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By Marc Gonsalves Out of Captivity (1st First Edition) [Hardcover]
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 battered and covered in blood with automatic rifles pointing at their faces. As of that moment they belonged to the terrorist organization known as the FARC, the military arm of the Colombia Communist Party established in the 1960s. Thus began five-and-a-half years of captivity as these three men struggled to survive the madness of their surroundings. Gonsalves, Howes, and Stansell recount their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue in its entirety for the first time. Revealing the story of their crash, their horrific treatment at the hands of the FARC, what they witnessed as captives, and how they survived, the book provides vivid and gruesome firsthand accounts of their years in the jungle. In their own words, they detail the brutality they endured both physically and mentally at the hands of their captors, describing month-long, unrelenting 'starvation' marches while suffering broken bones, dehydration, exhaustion, and infection. They speak of months of solitary confinement and heavy chains wrapped around their necks that often left them wishing for death. 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, providing unflinching insight into: their plane crash into a FARC strategic meeting site, and the FARC's execution-style murders of their crewmembers Tom Janis and Luis Cruz; the U.S. counter-narcotics surveillance role in 'Plan Colombia', including their aerial flights for electronic eavesdropping and FARC communication interceptions; the clandestine role they played as U.S Government contractors in the War on Drugs; their five-and-a-half years of captivity, torture, and deprivation; and, their experiences with other hostages, including their fraught relationship with fellow captive Ingrid Betancourt. This title also provides insight into: how they learned to live off the jungle and survive in some of the world's harshest conditions; how their friendship helped each of them to survive; how spirituality played a role for each during different phases of their imprisonment; the FARC's leaders, activities, movements, and organization; their dramatic rescue by special military units on the ground in Colombia; the reintegration process and the emotional reunions with their families and loved ones; and, how captivity has changed them and what their lives are like seven-and-a-half months after being rescued.
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First published February 24, 2009
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October 7, 2015
I could feel their pain...and boredom...I decided not to be held captive. (March 2009)
(November 2010) I returned to this book after reading Ingrid Betancourt's Even Silence has an End. Betancourt's narrative allowed me to understand what exactly conditions were like in the Colombian Amazon as a prisoner of the FARC rebels. Her beautifully written memoir provided the necessary interface with which an ordinary citizen might be able to enter the terror, pain, boredom, and physical punishment that is an everyday expectation of life as a prisoner in the Amazon jungle. As a result, the book written by the three American contractors held simultaneously with Betancourt is far more interesting and accessible to me now.
One of the more interesting aspects of this memoir are the personal voices of three men. The personalities of each are evident in their choice of language and choice of things to relate. Most fascinating of all, perhaps, is the story of how they managed to come out of the forest so healthy and well-looking, despite lingering illnesses each would battle over the coming years. Undoubtedly the reliance of each man on the other two served them well over that time, and one wishes them peace now, and a measure of satisfaction for having survived the ordeal.
One does wonder about the FARC rebels after all these books: how do they manage to maintain discipline, sort priorities, get supplies, inculcate a sense of structure and belonging in such a diffuse environment? It is not exactly easy-street to pack up a camp and move for 40 days through a rain forest. They must suffer as much as the prisoners they hold. I can't help but think a reality television show or TV series set in such an environment would be compulsive, required watching. How crass is that? That's the American in me, to ignore their platform of revolución and think only of ways to popularize and capitalize on it. No, truthfully, I'd like to hear something coherent from the FARC--to see if they can support the somewhat ridiculous notion of hostage-taking with some reason.
(November 2010) I returned to this book after reading Ingrid Betancourt's Even Silence has an End. Betancourt's narrative allowed me to understand what exactly conditions were like in the Colombian Amazon as a prisoner of the FARC rebels. Her beautifully written memoir provided the necessary interface with which an ordinary citizen might be able to enter the terror, pain, boredom, and physical punishment that is an everyday expectation of life as a prisoner in the Amazon jungle. As a result, the book written by the three American contractors held simultaneously with Betancourt is far more interesting and accessible to me now.
One of the more interesting aspects of this memoir are the personal voices of three men. The personalities of each are evident in their choice of language and choice of things to relate. Most fascinating of all, perhaps, is the story of how they managed to come out of the forest so healthy and well-looking, despite lingering illnesses each would battle over the coming years. Undoubtedly the reliance of each man on the other two served them well over that time, and one wishes them peace now, and a measure of satisfaction for having survived the ordeal.
One does wonder about the FARC rebels after all these books: how do they manage to maintain discipline, sort priorities, get supplies, inculcate a sense of structure and belonging in such a diffuse environment? It is not exactly easy-street to pack up a camp and move for 40 days through a rain forest. They must suffer as much as the prisoners they hold. I can't help but think a reality television show or TV series set in such an environment would be compulsive, required watching. How crass is that? That's the American in me, to ignore their platform of revolución and think only of ways to popularize and capitalize on it. No, truthfully, I'd like to hear something coherent from the FARC--to see if they can support the somewhat ridiculous notion of hostage-taking with some reason.
March 19, 2009
This book was fascinating; of course, I had a special interest in reading it as my husband used to work with these guys in Colombia. I can relate to everything in the book... all the political ideas, the fear of doing a job like that, etc. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning about the drug cartel and the risks these government contractors take in trying to keep illegal drugs out of America.
December 28, 2010
Some heavy hints resulted in my getting this book for Christmas – along with Clara Rojas’ book. It certainly hasn’t dethroned Ingrid Betancourt’s book, which remains one of the best I’ve read this year, but it was interesting getting these totally different perspectives on some of the same events.
I didn’t feel the three men delivered any real insights into their states of mind during this unimaginably long captivity the way that Betancourt did. The narrative plays up the stereotype of American resolve and self-belief, of a band of brothers standing together, when in reality they must have had times of doubt and depression. And like Betancourt's, the book could have been shorter.
They were clearly three very different characters, and it was a bit of a pity that having a ghost writer smoothed out some of the differences; often I had to check who was “writing”. I liked Tom’s analytical approach, and Marc’s “touchy-feely” character, always willing to give people a second chance even when they’d behaved badly. It was predictable that I’d feel the least sympathy for alpha-male Keith, who’d behaved badly himself and described Betancourt as “the most disgusting human being I’ve ever met”. He seems to have decided from the outset that he loathed her so that behaviour that he’d find acceptable in others (including the FARC) suddenly became despicable when she did it, and her more courageous acts (including escape attempts which the Americans never dared try) were only grudgingly acknowledged or dismissed as “stupid”. He’s clearly not a man who is comfortable with the idea of an ambitious, powerful woman. In particular, the account of the “radio incident” here didn’t change my mind about the despicable way he behaved; if he’d been on the receiving end of his bluff, I think he’d have reacted the same way Ingrid did. But I could admire him too; he was a very tough guy and must have played a large role in the cohesion and survival of the three men, who developed a deep bond despite their different characters. And he did have the strength to re-evaluate his own behaviour and decide to change it.
The upshot was that I felt even sadder for Betancourt. The three Americans were very lucky to have each other, and in general they were treated better than the Colombian prisoners. It comes across here, more than it does in her own book, how hard it must have been for Betancourt to be (for much of the time) the only female hostage in the group, especially when her spiky character made her not that approachable, and when the FARC isolated her from what human contact she could have with people who were sympathetic to her. No wonder she went a bit crazy.
So of you only read one book about this, I would still say “Read Betancourt’s”. Even then, it’s still impossible for anyone who wasn’t there to imagine what this captivity was like. And neither this book nor Betancourt's sheds light on what I'm most curious about: the miserable living conditions that cause teenagers to join FARC in the first place. How bad must their lives be if this is better?
Footnote: it's kind of shocking to see from reviews here how little public awareness there was in the US of what these men were going through, and how little the US government apparently did to help them, at least in the first few years. If you lived in France and didn't know about Betancourt, it was because you were living under a rock.
Oh, and while reading this, remember that unlike Ingrid Betancourt, these men knew little to nothing about Colombian politics and culture. They were working there for the money, had little interest in the country they spent much of their time in, and initially only Tom (who was married to a Peruvian woman) spoke passable Spanish. So take their views on politics with a few pinches of salt.
I didn’t feel the three men delivered any real insights into their states of mind during this unimaginably long captivity the way that Betancourt did. The narrative plays up the stereotype of American resolve and self-belief, of a band of brothers standing together, when in reality they must have had times of doubt and depression. And like Betancourt's, the book could have been shorter.
They were clearly three very different characters, and it was a bit of a pity that having a ghost writer smoothed out some of the differences; often I had to check who was “writing”. I liked Tom’s analytical approach, and Marc’s “touchy-feely” character, always willing to give people a second chance even when they’d behaved badly. It was predictable that I’d feel the least sympathy for alpha-male Keith, who’d behaved badly himself and described Betancourt as “the most disgusting human being I’ve ever met”. He seems to have decided from the outset that he loathed her so that behaviour that he’d find acceptable in others (including the FARC) suddenly became despicable when she did it, and her more courageous acts (including escape attempts which the Americans never dared try) were only grudgingly acknowledged or dismissed as “stupid”. He’s clearly not a man who is comfortable with the idea of an ambitious, powerful woman. In particular, the account of the “radio incident” here didn’t change my mind about the despicable way he behaved; if he’d been on the receiving end of his bluff, I think he’d have reacted the same way Ingrid did. But I could admire him too; he was a very tough guy and must have played a large role in the cohesion and survival of the three men, who developed a deep bond despite their different characters. And he did have the strength to re-evaluate his own behaviour and decide to change it.
The upshot was that I felt even sadder for Betancourt. The three Americans were very lucky to have each other, and in general they were treated better than the Colombian prisoners. It comes across here, more than it does in her own book, how hard it must have been for Betancourt to be (for much of the time) the only female hostage in the group, especially when her spiky character made her not that approachable, and when the FARC isolated her from what human contact she could have with people who were sympathetic to her. No wonder she went a bit crazy.
So of you only read one book about this, I would still say “Read Betancourt’s”. Even then, it’s still impossible for anyone who wasn’t there to imagine what this captivity was like. And neither this book nor Betancourt's sheds light on what I'm most curious about: the miserable living conditions that cause teenagers to join FARC in the first place. How bad must their lives be if this is better?
Footnote: it's kind of shocking to see from reviews here how little public awareness there was in the US of what these men were going through, and how little the US government apparently did to help them, at least in the first few years. If you lived in France and didn't know about Betancourt, it was because you were living under a rock.
Oh, and while reading this, remember that unlike Ingrid Betancourt, these men knew little to nothing about Colombian politics and culture. They were working there for the money, had little interest in the country they spent much of their time in, and initially only Tom (who was married to a Peruvian woman) spoke passable Spanish. So take their views on politics with a few pinches of salt.
December 12, 2012
I felt their pain. I lived for three years in Ecuador as a volunteer, including one in the rainforest, and living next to the country of Colombia is enough to arouse fear whenever the word kidnapping comes up. My husband, who I met and married while in Ecuador, comes from a Colombian family, and I was already familiar with a lot of the history before reading this book.
Prior to reading this book, I highly recommend reading Hostage Nation, as it gives a much broader political account and history of the situation surrounding their kidnapping and eventual rescue.
Having lived in the region, I understand a little bit better than most why people chose to join a movement such as FARC, while not condoning their behavior at all. The three Americans described their lack of education, illiteracy, being brainwashed, and lack of personal awareness, which is sadly true. One of the things I did there was teach adults how to read and write, and even if they are "literate" they often do not comprehend what they read. Lacking ability to obtain abstract thinking and reason, they are easy targets for brainwashing. The extreme poverty and hopelessness of their environment make perfect targets for the FARC to recruit them at early ages. My husband has said that they kidnap children/teenagers to make them soldiers, which seems to have truth to it from what I have read. Compare it to our inner city gang problem and you might get the idea.
I can't imagine the life these men were forced to endure for all that time, and being a CNN junky, I was shocked to learn their story after the fact because I don't recall EVER hearing them mentioned on the news. Having read Hostage Nation first, I don't believe the U.S. had much of anything to do with their rescue, which is a cautionary tale for anyone traveling to the area.
I do have to say that when I began reading the book, I was disappointed with two of the men for not making any attempt to learn the language and culture of the country they were working in. I was glad to see that that changed eventually, and they made clear that not all Colombians were bad. In fact, I think they gave credit where it was due in their rescue.
Spoiler alert- I was saddened to learn that their wives' had moved on, and while I thought it noble of the men to not blame them for it, nor to even say a negative thing about them, I DO blame them. While the memories of their families helped them survive the impossible, these women lived in comfort, being cared for by the company their husbands had worked for, and that they would not stand by them when they returned? Shame on them.
Prior to reading this book, I highly recommend reading Hostage Nation, as it gives a much broader political account and history of the situation surrounding their kidnapping and eventual rescue.
Having lived in the region, I understand a little bit better than most why people chose to join a movement such as FARC, while not condoning their behavior at all. The three Americans described their lack of education, illiteracy, being brainwashed, and lack of personal awareness, which is sadly true. One of the things I did there was teach adults how to read and write, and even if they are "literate" they often do not comprehend what they read. Lacking ability to obtain abstract thinking and reason, they are easy targets for brainwashing. The extreme poverty and hopelessness of their environment make perfect targets for the FARC to recruit them at early ages. My husband has said that they kidnap children/teenagers to make them soldiers, which seems to have truth to it from what I have read. Compare it to our inner city gang problem and you might get the idea.
I can't imagine the life these men were forced to endure for all that time, and being a CNN junky, I was shocked to learn their story after the fact because I don't recall EVER hearing them mentioned on the news. Having read Hostage Nation first, I don't believe the U.S. had much of anything to do with their rescue, which is a cautionary tale for anyone traveling to the area.
I do have to say that when I began reading the book, I was disappointed with two of the men for not making any attempt to learn the language and culture of the country they were working in. I was glad to see that that changed eventually, and they made clear that not all Colombians were bad. In fact, I think they gave credit where it was due in their rescue.
Spoiler alert- I was saddened to learn that their wives' had moved on, and while I thought it noble of the men to not blame them for it, nor to even say a negative thing about them, I DO blame them. While the memories of their families helped them survive the impossible, these women lived in comfort, being cared for by the company their husbands had worked for, and that they would not stand by them when they returned? Shame on them.
May 19, 2009
First off, I am a bit disappointed in myself for not having known this story before I read this book. Three Americans were held hostage for more than 5 years in the jungles of Colombia, were just rescued in 2008 and I didn't know anything about this? I need to be more aware of things going on in this world.
This book was written in a three person narrative style that worked very well. By having each of the three men tell the events from their perspective made for a more thought provoking read. I especially liked how they didn't sensationalize anything but more just gave the facts and their feelings about those facts. The whole time I was reading I was trying to put myself in their shoes and to understand what they must have been going through physically and emotionally. The book told more of personal journeys of these men and did not add much in the ways of crude or unnecessary details which would have cheapened the story. These men, plus many of the other hostages mentioned and still being held are heroes. They beat the FARQ troops by being tougher and enduring. This book also opened my eyes to the hundreds of other hostages still being held in Columbia and other places. My heart is saddened by what these people and their families are going through.
My only suggestion would have been to include more about their lives after freedom. We invested much in their lives and what they were going to do when they were free and that was reduced to just a few pages. We care and are interested. A good read and an important story.
This book was written in a three person narrative style that worked very well. By having each of the three men tell the events from their perspective made for a more thought provoking read. I especially liked how they didn't sensationalize anything but more just gave the facts and their feelings about those facts. The whole time I was reading I was trying to put myself in their shoes and to understand what they must have been going through physically and emotionally. The book told more of personal journeys of these men and did not add much in the ways of crude or unnecessary details which would have cheapened the story. These men, plus many of the other hostages mentioned and still being held are heroes. They beat the FARQ troops by being tougher and enduring. This book also opened my eyes to the hundreds of other hostages still being held in Columbia and other places. My heart is saddened by what these people and their families are going through.
My only suggestion would have been to include more about their lives after freedom. We invested much in their lives and what they were going to do when they were free and that was reduced to just a few pages. We care and are interested. A good read and an important story.
April 8, 2011
Haunting. These guys were hostages in Colombia while we lived there in Bogota. There are times during the book when I could correlate what I was doing and where I was at....at that time. We lived within 2 miles of the car bombing at the military academy. I clearly remember that day, the communication from the Embassy to stay in our apartment behind the armored door...and to not leave until they communicated to us a level of safety.
That said...
Amazing true story. I am glad to begin with this biography vs. the Ingrid Betancourt version. I'd like to read them all...Ingrid's and Clara Rojas's as well...and I believe, I'll read Clara's next and leave Ingrid to last. For obvious reasons when you've read this book.
Truly a testament to the far reaches of humanity...survival, loyalty, endurance...as well as brutality and evil.
I love Colombia. I love the culture, the people, the music...and the beauty of the country. I miss living in Bogota. I hope Colombians find peace someday....and thank you God for bringing these men home to the United States of America. How lucky we are to be FREE.......
That said...
Amazing true story. I am glad to begin with this biography vs. the Ingrid Betancourt version. I'd like to read them all...Ingrid's and Clara Rojas's as well...and I believe, I'll read Clara's next and leave Ingrid to last. For obvious reasons when you've read this book.
Truly a testament to the far reaches of humanity...survival, loyalty, endurance...as well as brutality and evil.
I love Colombia. I love the culture, the people, the music...and the beauty of the country. I miss living in Bogota. I hope Colombians find peace someday....and thank you God for bringing these men home to the United States of America. How lucky we are to be FREE.......
June 30, 2009
I remember reading at the time about the French woman's captivity and then escape from FARC and then again when this book was first published with a different perspective on her relations with the captors and fellow hostages. That's why I bought it. But this book was much more than that. It was written by the three American hostages who I think showed great courage and preseverance during their long ordeal. It was a great book, read like a novel and avoided simplistic depictions of their captors, fellow hostages and the political situation. Also showed great sensitvity to their families as well as their follow hostages(and some captors, one of whom committed suicide)
August 1, 2014
Just finished this, stayed up all night to do so. It was quite engrossing, once I got into it. These 3 men, who were doing surveillance for a private company over Columbia in a plane, to make good money for their young families, end up crashing due to engine failure. They are captured by the FARC, and held captive for what ends up being 5 whole years out of their lives! The story kept me "captivated", I had to say! I couldn't stop reading it, with all the things that they endured. I just had to keep reading, to see how it turned out, I guess. I have a thing for true exciting stories, that's for sure. Check it out yourself.
June 30, 2009
This was a fascinating book. The authors did such a wonderful job of describing their ordeal, you couldn't help but feel their pain. I know they had a co-writer, but it is amazing to me how 3 men, who are not authors, could put such so much of themselves into their words. Thankfully they were allowed to have paper and pencil so they could chronicle their days in captivity. I had no idea that these prisoners even existed until hearing of their safe return. These men survived together, and thankfully the were kept together, by sheer mind over matter and a positive attitude. They should be an inspiration to all who read their story, I know they are to me. I must say, I was a little disappointed that they didn't share more of their return to freedom and their families, but that is, perhaps, private for them. It was a wonderful book, I would recommend it to everyone.
December 7, 2010
Let's see... after seeing lots of interviews and documentaries about Ingrid and these 3 americans being kidnapped I decided to read both books, as most reviews said that both books were opposite to each other. To my surprise I realized that this book is pretty similar to Ingrid Betancourt's when it comes to the boredom, the way they were treated, what they were fed, etc, but I thought most of the stories of confrontation with Ingrid were gonna be completely different... and they are not. Both books show the human side of all the hostages, and both books admit their mistakes and how captivity brought the best and worse in all of them. So I liked this book a lot, especially to see how 3 coworkers become brothers in captivity I highly recommend it.
October 25, 2010
"Without stating it directly, they made it clear that Marc, Keith, and I would not be separated from one another for long periods of time."p.432
"You can't pick your family members, you're born with them. The same goes for your fellow hostages. We are family now. And together we did it; we survived. I love you, my brothers." p.457
Excellent, excellent book! these three guys told their story in such a warm and caring way! my favorite part was the incredible bond and the respect they shared with each other!
"You can't pick your family members, you're born with them. The same goes for your fellow hostages. We are family now. And together we did it; we survived. I love you, my brothers." p.457
Excellent, excellent book! these three guys told their story in such a warm and caring way! my favorite part was the incredible bond and the respect they shared with each other!
July 22, 2010
Cool story about 3 guys held hostage in the Columbian jungle. Only problem is the book is 450 pages when it only needed to be 150. Just too much nonsense in the book.
June 13, 2014
When I chose this book, I did not know that Pvt. Bow Bergdahl would be traded for five terrorists and brought back home to the United States. However, because of that release, after approximately five years, the book is far more pertinent than I thought it would be, and it enlightened me regarding the conditions under which a captive is forced to live and the supreme effort that must be made in order to survive, both mentally and physically.
Although Private Bergdahl has been accused by his fellow soldiers of knowingly and willingly deserting his post, his experiences during his period of incarceration must have been similar. The language barrier, deprivation and abuse along with the terror he must have felt and the abject loneliness he had to endure, had to bring him to the brink of insanity, and if not that, the edge of hopelessness.
Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell were taken captive under totally different circumstances. They went “unwillingly into the dark night”. Somewhere over the jungles of Colombia, their small plane developed engine trouble and crash landed in the best clearing they could find. They were on a mission to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. All the men on board the plane were working for private companies, but for one who was part of the Colombian military. Of the six originally on the plane, only three made it out of the jungle after almost 5 ½ years.
When the men climbed out of their plane, damaged beyond repair, they discovered they had landed in the middle of a war zone and bullets rained down around them. The FARC - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a left-wing rebel group, captured them and marched them through the jungle terrain for almost a month, rarely paying any attention to their need for food or drink, sleep or rest, or their inability to understand their language.
Over the five+ years of their captivity, they were moved from placed to place, housed in different prison camps, chained, starved, exhausted, kept in solitary, blindfolded, terrorized and deprived of contact with their loved ones. In order to survive, the three of them devised a plan to always keep hope in their hearts, to stick together and do whatever was needed to live through their ordeal. They created a community for themselves, wherever they were taken. They had no idea their imprisonment would go on for years. They had hoped to be rescued within weeks of their capture. They knew that they were being held for some kind of ransom since that was the practice of this rebel group. They also knew they randomly and wantonly committed murder, as well. They often went from a state of hopefulness to a state of utter despair, but they roused and inspired each other to keep on going until they were free and back on US soil. They wanted to live to tell their tale to the world and to be reunited with their friends and family.
The very young soldiers who were responsible for their detention and their care seemed like teenagers; they were barely able to care for themselves. They were unsure of how to treat their hostages and as they traveled from place to place, situation to situation, they experimented with various methods. As a result, the men went from highs to lows, as each day passed, as they were subjected to more and more deprivation, more and more marching, more and more isolation, more and more broken promises and threats. They were hungry, thirsty, filthy, and too tired to keep on moving, although they were forced to continue. They drew on stores of energy they didn’t know they had, and they encouraged each other and helped each other when they succumbed to illness or weakness. The years they lost as prisoners and the relationships they had at home, went on, continued without them, and their lives were profoundly impacted, permanently, by their period of imprisonment. The time that was stolen could not be returned.
The book was very detailed but it seemed too clinical. It felt like a sanitized version of their days in FARC custody. Although I walked through the jungle with them, saw their prison camps and felt some of their fear, I did not feel emotionally attached to them or any of the characters they described, except for one, and he was a rebel who realized the errors of his ways, maintained his own humanity, and escaped in the only way he could. Also, I think it would have been better if there were three readers for this audio book, one for each of the survivors, Mark, Keith and Tom, so that the person speaking in each chapter relating his past, present and hopes for the future would have been easier to identify.
Although Private Bergdahl has been accused by his fellow soldiers of knowingly and willingly deserting his post, his experiences during his period of incarceration must have been similar. The language barrier, deprivation and abuse along with the terror he must have felt and the abject loneliness he had to endure, had to bring him to the brink of insanity, and if not that, the edge of hopelessness.
Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell were taken captive under totally different circumstances. They went “unwillingly into the dark night”. Somewhere over the jungles of Colombia, their small plane developed engine trouble and crash landed in the best clearing they could find. They were on a mission to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. All the men on board the plane were working for private companies, but for one who was part of the Colombian military. Of the six originally on the plane, only three made it out of the jungle after almost 5 ½ years.
When the men climbed out of their plane, damaged beyond repair, they discovered they had landed in the middle of a war zone and bullets rained down around them. The FARC - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a left-wing rebel group, captured them and marched them through the jungle terrain for almost a month, rarely paying any attention to their need for food or drink, sleep or rest, or their inability to understand their language.
Over the five+ years of their captivity, they were moved from placed to place, housed in different prison camps, chained, starved, exhausted, kept in solitary, blindfolded, terrorized and deprived of contact with their loved ones. In order to survive, the three of them devised a plan to always keep hope in their hearts, to stick together and do whatever was needed to live through their ordeal. They created a community for themselves, wherever they were taken. They had no idea their imprisonment would go on for years. They had hoped to be rescued within weeks of their capture. They knew that they were being held for some kind of ransom since that was the practice of this rebel group. They also knew they randomly and wantonly committed murder, as well. They often went from a state of hopefulness to a state of utter despair, but they roused and inspired each other to keep on going until they were free and back on US soil. They wanted to live to tell their tale to the world and to be reunited with their friends and family.
The very young soldiers who were responsible for their detention and their care seemed like teenagers; they were barely able to care for themselves. They were unsure of how to treat their hostages and as they traveled from place to place, situation to situation, they experimented with various methods. As a result, the men went from highs to lows, as each day passed, as they were subjected to more and more deprivation, more and more marching, more and more isolation, more and more broken promises and threats. They were hungry, thirsty, filthy, and too tired to keep on moving, although they were forced to continue. They drew on stores of energy they didn’t know they had, and they encouraged each other and helped each other when they succumbed to illness or weakness. The years they lost as prisoners and the relationships they had at home, went on, continued without them, and their lives were profoundly impacted, permanently, by their period of imprisonment. The time that was stolen could not be returned.
The book was very detailed but it seemed too clinical. It felt like a sanitized version of their days in FARC custody. Although I walked through the jungle with them, saw their prison camps and felt some of their fear, I did not feel emotionally attached to them or any of the characters they described, except for one, and he was a rebel who realized the errors of his ways, maintained his own humanity, and escaped in the only way he could. Also, I think it would have been better if there were three readers for this audio book, one for each of the survivors, Mark, Keith and Tom, so that the person speaking in each chapter relating his past, present and hopes for the future would have been easier to identify.
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July 31, 2009There’s a war going on, and it is being fought everyday. It’s a war that knows no borders, no gender, no age, no class, and no race. It is the drug war, being fought not just on the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago or other major U.S. cities, not just on the streets of Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, or other Mexican border and coastal towns, but deep in the heart of the Colombian jungle.
Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 days in the Colombian Jungle is the story of three brave American men, who were doing their part in America’s war on drugs against the Colombian drug market when their airplane malfunctioned and crashed in the dense jungle while conducting a routine aerial reconnaissance mission.
It was February 13th of 2003 when Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes, were performing their duties as civilian contractors working for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), flying over the thick, green Colombian jungle, went down. Their mission that day was to snap pictures of and pinpoint the locations of the coca fields hiding beneath the jungle canopy so that both U.S. and Colombian air strikes could find and destroy this product prior to being harvested, processed and distributed as in 2002 alone, over 650 tons of cocaine were processed in Colombia, 494 tons of which went to the United States. Little did they know that they’d be getting an up close and personal view of what they were taking pictures of from above only moments before.
Almost immediately upon impact, Mark, Keith, and Tom, along with pilot Tom Jannis, and Colombian Army Sergeant Cruz along for the ride that day, are captured by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a Colombian terrorist group with Marxist ideologies who had been terrorizing Colombia as early as 1964. Wounded, dazed, and confused, Mark, Keith and Tom would be led off one path, while Tom Janis and Sergeant Cruz would be led off in another, never to be heard from again.
For more than five years, Mark, Keith and Tom would be held captive by the FARC, forced to march everywhere the FARC marched, practically being starved, and having to overcome just about every jungle parasite disease there was to contract. Theirs is a story of improvising, overcoming and adapting, not hard as Keith was a SERE trained Marine Corps veteran and Mark, an Air Force vet himself. Because of their military discipline and Tom’s attention to detail and strong work ethic, they are able to overcome every hardship the undisciplined FARC rebels threw at them.
What is interesting to point out is that although they were being held prisoners, they weren’t treated as cruel as one would imagine a political prisoner would be treated. Yes they were treated slightly inhumane, but they were never beaten, nor forced to hurt each other or other prisoners. Another interesting point is that they were able to develop different types of bonds with some of their captors, although their relationship at no time ever flirted with being considered Stockholm Syndrome.
This book is a good read for anyone that wants to read a true story of people who did what they had to do to survive. Of people who never felt sorry for themselves, and never gave up. Through faith in God, love of family and of each other, Keith, Tom, and Marc are able to survive their captivity, and ultimately make it back home.
Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 days in the Colombian Jungle is the story of three brave American men, who were doing their part in America’s war on drugs against the Colombian drug market when their airplane malfunctioned and crashed in the dense jungle while conducting a routine aerial reconnaissance mission.
It was February 13th of 2003 when Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes, were performing their duties as civilian contractors working for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), flying over the thick, green Colombian jungle, went down. Their mission that day was to snap pictures of and pinpoint the locations of the coca fields hiding beneath the jungle canopy so that both U.S. and Colombian air strikes could find and destroy this product prior to being harvested, processed and distributed as in 2002 alone, over 650 tons of cocaine were processed in Colombia, 494 tons of which went to the United States. Little did they know that they’d be getting an up close and personal view of what they were taking pictures of from above only moments before.
Almost immediately upon impact, Mark, Keith, and Tom, along with pilot Tom Jannis, and Colombian Army Sergeant Cruz along for the ride that day, are captured by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a Colombian terrorist group with Marxist ideologies who had been terrorizing Colombia as early as 1964. Wounded, dazed, and confused, Mark, Keith and Tom would be led off one path, while Tom Janis and Sergeant Cruz would be led off in another, never to be heard from again.
For more than five years, Mark, Keith and Tom would be held captive by the FARC, forced to march everywhere the FARC marched, practically being starved, and having to overcome just about every jungle parasite disease there was to contract. Theirs is a story of improvising, overcoming and adapting, not hard as Keith was a SERE trained Marine Corps veteran and Mark, an Air Force vet himself. Because of their military discipline and Tom’s attention to detail and strong work ethic, they are able to overcome every hardship the undisciplined FARC rebels threw at them.
What is interesting to point out is that although they were being held prisoners, they weren’t treated as cruel as one would imagine a political prisoner would be treated. Yes they were treated slightly inhumane, but they were never beaten, nor forced to hurt each other or other prisoners. Another interesting point is that they were able to develop different types of bonds with some of their captors, although their relationship at no time ever flirted with being considered Stockholm Syndrome.
This book is a good read for anyone that wants to read a true story of people who did what they had to do to survive. Of people who never felt sorry for themselves, and never gave up. Through faith in God, love of family and of each other, Keith, Tom, and Marc are able to survive their captivity, and ultimately make it back home.
October 2, 2011
An interesting and informative book about and by three men held in the Columbian Jungle for over five years by the terrorist organinazation FARC. I had never even heard of FARC, but they are holding hundred of hostages in the jungles of Columbia, fighting a war against the government that has lasted over forty years.
The three men were subcontractors, working for the US government, trying to destroy the cocaine that FARC produces and exports to finance their operations. The plane had engine failure and five men were captured by FARC. Two were executed right away. The others were held in many different locations all over Columbia.
The most interesting part of the book for me was the interpersonal relations between the three men, them and their guards, and them and the other hostages they came in contact with. Also, they opened up about what was going on inside from despair to wild hopes that got dashed again and again, to really facing who they were and what they had done with their lives and what they wanted to do different if they did ever get out of the jungle.
The end is so sudden and happy it made me cry. I also feel like crying when I think of the hundreds of people still held by FARC, some for many more years than these three men.
This book is really worth reading.
The three men were subcontractors, working for the US government, trying to destroy the cocaine that FARC produces and exports to finance their operations. The plane had engine failure and five men were captured by FARC. Two were executed right away. The others were held in many different locations all over Columbia.
The most interesting part of the book for me was the interpersonal relations between the three men, them and their guards, and them and the other hostages they came in contact with. Also, they opened up about what was going on inside from despair to wild hopes that got dashed again and again, to really facing who they were and what they had done with their lives and what they wanted to do different if they did ever get out of the jungle.
The end is so sudden and happy it made me cry. I also feel like crying when I think of the hundreds of people still held by FARC, some for many more years than these three men.
This book is really worth reading.
January 2, 2013
Pour beaucoup de Français, Ingrid Bétancourt était une sainte. Une Jeanne d’Arc moderne aimé par nous tous. Apres sa libération en 2008, des histoires moins positives commencent cependant á surgir : Sa réaction très peu généreuse vis-à-vis de son ex-mari, sa demande de 6 millions de dollars de l’état colombien (voracité ! criait les médias colombiens) pour avoir négligé sa sécurité pendant sa campagne électorale.
Peut-être Out of Captivity, qui raconte l’histoire des co-otages américains Keith, Marc et Tom, dévoile le plus clairement la personnalité d’Ingrid Bétancourt: une femme dominante, manipulatrice et égoïste qui fait flèche de tout bois afin de protéger ses propres intérêts. Qui a raison? Bonne question, car Bétancourt ne cesse dans son livre de critiquer les américains d’être peu cultivés, matérialistes, simples d’esprit et de ne parler que du fric.
Ostensiblement, le livre se distingue clairement de la version de Bétancourt en étant moins philosophique et moins profond, cela est sûr. Néanmoins, les descriptions des chocs quotidiens entre les soldats simples et notre chère héroïne et le développement d’une hiérarchie au sein du groupe d’otages fait que la lecture n’est pas complètement dépourvu d’intérêt.
Peut-être Out of Captivity, qui raconte l’histoire des co-otages américains Keith, Marc et Tom, dévoile le plus clairement la personnalité d’Ingrid Bétancourt: une femme dominante, manipulatrice et égoïste qui fait flèche de tout bois afin de protéger ses propres intérêts. Qui a raison? Bonne question, car Bétancourt ne cesse dans son livre de critiquer les américains d’être peu cultivés, matérialistes, simples d’esprit et de ne parler que du fric.
Ostensiblement, le livre se distingue clairement de la version de Bétancourt en étant moins philosophique et moins profond, cela est sûr. Néanmoins, les descriptions des chocs quotidiens entre les soldats simples et notre chère héroïne et le développement d’une hiérarchie au sein du groupe d’otages fait que la lecture n’est pas complètement dépourvu d’intérêt.
January 17, 2015
In the book Out of captivity surviving 1,967 days in the Colombian jungle,by Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, Keith Stansell, and Gary Brozek, the authors discuss about their experience in being prisoners of a Colombian terrorist organization called the FARC. The authors’ message that were mainly conveyed throughout the story is that with enough faith you can accomplish anything. An important quote from the book is “Sitting there with Patricia and my two boys made me feel like I’d been given another chance. I wasn’t going to squander that opportunity to be washed clean, to remove some of the layers of selfishness and ego that had been building up on me long before I’d crashed in Colombia. If i hadn't gotten that message that giving of myself to others was a necessary and beneficial thing that enabled us all to survive our captivity, then Patricia’s selfless devotion drove the point home so that even this big dumb country boy wouldn't forget it.” on page 441. This is important because it shows that during his time in captivity all he had in his mind was seeing Patricia and his two boys, which led him to not give up.
June 23, 2018
Ugh, it pains me to write this about this book, considering these men went through an obviously traumatic experience. But, 6 years in the jungle leads to a lot of down time..... and that's pretty much what the book was about: Not a whole lot. They were forced to hike everywhere and told us about the long (and probably torturous) walks that lasted for weeks and months on end. They sat in camps with nothing to do, and told us about it, repeatedly. The problem with this book, is that three men are writing their experiences separately, and thus repeating a lot of the same story over and over again. And with the six year story being a bit bland as is, it was a bit hard to get through. I could feel their boredom, as I was bored, too.
While the book was a little snoozy, I do not wish to take away from these men's experiences and how awful it must have been for them. I commend them for staying strong and making it through what must have been a horrendously demanding and damaging experience, both psychologically and physically.
While the book was a little snoozy, I do not wish to take away from these men's experiences and how awful it must have been for them. I commend them for staying strong and making it through what must have been a horrendously demanding and damaging experience, both psychologically and physically.
January 23, 2019
Wow it is unbelievable what the human can support!!
Very good book
Very good book
September 15, 2022
3,5 sterren- Nederlandse hardcover
March 8, 2015
Although I disagree with the reason Marc, Keith, and Tom were in Colombia in the first place ("War on drugs"), I focused on the human condition aspect of their 5-1/2 years in captivity and found it to be an intriguing read. The premise of the book is how these three Americans survived for so long under the FARC. I admired the trio's system of communication and spirit building methods under adverse conditions. Their account of the mundane time in the jungle and trying to understand how the FARC thinks and organizes itself, struck a somewhat personal note with me, but certainly not to the extent of anything they experienced. Having lived near there (Ecuador) for three years, I found some of their reactions to South American idiosyncracies and culture to be believable and at times, humorous.
I think my personality would've clashed with that of Keith, though he did seem to read Ingrid Betancourt and certain situations correctly. Assuming their assessment of her is true, she is either bipolar, or an insecure backstabber. I would've gotten along well with Marc, as he is the more "tranquilo" one. I could also identify with Tom, as he is fluent in Spanish and was able to reach out to the FARC and Colombian prisoners, which made Keith feel insecure. I especially felt in his shoes in the part when Keith thinks he is betraying the trio by speaking Spanish to them and being a "buddy." I've felt the same way here speaking Spanish to Latinos in front of gringos.
As a person with liberal political views, their right wing views took a little away from the book for me, especially their views on Iraq, and why we were there. They didn't seem to understand that U.S. meddling in other countries, as well as the failed "War on drugs" (in bed with the private prison industry) helps create the very terrorists that held them captive. Maybe if drugs were legalized in America, the FARC's finances would effectively collapse and ultimately sink them.
What I also found far-fetched, were all the conversations in the book. Did they really remember what everyone said 2, 3, 4, 5 years, etc. ago? I understand that they had to portray the reality of their situation, but it leaves me wondering how much error/half-truths they may have added to the book. There are also some spelling errors in the book that were especially notable when talking about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Their personal accounts of family trials and tribulations seemed believable. The end was gripping and touching when they were finally rescued by the Colombian army. All in all, I looked forward to the rescue by reading it every chance I had. Overall, it was a decent read.
I think my personality would've clashed with that of Keith, though he did seem to read Ingrid Betancourt and certain situations correctly. Assuming their assessment of her is true, she is either bipolar, or an insecure backstabber. I would've gotten along well with Marc, as he is the more "tranquilo" one. I could also identify with Tom, as he is fluent in Spanish and was able to reach out to the FARC and Colombian prisoners, which made Keith feel insecure. I especially felt in his shoes in the part when Keith thinks he is betraying the trio by speaking Spanish to them and being a "buddy." I've felt the same way here speaking Spanish to Latinos in front of gringos.
As a person with liberal political views, their right wing views took a little away from the book for me, especially their views on Iraq, and why we were there. They didn't seem to understand that U.S. meddling in other countries, as well as the failed "War on drugs" (in bed with the private prison industry) helps create the very terrorists that held them captive. Maybe if drugs were legalized in America, the FARC's finances would effectively collapse and ultimately sink them.
What I also found far-fetched, were all the conversations in the book. Did they really remember what everyone said 2, 3, 4, 5 years, etc. ago? I understand that they had to portray the reality of their situation, but it leaves me wondering how much error/half-truths they may have added to the book. There are also some spelling errors in the book that were especially notable when talking about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Their personal accounts of family trials and tribulations seemed believable. The end was gripping and touching when they were finally rescued by the Colombian army. All in all, I looked forward to the rescue by reading it every chance I had. Overall, it was a decent read.
May 28, 2019
A well-written memoir of the experience of the three government contractors captured in Colombia in 2003. I read the overall journalist' account contained in Hostage Nation in a previous read. This was the details of the same event, but written from the more narrow perspective of the captured Americans themselves. It was a clearly presented open account of their day-to-day experience.
One was a former marine, but for the most part, they were just 3 guys out to make money to support their family, and the government contractor positions provided that well until they found themselves on the jungle floor with their wrecked chopper, and guerrillas pointing weapons at them. The first portion of their captivity was spent on the march, after the pilots were killed. Then, they stayed in a couple of makeshift camps, but they were often on the move to evade detection by the Colombian military forces.
Eventually, they were moved to a stationary camp with other prisoners, and here they recount some of the psychological problems prisoners in a camp often face. Paranoia, power struggles, and conflict between men and women who are being beat and chained with little to improve their daily existence does not make the best social situation. And, given the emotional sound of Keith's account, it appears the experience had a long-term effect on him emotionally. The account was published less than a year after their release, so it still seemed pretty heavy on the minds of all three men.
It is a good read and the narration by Mark Deakins is of good quality. I recommend this for those interested in memoirs and first-hand accounts of survivors. The book alternates between the first-person voice of each of the 3 hostages, so you hear the story from each man's own recollection.
One was a former marine, but for the most part, they were just 3 guys out to make money to support their family, and the government contractor positions provided that well until they found themselves on the jungle floor with their wrecked chopper, and guerrillas pointing weapons at them. The first portion of their captivity was spent on the march, after the pilots were killed. Then, they stayed in a couple of makeshift camps, but they were often on the move to evade detection by the Colombian military forces.
Eventually, they were moved to a stationary camp with other prisoners, and here they recount some of the psychological problems prisoners in a camp often face. Paranoia, power struggles, and conflict between men and women who are being beat and chained with little to improve their daily existence does not make the best social situation. And, given the emotional sound of Keith's account, it appears the experience had a long-term effect on him emotionally. The account was published less than a year after their release, so it still seemed pretty heavy on the minds of all three men.
It is a good read and the narration by Mark Deakins is of good quality. I recommend this for those interested in memoirs and first-hand accounts of survivors. The book alternates between the first-person voice of each of the 3 hostages, so you hear the story from each man's own recollection.
February 11, 2011
This is the true story of 3 men in the Columbian jungle. The 3 were working for a company hired by the United States Government to fly over the Columbian jungle and try to locate poppy fields or sites that were processing the seed into drugs.
On February 13, 2003 on a routine flight their plane had engine problems and they had to crash land in the jungle.
On July 02, 2008 they were rescued, and regained their freedom after 5 years of captivity.
It is almost inconceivable that they could have survived for 5 years under harsh and degrading conditions. What may be even more unbelievable is that they encountered Colombia Military personnel and Political prisoners that had been held much longer than they had.
They found themselves constantly under the threat of being killed, either by their captors or by a rescue operation.
Living conditions were horrid at best. The jungle was always wet or moist and food was scarce and sometimes inedible. It was not unusual to find in their "chicken soup" the head or legs of the chicken.
They were also susceptible to jungle diseases, and were lucky to receive any treatment. The medic that treated them had little if any formal training, and received most of his experience by trial and error in the field.
The 3 struggled with the thoughts of their loved ones back in the States. They also left some heavy baggage that they had to bring to resolution during their captivity.
This is a good story, especially considering that these 3 gentlemn laid their lives bare to give us a true insight of the personal, psychological, and physical problems that they faced in their 5 years of captivity.
On February 13, 2003 on a routine flight their plane had engine problems and they had to crash land in the jungle.
On July 02, 2008 they were rescued, and regained their freedom after 5 years of captivity.
It is almost inconceivable that they could have survived for 5 years under harsh and degrading conditions. What may be even more unbelievable is that they encountered Colombia Military personnel and Political prisoners that had been held much longer than they had.
They found themselves constantly under the threat of being killed, either by their captors or by a rescue operation.
Living conditions were horrid at best. The jungle was always wet or moist and food was scarce and sometimes inedible. It was not unusual to find in their "chicken soup" the head or legs of the chicken.
They were also susceptible to jungle diseases, and were lucky to receive any treatment. The medic that treated them had little if any formal training, and received most of his experience by trial and error in the field.
The 3 struggled with the thoughts of their loved ones back in the States. They also left some heavy baggage that they had to bring to resolution during their captivity.
This is a good story, especially considering that these 3 gentlemn laid their lives bare to give us a true insight of the personal, psychological, and physical problems that they faced in their 5 years of captivity.
May 19, 2010
I thought I kept up on current events, but somehow I missed the news during the more than FIVE YEARS these three men were held hostage in Colombia. The writing is not great, but that's a bit much to ask for from men who were locked up in the South American jungle for nearly 1,967 days and nights (and who were obviously not trained to be novelists). The story is told in the first person equally by each of the three authors.
What is most amazing to me is that this took place between 2003 and 2008. The ordeal ended less than two years ago!!! And while these men basically had their lives suspended, life continued without them. You might expect their family and friends to be waiting for them when they returned, but five years of no contact can have quite an effect on relationships. And then they came home in July 2008 to learn of a world where everyone had something called an IPOD.
Out of Captivity is another book that taught me how lucky I am to live where I do, and that there are still many places on this earth that are a thousand times worse than the worst places in the U.S. (and one of those places is in Colombia, South America).
Read this book!!! It's an incredible true story of the human spirit overcoming incredible hardship at the hands of other humans.
What is most amazing to me is that this took place between 2003 and 2008. The ordeal ended less than two years ago!!! And while these men basically had their lives suspended, life continued without them. You might expect their family and friends to be waiting for them when they returned, but five years of no contact can have quite an effect on relationships. And then they came home in July 2008 to learn of a world where everyone had something called an IPOD.
Out of Captivity is another book that taught me how lucky I am to live where I do, and that there are still many places on this earth that are a thousand times worse than the worst places in the U.S. (and one of those places is in Colombia, South America).
Read this book!!! It's an incredible true story of the human spirit overcoming incredible hardship at the hands of other humans.
September 9, 2011
What a great look into the war on drug in such a tumultious, gorilla warfare ridden place. This is a the true tale of a flight crew that crash lands in the Colombian Jungle while trying to return to base camp, only to be taken hostage by the FARC the years lived, moving from location to location under the jungle canopy and how the government faked out the FARC and was able to secure the release of several of those people and a women who was of French/Colombian origin who had planned to run for a gov't position in Colombia. As you read this book, each of us could imagine ourselves being caught up in this life they led while held captive and why they did'nt take many opportunity to run and escape as one did. A freind of mine does thsi work and turned me onto these guys story here, I wondered if my freind would continue this work himself after reading the plight of his co-workers here. The writing style isnt the best, but the story is fabulous. The end lends a moment of HURRAH for the hometeam! Then you wonder, after all the years captive with their family not knowing their fate, would their relationships still be the same when they rejoined their wives, children, parents? Read to find out, I highly recommend, good read for sure.
December 8, 2010
This is the second book I read about the hostages taken by the FARC. These men were Americans that were captured after surviving a plane crash in the Columbian jungle. It was an engrossing read and I would often find myself doing mundane daily things and thinking about them. It made me appreicate my freedom more and the freedome we take for granted here in the US. I did think they could have been more bluntly honest in their book (if was written by all 3 men) just as Ingrid Bettancourt could have been more honest. I think at times they all sunk to such lows due to their circumstances and didn't want to reveal too much about themselves and others in that state. Had they been more honest it would have been a better book beacause you would have felt more of the real human emotions. Having said that it was still powerful, captivating and VERY thought provoking. A must read to see the world outside our own and the strength of human endurance agains all odds. These men will forever be heroes for what they sacrificed and went through.
April 17, 2010
If you have ever dreamed of taking that once in a life time trip to the rain forests of Colombia, read this book and see if you still want to. There are plenty of other places I would rather be than in the hands of the FARC. Granted not everyone who travels to Colombia is abducted by terrorists, but many people who have lived there or visited have been affected negatively by this group. The authors of this book did an excellent job bringing the plight of hostages and even some FARC members into the light with this book. It was an easy, informative and compelling read from start to finish. I enjoyed the way three different men's stories could be intertwined into one big picture. While reading this book I felt as if I was having a conversation with the co-authors, not reading. I did lose a little hope in humanity by reading this book, one should read it with a grain of salt and consider the hand that some people in the story were forced to play with.
August 12, 2012
I learned a lot about human nature, the FARC, politics and international conflict resolution. The plot was interestig but felt disconnected at times. The first half of the book failed to drag me in, so it took me a while to go through it; by the second half I had enough info to stay involved and the writer got a little more more dramatic. There are obvious problems with cultural interpretations. At one point they mention that saying that something would happen in 8 days instead of a week (which is 7 days) meant something on a psychological level... WRONG! That's just an American Spanish language saying; we all say "De mañana en 8 días which means in a week, period! There were several misinterpretations like these, which tells me that they didn't do their homework. They should've polished it a little more before publishing it. One of them says it: the book was rushed. All in all, I would recommend it.
June 8, 2025
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Out of Captivity is the story of Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell who survived five years of captivity at the hands of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) or FARC guerrillas. The FARC were an armed terrorist group with Marxist ideologies that held territory throughout the jungles of Colombia and had ambitions of overthrowing the country’s government. To fund their efforts, they engaged in all sorts of illegal activities, including the production and distribution of drugs, particularly cocaine. Marc, Tom, and Keith were employed by a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman as civilian military contractors. Their job entailed flying over suspected FARC territory and mapping out coca fields for later destruction. The trio, along with the lead pilot and a Colombian military representative, set out for a routine mission one day, only to have the plane’s engine fail. The pilot was forced to crash land in the jungle. Miraculously they all survived the crash, but were instantly surrounded by FARC guerrillas. Marc, Tom, and Keith were separated from the other two—who they later found out were killed—and the three men were taken captive. Their journey in FARC hands commenced with a weeks-long forced march through rough terrain before finally reaching a small compound where they were locked up. For the next five plus years, they were held hostage, alternating between spending time in various FARC prison camps and being marched through the jungle to their next destination whenever the FARC got nervous that the Columbian military were getting too close. Through sheer force of will, the three men managed to survive ill-treatment at the hands of their captors, various jungle illnesses, and the constant fear that if rescuers came for them, the FARC would simply murder them before they could be saved. But in the end, a daring rescue attempt was made, and the men finally found themselves on their way home to their families.
Out of Captivity has been on my TBR pile for a number of years. I honestly can’t recall how it ended there, but I suspect I may have heard the story of Marc, Tom, and Keith’s captivity and subsequent rescue on NPR. I have a pretty strong interest in survival stories, too, so it probably intrigued me enough to want to read it, even though military (or in this case military adjacent) stories aren’t usually at the top of my interests. I recall news stories about the FARC back in the day, but I can’t say that I ever learned a great deal about these terrorist guerrillas. From what the authors relate in this book, it sounds like they were pie-in-the-sky idealists with Marxist ideologies but not much of a plan beyond making money from their illegal endeavors and holding territory while terrorizing people. Low-level grunts in their organization were counted as expendable, easily replaced by impoverished teens from the rural locales where they operated. Marc, Tom, and Keith met some guards who were friendlier and there were a few smarter ones who seemed like decent people who’d simply made a bad choice, but for the most part they appeared rather drunk on power.
As for Marc, Tom, and Keith, they immediately knew that they had to stick together as much as possible, which they did except for getting on each other’s nerves from time to time. However, at their first prison camp, they were separated. They could see each other every day, but weren’t allowed to talk to one another, which was psychologically difficult for them. Marc turned to his Catholic faith for comfort, while Tom and Keith kept thoughts of their families top of mind, all of them determined to make it back home to see their kids and significant others once more. Later on, after they were allowed to start speaking again, they spent nearly a year in a prison camp alongside several political prisoners, including Ingrid Betancourt, who had been a candidate for president of Columbia. The three men had differing opinions of Ingrid, with Marc eventually developing a relationship of a sort with her, while the other two didn’t like her at all. (As an aside here, I discovered that she wrote a memoir of her own time in captivity, which I think might be interesting to read sometime.) In that same camp, there were a number of Columbian soldiers and police being held as well.
At the end of their time there, Marc, Tom, and Keith were separated out again. I thought it was interesting that they came up with a name for each of the prison camps they inhabited, usually having something to do with the focus of their time there. All three also journaled a lot, which probably helped with writing this book when they returned home. I know that the marches, illnesses, ill-treatment, fear, and most of all, being away from their families for so long could be grueling for them. I could also tell from the before and after photos that their time in captivity took a physical toll on them. I admire their fortitude in the face of such trying circumstances. Their survival should be lauded, as it indeed was, but it seems they were mostly just grateful to make it back home, which is understandable. Overall, Out of Captivity was a very well-written book that surprised me with how well it held my attention. Five years in captivity could easily have become a tedious narrative, but I was never bored while reading it. I’d recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in survival against the odds stories like I do.
Out of Captivity is the story of Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell who survived five years of captivity at the hands of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) or FARC guerrillas. The FARC were an armed terrorist group with Marxist ideologies that held territory throughout the jungles of Colombia and had ambitions of overthrowing the country’s government. To fund their efforts, they engaged in all sorts of illegal activities, including the production and distribution of drugs, particularly cocaine. Marc, Tom, and Keith were employed by a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman as civilian military contractors. Their job entailed flying over suspected FARC territory and mapping out coca fields for later destruction. The trio, along with the lead pilot and a Colombian military representative, set out for a routine mission one day, only to have the plane’s engine fail. The pilot was forced to crash land in the jungle. Miraculously they all survived the crash, but were instantly surrounded by FARC guerrillas. Marc, Tom, and Keith were separated from the other two—who they later found out were killed—and the three men were taken captive. Their journey in FARC hands commenced with a weeks-long forced march through rough terrain before finally reaching a small compound where they were locked up. For the next five plus years, they were held hostage, alternating between spending time in various FARC prison camps and being marched through the jungle to their next destination whenever the FARC got nervous that the Columbian military were getting too close. Through sheer force of will, the three men managed to survive ill-treatment at the hands of their captors, various jungle illnesses, and the constant fear that if rescuers came for them, the FARC would simply murder them before they could be saved. But in the end, a daring rescue attempt was made, and the men finally found themselves on their way home to their families.
Out of Captivity has been on my TBR pile for a number of years. I honestly can’t recall how it ended there, but I suspect I may have heard the story of Marc, Tom, and Keith’s captivity and subsequent rescue on NPR. I have a pretty strong interest in survival stories, too, so it probably intrigued me enough to want to read it, even though military (or in this case military adjacent) stories aren’t usually at the top of my interests. I recall news stories about the FARC back in the day, but I can’t say that I ever learned a great deal about these terrorist guerrillas. From what the authors relate in this book, it sounds like they were pie-in-the-sky idealists with Marxist ideologies but not much of a plan beyond making money from their illegal endeavors and holding territory while terrorizing people. Low-level grunts in their organization were counted as expendable, easily replaced by impoverished teens from the rural locales where they operated. Marc, Tom, and Keith met some guards who were friendlier and there were a few smarter ones who seemed like decent people who’d simply made a bad choice, but for the most part they appeared rather drunk on power.
As for Marc, Tom, and Keith, they immediately knew that they had to stick together as much as possible, which they did except for getting on each other’s nerves from time to time. However, at their first prison camp, they were separated. They could see each other every day, but weren’t allowed to talk to one another, which was psychologically difficult for them. Marc turned to his Catholic faith for comfort, while Tom and Keith kept thoughts of their families top of mind, all of them determined to make it back home to see their kids and significant others once more. Later on, after they were allowed to start speaking again, they spent nearly a year in a prison camp alongside several political prisoners, including Ingrid Betancourt, who had been a candidate for president of Columbia. The three men had differing opinions of Ingrid, with Marc eventually developing a relationship of a sort with her, while the other two didn’t like her at all. (As an aside here, I discovered that she wrote a memoir of her own time in captivity, which I think might be interesting to read sometime.) In that same camp, there were a number of Columbian soldiers and police being held as well.
At the end of their time there, Marc, Tom, and Keith were separated out again. I thought it was interesting that they came up with a name for each of the prison camps they inhabited, usually having something to do with the focus of their time there. All three also journaled a lot, which probably helped with writing this book when they returned home. I know that the marches, illnesses, ill-treatment, fear, and most of all, being away from their families for so long could be grueling for them. I could also tell from the before and after photos that their time in captivity took a physical toll on them. I admire their fortitude in the face of such trying circumstances. Their survival should be lauded, as it indeed was, but it seems they were mostly just grateful to make it back home, which is understandable. Overall, Out of Captivity was a very well-written book that surprised me with how well it held my attention. Five years in captivity could easily have become a tedious narrative, but I was never bored while reading it. I’d recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in survival against the odds stories like I do.
February 17, 2011
Fascinating read and great survival story. It was amazing to learn about what goes on in Colombia and the terrifying cycle of the terrorist orginazation, FARC, in recruiting impoverished, young kids. Obviously, you know the happy ending from the get go, but I was still so thrilled when the hostages were rescued and made it home!
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