old. the army sergeant's gun, bulletproof vest and his night vision goggles were all found in his bunk. from that moment the u.s. military would spend almost five years looking for and negotiating for bergdahl's release. >> our commanders are sparing no effort to find this young soldier. >> reporter: it's a saga that still isn't over for the soldier who is now 28 years old. when bowe bergdahl disappeared, he was stationed at a u.s. military outpost in paktika province in southeastern afghanistan. he was supposed to be on a guard shift that night. this is his first deployment as a u.s. soldier, and he'd been in afghanistan less than two months. other soldiers in his unit have described bergdahl as a deserter and a traitor to his country. >> i think he just wanted to go on an adventure without having anybody to answer to without having anything to worry about. he wanted to be able to go out and see afghanistan for himself without the army stopping him. >> reporter: bergdahl would end up in the hands of the taliban.