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

Homecoming 431Keith and Marc could only shake their heads.I’d been in a lot of aircraft that day, but sitting in the cockpit of ourC-17 transport, I enjoyed looking at the airplane’s sophisticated avionics.It felt good to be out of the Stone Age and in my world again. Ileaned back, relaxed, and let it all sink in. Just hearing the quiet exchangesof the flight crew on a routine, uneventful flight did a lot toscrub away the memory of that day back in February of 2003. My minddidn’t rest on those thoughts for very long; they passed beneath melike the landscape below. Everything was below me at that point. Theintoxicating sense of being free was so great that nothing could dragme down or have me descend. Over the years, I’d taken a lot of grieffrom various FARC members, but in the end, they were still in thejungle fighting for what they thought of as freedom, and I had mine.We’d won. I’d won.As we passed over the dark, inky water of the Gulf of Mexico, myanticipation grew. Until February 13, 2003, I’d never been a rah-rahkind of patriot, but words weren’t enough to describe just how much Iwas looking forward to seeing the shores of the U.S. again. About fiftynautical miles from land, I could see the first few pinpricks of lightfrom the Texas Gulf Coast spreading out before me. As we drew closerand the glow grew brighter, I had to still my leg as it bounced from acombination of eagerness and fatigue.We touched down at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio andwere ferried by a Blackhawk to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC)at Fort Sam Houston, adding to the tally of flights and aircraft we’dbeen on in a twelve-hour period. Because the doctor who examined uson the C-17 flight couldn’t be certain that we didn’t have any infectiousdiseases and we had visible signs of lesions (both Keith and my leishmaniasiswas clearly visible), the staff at BAMC had cordoned off anentire wing of the hospital in anticipation of our arrival.As another part of our reintegration, the army’s specialists had arrangedit so that the three of us would stay together that first night.