TAKE THIS PERSONALLY: Jessica Buchanan on Her Kidnapping, Captivity, & the Life That Followed
The Bobby Bones Show
Premiere Networks
4.8 • 10.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jessica Buchanan was a schoolteacher from Ohio who followed a calling to serve overseas. That calling led her to East Africa, meaningful humanitarian work, and eventually into one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable. Jessica shares the full story of how she was kidnapped in Somalia, held hostage in the desert for 93 days, and ultimately rescued by SEAL Team Six. She opens up about the moments leading up to her capture, the role intuition tried to play, what captivity was really like, and how she survived mentally when survival felt impossible.
We also talk about the aftermath from PTSD, rebuilding identity, motherhood, faith, and what it means to “survive survival.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:21.8 | Starting a new series to officially kick off this personally. Starting Morgan Heelsman. |
| 0:30.7 | Starting a new series to officially kick off the new year. I know, we're a few weeks late, but I did have some news to share with you guys before we got really into 2026. |
| 0:38.2 | Many people see the new year as an opportunity to start fresh, try new things, do things they've always wanted, chase dreams. |
| 0:42.2 | So I have some guests lined up to really hone in on so many of those things. |
| 0:46.5 | This week, we're starting with Jessica Buchanan, and her story is one that you'll want to hear and then you'll want to read her books. |
| 0:48.4 | She was kidnapped in Somalia by pirates, held captive and rescued by CLE Team 6, |
| 0:53.0 | and she's recounting the whole experience, as well as how she is now surviving survival. |
| 1:04.0 | I'm joined this week with Jessica Buchanan, and I'm really excited to share your story because |
| 1:08.9 | it is A1 with so many twists and turns. Jessica, thanks for joining me. Gosh, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to share your story because it is A1 with so many twists and turns. |
| 1:12.3 | Jessica, thanks for joining me. |
| 1:13.7 | Gosh, thanks for having me. |
| 1:14.7 | I'm so excited to be here. |
| 1:16.0 | Let's get started at the very beginning. |
| 1:17.9 | I would love for you to paint the picture of who you were until we get to that kind of moment where your life took a drastic turn. |
| 1:24.8 | Sure. |
| 1:25.8 | Well, I think the easiest place to start is in college. |
| 1:30.1 | I was getting a teaching degree. |
| 1:32.3 | And like after my first year, I went on a teaching trip to Honduras and got bit by the, oh, I can travel and work at the same time bug. |
| 1:43.1 | And then as I went through, like my education |
| 1:45.3 | courses really got involved in, we're young and so idealistic and naive and thinking that I |
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