Hassoun takes leave with family in Utah
'It feels perfect' to be home, Marine held by insurgents says
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the U.S. Marine translator who was held hostage in Iraq by anticoalition militants, arrived in Utah on Saturday night on a leave meant to help him ease back into full-duty status.
A Marines spokesman confirmed Saturday night that Hassoun was granted leave but declined to give details, except to say that Hassoun was eligible for a convalescent leave of up to 30 days. The spokesman said the Marine Corps wanted to help guarantee Hassoun's "personal privacy and security."
Since his return, Hassoun has been going through "repatriation" -- a series of examinations and debriefings given to former military captives.
"Everybody who goes through this process gets a certain amount of leave in conjunction with the process," the spokesman said.
Hassoun, 24, arrived at Salt Lake City on a commercial flight about 4 p.m. (6 p.m. ET), escorted by a cousin, and as he walked through the terminal, people shouted, "Welcome home."
Asked how it felt to be home, Hassoun, wearing a red knit shirt, said, "It feels good. It feels perfect."
Hassoun's brother Mohamad still lives in West Jordan, Utah. Wassef Hassoun spent the years just before his enlistment there.
Hassoun, a member of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was reported missing June 20 from a camp outside the Iraqi city of Falluja. He reappeared July 7 in Lebanon, where he was born and has relatives.
After his disappearance, he was listed as a deserter. His status was changed to captured after the release June 27 of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended over his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded.
Hassoun denied being a deserter and staging his own kidnapping.
"I was captured and held against my will by anticoalition forces for 19 days," he said July 19, in his only previous public statement.
The Navy Criminal Investigative Service is investigating Hassoun's disappearance. He has been at his home base of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina since July 21.
CNN's Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.
