Colombian Hostage RESCUED After 5 Years | Mike Drop Episode 241

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 241 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Marc Gonsalves is an American who was held hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from February 13th, 2003 to July 2nd, 2008. A former imagery analyst in the U.S. Air Force, Marc was working as a civilian military contractor on a drug surveillance mission in Colombia when his single-engine plane crashed in the jungle. Upon being swiftly captured by the FARC, Marc would go on to live as an active hostage alongside fellow contractors Tom Howes and Keith Stansell for the next five years. In July 0f 2008, Marc, Tom, and Keith would be rescued in Operation Jaque by the Colombian Security Forces. For their ordeal, all three men were awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom on March 12th, 2009. Since then, Marc has co-written the book 'Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle' with Tom and Keith, detailing their experiences as hostages. ---------- Support Marc Gonsalves- Get Your Copy of Marc's Book 'Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle' at https://www.amazon.com/Out-Captivity-Surviving-Colombian-Jungle/dp/0061769533 The Reformed Mindset Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ReformedMindset Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/marc.gonsalves Twitter / X - https://x.com/marc_gonsalves ---------- TEAM DOG FOOD, TREATS & SUPPLEMENTS Be Your Dog’s Hero: Veteran-owned by a former Navy SEAL and Special Operations K9 Trainer, Team Dog provides a complete diet of science-backed premium dog food, treats, and supplements to optimize your dog’s health, forged from rigorous standards and real-world expertise. https://www.teamdog.shop TEAM DOG ONLINE TRAINING Mike Ritland – a former Navy SEAL & Special Operations K9 trainer – shares his simple and effective dog training program to build trust and control with your dog. Based on Mike’s bestselling book “Team Dog, Train the Navy SEAL Way”, join tens of thousands of families that successfully trained their way to a better dog. https://www.teamdog.pet SHOP ALL THE MIKE RITLAND BRANDS Get all your Mike Ritland branded gear - Mike Drop | Trikos | Team Dog https://shop.mikeritland.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I was very good as an analyst. I was really good at finding coca.
0:04.0	Coca fields are easy to find, but finding laboratories,
0:08.0	transshipment, chemical, all of that stuff. I got good at that.
0:12.0	We had reports that the bad guys knew about our program,
0:16.0	they knew about our airplane, and supposedly they had our names.
0:20.0	It was an absolutely normal day, normal morning.
0:24.3	I had gone to the embassy to pick up our target package. We were flying on a Cessna Grand
0:29.3	Caravan, which is a smaller airplane, and it's an airplane with only one engine. And it was just
0:35.6	a beautiful day and I was sitting at my workstation, I'm practicing some
0:40.3	working with some new programming that we had on board.
0:43.3	And suddenly we heard this sound and it just sounded like a buzz, like a boom sound.
0:49.3	Tommy Janice, what was that? Tommy Janice is our pilot.
0:53.3	And Tommy says that was an engine failure, sure.
0:58.0	It was hard, you know, it was violent.
1:02.0	And right before we went in, he said, hold on for impact, you know,
1:05.0	and I remember I grabbed the bottom of my seat and we just hit like that, you know,
1:09.0	and I saw the side of the fuselage, you know,
1:12.2	just like split open in one spot.
1:15.3	But I was like, we're alive.
1:17.1	We survived.
1:19.1	And so, you know, I get my headset back on and I'm trying to make a radio call and everything
1:24.0	is dead.
	...

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