen for a reason.'

He then discusses religion and philosophy, saying, 'All things happen for a reason. Mathematics is full evidence of this. Just because we cannot understand the master equation does not mean it is not there,' he writes.

'Math is God’s code for this Universe and beyond. I miss you all.'

According to sources familiar with the POW's captivity, Bergdahl was held in a cage for weeks at a time by the Taliban, with a hood over his head after two escape attempts in 2011 and 2012.

Bergdahl ends the 2012 letter. 'I pray that you are all safe.' He then adds a drawing of an animal paw—something officials say his family pointed to as a code sign it was him.

In the 2013 letter, Bergdahl acknowledges he knows he is suspected of being a deserter and tries to explain.

Minority: Supporters of freed prisoner of war US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl rally in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 10

'The cercomstance from the begaining of my time in Afghanistan from immedet top to bottom (sic for all errors), where bad for troopers espeshly in my PLT. (Platoon.)

'Orders showed a high disconcer for safty of troopers in the field, and lacking clear minded, logical and commonsense thinking and understanding from the topsides,' he writes.

'The cercomstance showed signs of going from bad into a nightmare for the men in the field. Unexeptable conditions for the men working and risking life every moment outside the wire,' Bergdahl adds.

'There are some risks that are forced to be taken, however it was made clear more than once that clear minded understanding from leadership was lacking, if not non-existent.

'The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men that where actuly the ones risking thier lives from attack as well as Afghan ellements.'

Debate: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel listens to a question as he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2014. The committee is investigating the deal that secured the end of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's five-year captivity

Many have criticized the Obama administration for agreeing to release five Taliban prisoners from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Bergdahl.

Some of Bergdahl's former Army colleagues have accused him of deserting his post.

Republicans and Democrats questioned the wisdom of releasing the five Taliban members, saying they could return to the battlefield. Administration officials have told Congress that four of the five Taliban officials will likely rejoin the fight.

In congressional testimony on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called the former Taliban government officials 'enemy belligerents' but said they hadn't been implicated in any attacks against the United States.

He said Qatar, which has promised to keep the five inside the country for a year, promised sufficient security measures to warrant making the swap for Bergdahl.

Hagel also said Bergdahl was early in the process of recovering from the trauma of captivity. He said that process began with his arrival at Landstuhl on June 1.

'He's being held there because our medical professionals don't believe he's ready. ... This isn't just about a physical situation,' Hagel said.

'This guy was held for almost five years in God knows what kind of conditions. ... This is not just about can he get on his feet and walk and get to a plane.'