The release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who spent five years in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan, brings back vivid memories for an Orlando man who was held captive just over eight years ago by rebel forces halfway around the world.

In a News 13 exclusive, Ybeth Bruzual sat down one-on-one for a revealing interview with Joe Robinson, a former Orlando police captain who once served as chief of staff for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and as staff of former Mayor Glenda Hood.

Robinson found himself captive in the Congo in 2006, and had his life threatened every day as a hostage.

JOE ROBINSON: What Bowe Bergdahl has been through, sometimes it seems like a long time ago, but with incidents like his release and his captivity are in the news, it seems like it was only yesterday. It comes back very, very vividly.

YBETH BRUZUAL: Walk us through what you were doing in the Congo, and how long you were held captive.

ROBINSON: I was part of a security consulting group. It was going to be the first democratic election in 45 years. It divvied up the country between the president and vice president, and we were supporting a candidate who was living in the U.S. but had been born in the Congo. We went on there to do a security consult, and because of my local political background.

YB: How long were you held?

ROBINSON: We ended up spending 10 days.

YB: Ten very long days. I've got to ask you this, because we've known you for many, many years. Working with Mayor Dyer, working with former Mayor Glenda Hood, your 25 years in law enforcement and as a former OPD captain, so you are a trained officer. What goes through your mind when you first get taken in and are held captive?

ROBINSON: In the heat of the moment, you are analyzing who is around you, what's going on. The people who came and assaulted the house, who put us in captivity, were all amped up. I believe they had been told that we were mercenaries, and charged us with trying to overthrow the government.

So, evaluating all the people around us, who held us in captivity and the other people who were in my group, trying not to escalate the situation.

YB: Were you calm? Did they feed you? Did you pray? Did you meditate? How did you keep it together?

ROBINSON: It was up and down, depending on what the situation was. Anytime there were people of authority around, like officers, I felt a bit safer than when the young guards were there. Anytime there was a guard change, the new guys had to come in and show how tough they were, and be a little bit meaner than the other people would.

When we were in interrogations by ourselves, with no one else around, and you think, "They could do anything they want to me now, and who would know the difference?"

The life lesson I learned is that you begin every day with hope. Every day a guy told me they were going to kill me, and every day a guy told me that I was going to be freed that day. And every day another guy would say, "You're going to be here for a really long time."

I knew when the flights would leave if we were going to get out, so you could kind of base your day on waking up, doing what you could do inside the cell, knowing that your hopes might be dashed — and often, they were, for 10 days — but every day, you start all over again. I think that's a life lesson for all of us. That is certainly what I pass along to my children and my grandchildren. It was an opportunity for me to use what my life experiences have given me.

You hear a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder, but you also have post-traumatic growth. I mean, what David did against Goliath was the right thing to do.

YB: You always keep it positive, Joe.

ROBINSON: Yeah, and I don't think you read in the Bible, in the next paragraph after that, how David had to go to a social scientist and be debriefed about how bad he felt for doing the right thing.

YB: Interesting for you to point that out. When you were being rescued, what were your thoughts at that time?

ROBINSON: We were taken on a bus. We get out of the bus to walk to the tarmac, to the steps — and this is a tarmac where they had executed other people in the '70s and '80s, during all the communism wars. Cameras were in our face. We didn't know if we were really going to go, because we had been taken to the airport and taken back once.

Finally, we walked up the steps. I walked in the plane and turned the corner. You know those little windows there, where you can look out and see all the lights and everything? The most assertive thing I ever did, I just shut the window — out of sight, out of mind — I didn't worry about it.

Then it was, "They've closed the door! Oh, my gosh, we're taxiing! Our wheels are off the ground!"

The Democratic Republic [of Congo] is just across the river from the French Congo, so on the little screen, we could see that we were in a different air space.

YB: Well, Joe Robinson, held captive back in 2006, you are an American hero. We're glad that you are back home safely. Thanks for sharing your personal, intimate story.

ROBINSON: And I am glad to be home in Orlando!