central to such efforts, a military touchstone found in the army ranger creed, he will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy. it s often unspoken. i don t know that it s written or codified. but if you re taken captive, we re going to do all we can to get you back. reporter: that commitment has led to amazing moments such as the special forces rescue of private jessica lynch, captured in iraq. and he told me we re american soldiers, and we re here to take you home. and i looked at him and i said yes, i m an american soldier too. reporter: the goal of rescues the fallen can undeniably be complicated by circumstances and costs. in the blackhawk down case, the battle to save troops cost 18 american lives and hundreds of somalis died too. so while bergdahl s fellow soldiers roundly agree he deserved rescue of course, he needs to be saved. he is an american soldier. we never leave anybody behind. reporter: they also want accountability, saying it
and it s very interesting to me that they would be willing to release five extraordinarily dangerous taliban members in exchange for this soldier who apparently left his post. we don t know all the details. right, we don t. and i want to make sure that he gets due process from the army. but that certainly appears to be what happened. you know, it s interesting, though, because democrats are accusing your party of playing politics. you know, harry reid said the gop is very worried of bergdahl s release be seen, quote, as a victory for president obama. and there has been some real flip-flopping going on, senator. memorial day, kelly ayotte wrote an op-ed that i renew my call on the defense department to dedouble its efforts to find sergeant bergdahl and return him safely. and a couple of days ago once he was released, she said the administration s decision to release these five terrorist detainees endanger national security interests, obviously
we are just learning that the hometown celebration for sergeant bowe bergdahl has been canceled. the organizers say they re calling off the event in the interest of public safety. also tonight new details on the investigation into bergdahl s disappearance. a u.s. official briefed on the army s initial report tells cnn bergdahl left his post on other occasions. berle dall s commanders did refer to him, quote, as a good soldier. and some colleagues thought he was bored, his unit was too passive. the version is still out whether he was a captive or a deserter. the unwritten rule leave no soldier behind, whether they deserted or not. tom foreman is outfront. reporter: many of the most heroic moments in military history involve american troops rescuering their own. the movie black hawk down was about a real battle in somalia to save helicopter crews after they were shot from the sky.
have traded taliban commanders for him, i think that s a total misreading of what the situation in afghanistan is right now. the taliban are a legitimate political force, and we re going to be dealing with them whether we like it or not that does not mean that the white house handled this well at all. they ve been incompetent from the minute that president obama stepped into the rose garden with bergdahl s parents. so let me ask you. the new reporting today, the u.s. official comes out and says that bergdahl was a good soldier. now, it doesn t go against the army report that says they think he walked off the base. but nonetheless, a good soldier. does that square with what you heard and saw on the ground when you were reporting the piece? yeah, that s actually older reporting. the guys we spoke to in his unit said he sat on his cot reading russian, you know, manuals from the war in afghanistan prior. he studied his weapons like no other. he was mr. intensity, as his old platoon cal
appears he was not abducted but simply walked off. and according to fellow soldiers, at least a half dozen of their comrades were killed trying to find him. the pentagon is not officially linked those deaths to the missing soldier, nor has he been charged with any crime. however the army will conduct a comprehensive review of all the circumstances regarding sergeant bergdahl s disappearance. and i think i would leave it there. reporter: and there are serious questions about whether bergdahl was trying to connect with the taliban. if that s true, if he willingly joined the enemy, that would likely nullify any responsibility of his fellow soldiers to bring him home. but even that gets tricky in a war like afghanistan, where alliances are murky, battle lines are vague, and a soldier can disappear in a cloud of questions. tom foreman, cnn, washington. outfront tonight matthew