Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American civilian contractors--Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes--crash-landed in the mountainous jungle of Colombia. Dazed and shaken, they emerged from the plane bloodied and injured as gunfire rained down around them. As of that moment they were prisoners of the FARC, a Colombian terrorist and Marxist rebel organization. In an instant they had become American captives in Colombia's volatile and ongoing conflict, which has lasted for almost fifty years.

In Out of Captivity, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes recount for the first time their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue, tracing their five and a half years as hostages of the FARC. Their story takes you inside one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, going behind enemy lines with vivid and haunting imagery. Their words conjure a reality that few people have ever encountered--from sleeping on beds literally carved out of the jungle to escaping Colombian military air strikes under the cover of darkness to being bound with steel chains by their captors. Describing backbreaking starvation marches and forced isolation, the authors chronicle their confrontations and interactions with the FARC guerrilla soldiers--a motley crew of brainwashed, idealistic teenagers and seasoned vet-erans who've been around long enough to realize that the only way out of the FARC is in a body bag.

Though the physical punishments their bodies endured were unrelenting, the psychological battles they waged were the ultimate test of their resolve. With candid detail, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes relate the perilous mental struggles they eachexperienced, as they grappled with feelings of guilt, fear, and anxiety for the families and lives they'd left behind. Exposing the transformative power of captivity, they show how they turned these fears into strengths, using their memories and their families, their pasts and their futures, to motivate them in their quest for survival.

Despite the odds and the conditions, despite the chains and the silence, and despite the often tense relationships they experienced with their fellow Colombian hostages, they had one another, forging a bond that allowed them to cope with the horrific conditions of their confinement. This brotherhood enabled them to persevere through the worst that the FARC threw at them while always reminding them of their ultimate goal: freedom.

A harrowing account of one of the longest civilian hostage crises in United States history, Out of Captivity is a remarkable and compelling exploration of how far three Americans were willing to go as they fought to stay alive for themselves, their families, and one another.

On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American military contractors--Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell--crashed in the mountainous jungle of Colombia. Dazed and shaken, they awoke covered in blood with automatic rifles pointing at their faces. As of that moment they belonged to the Colombian terrorist organization known as the FARC, American captives in Colombia′s volatile conflict that has stretched over the last half century. This harrowing crash and abduction began five and a half years of captivity at the hands of the FARC, as these three men struggled to survive the madness of their surroundings.

In OUT OF CAPTIVITY, Gonsalves, Howes, and Stansell recount their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and ultimately rescue in its entirety for the first time. Revealing the details of their crash, their horrific treatment at the hands of the FARC, what they witnessed as captives, and how they survived the experiences of their years, this book provides vivid firsthand accounts of their five and half years in the jungle. Offering a glimpse inside one of the world′s most notorious terrorist organizations, OUT OF CAPTIVITY tells the story of how far three Americans were willing to go as they fought to survive for themselves, their families, and each other.

A story of life, death, survival, and the saving power of friendship, OUT OF CAPTIVITY is a remarkable look at the unbreakable bonds between friends and indomitable strength of the human spirit.

Marc Gonsalves is a former member of the United States Air Force who worked as a civilian military contractor for four years before the crash. He has a daughter, Destiney, and two stepsons, Cody and Joey. He lives in Connecticut.