CommunityEditor
04-19-2009, 05:59 PM
When three American hostages were rescued after more than five years of captivity in the jungles of Colombia, the Personnel Recovery Coordination Cell at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, was ready for them.
The staff at the PRCC, under the command of U.S. Army South, had planned and rehearsed for years for the return of the three Defense Department contractors. Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes were taken hostage by the notorious terrorist group FARC after their plane crashed on Feb. 13, 2003, in Colombia.
Once the men arrived at Fort Sam Houston last year, the PRCC’s job was to reintegrate the former hostages into civilian life. They were guided through psychological exams and complex issues such as intelligence that could aid Colombian authorities. They also were coached on seemingly simple everyday things, such as being apart from one another and ordering dinner from a menu.
“Ever since October 2003, we had been refining and rehearsing with keen anticipation the privilege to welcome them home,” Maj. Gen. Keith Huber, commanding general of Army South, told Army Times in March. “Every six months, we conducted a full-scale rehearsal in preparation for this.”
Because the three men were contractors and not service members, they did not have to participate in the reintegration process, Huber said. However, Army South was designated by Southern Command and the Defense Department to be the executive agent for the men’s reintegration.
“They stayed with us here for 10 days,” he said. “These three men are a testimony to survival. They really survived in some very primitive, difficult situations, and they were really appreciative of the reintegration process, which they didn’t know existed.”
The experience also helped his command, Huber said.
“U.S. Army South now has the most complete, the most current exposure to the steps and the lessons learned and the validity of the [reintegration] procedures that had been established but really not thoroughly tested until this situation,” he said.
Army South’s PRCC, which also is responsible for pre-deployment training and education for forces going into the Southern Command area of operations, is the first such organization in the Army, Director Doug Sanders said.
The Army’s other component commands, including Army Europe, Army North and Army Pacific, are now developing their own capability in this area, and standing up their own PRCCs, he said.
“We’re the oldest and we’ve sort of been around the longest, helping to drive the train,” Sanders said.
At Army South, the predominant focus, because of its area of operations, is the threat of being taken hostage, said Sanders, a former Ranger who went on to become a Black Hawk pilot before retiring after almost 26 years in uniform.
“I suppose you could say it is unfortunate that we have to have such an organization, but it’s the reality of people being taken hostage and kidnapped,” Huber said about the PRCC.
While in the Army, Sanders took on personnel recovery as an additional duty, and stood up the PRCC in December 2003, using Defense Department guidance to write the Army South policy, he said. When he retired, he became the director of the cell.
“Our primary mission is pre-deployment and training education for deploying forces,” he said. “We focus it on the individual soldier. He’s got to understand his environment. He’s got to understand what his actions should be if he is taken hostage, what his actions should be so he doesn’t get taken hostage.”
The PRCC ensures deploying soldiers fill out personal information cards, know how to respond if they are taken captive and who to call for help. It also tracks soldiers’ whereabouts while they are deployed.
“For a soldier to become captive ... we have experienced critical mission failure, so it’s a really dynamic situation,” Sanders said. “We’ve got to make sure soldiers are trained, and it becomes second nature to know what to do. We want to make sure he has all those tools, [and] understands there’s a specially dedicated element ... that will get you recovered and back home.”
The PRCC has executed two actual reintegrations since it stood up, Sanders said.
The first was in August 2007 for a contractor who was held in Ethiopia for 84 days. But the big test arrived when Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes were rescued July 2, 2008.
“What we try to do is normalize an abnormal situation,” Sanders said.
For example, Sanders and his staff worked with Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes on something as simple as eating.
“To a guy who has been held hostage, whose food intake was controlled, we slowly take them through and slowly get them used to eating on their own again,” Sanders said.
‘No longer chained’
For the three men, they moved from pre-prepared meals to choosing from a menu, to going to the hospital cafeteria and, finally, to a restaurant.
During their first days at Fort Sam Houston, the men were put in the same hospital room, Huber said. They were later asked if they wanted private rooms and then eventually asked if they were ready to move into quarters with their families, “understanding they had not been apart for five years,” he said.
“It’s something so simple that you don’t even think about it, but you slowly see it,” Sanders said. “They start to gain that control and regain who they were before captivity.”
For five years, personnel at the PRCC and Army South conducted full-blown rehearsals every December and June to prepare for the return of Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes.
On July 2, 2008, the men were rescued in a daring operation by the Colombian military, and less than 10 hours later, they were on the ground at Fort Sam Houston.
“The three returnees, when I walked them into at about midnight and we walked down the corridor of the hospital, and they looked at each other and they looked down at their feet, they said, ‘We’re walking on a floor. Look at these fluorescent lights,’ ” Huber said. “It was amazing to them, but you can imagine the sensory overload.”
Throughout the reintegration, Huber said he controlled the three returnees’ time in an effort to give them the time they needed to decompress and “understand they were no longer chained by the neck to trees, they were no longer forced to go on forced marches, and to go through that very emotional time to reunite with their family members.”
The three contractors’ reintegration was a success, Huber said.
“I think the testimony is when people who did not have to go through the process did go through the process,” he said. “The process has a logic to it, an approach to it. It cares for, it protects the returnees and their families ... and allows them to catch a breath and move on.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/04/army_recovery_team_041909w/
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/aliceamm/Military%20Times/041909at_recovery_800.jpg
[B]Sgt. Daniel Moon / Army
Tom Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves (foreground) were
taken hostage by the terrorist group FARC after their plane
crashed on Feb. 13, 2003, in Colombia. When released five years
later, the men recieved reintegration support from Army South's
Doug Sanders, Director of Personnel Recover Coordination Cell,
and Maj. Gen. Keith Huber (background).
The staff at the PRCC, under the command of U.S. Army South, had planned and rehearsed for years for the return of the three Defense Department contractors. Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes were taken hostage by the notorious terrorist group FARC after their plane crashed on Feb. 13, 2003, in Colombia.
Once the men arrived at Fort Sam Houston last year, the PRCC’s job was to reintegrate the former hostages into civilian life. They were guided through psychological exams and complex issues such as intelligence that could aid Colombian authorities. They also were coached on seemingly simple everyday things, such as being apart from one another and ordering dinner from a menu.
“Ever since October 2003, we had been refining and rehearsing with keen anticipation the privilege to welcome them home,” Maj. Gen. Keith Huber, commanding general of Army South, told Army Times in March. “Every six months, we conducted a full-scale rehearsal in preparation for this.”
Because the three men were contractors and not service members, they did not have to participate in the reintegration process, Huber said. However, Army South was designated by Southern Command and the Defense Department to be the executive agent for the men’s reintegration.
“They stayed with us here for 10 days,” he said. “These three men are a testimony to survival. They really survived in some very primitive, difficult situations, and they were really appreciative of the reintegration process, which they didn’t know existed.”
The experience also helped his command, Huber said.
“U.S. Army South now has the most complete, the most current exposure to the steps and the lessons learned and the validity of the [reintegration] procedures that had been established but really not thoroughly tested until this situation,” he said.
Army South’s PRCC, which also is responsible for pre-deployment training and education for forces going into the Southern Command area of operations, is the first such organization in the Army, Director Doug Sanders said.
The Army’s other component commands, including Army Europe, Army North and Army Pacific, are now developing their own capability in this area, and standing up their own PRCCs, he said.
“We’re the oldest and we’ve sort of been around the longest, helping to drive the train,” Sanders said.
At Army South, the predominant focus, because of its area of operations, is the threat of being taken hostage, said Sanders, a former Ranger who went on to become a Black Hawk pilot before retiring after almost 26 years in uniform.
“I suppose you could say it is unfortunate that we have to have such an organization, but it’s the reality of people being taken hostage and kidnapped,” Huber said about the PRCC.
While in the Army, Sanders took on personnel recovery as an additional duty, and stood up the PRCC in December 2003, using Defense Department guidance to write the Army South policy, he said. When he retired, he became the director of the cell.
“Our primary mission is pre-deployment and training education for deploying forces,” he said. “We focus it on the individual soldier. He’s got to understand his environment. He’s got to understand what his actions should be if he is taken hostage, what his actions should be so he doesn’t get taken hostage.”
The PRCC ensures deploying soldiers fill out personal information cards, know how to respond if they are taken captive and who to call for help. It also tracks soldiers’ whereabouts while they are deployed.
“For a soldier to become captive ... we have experienced critical mission failure, so it’s a really dynamic situation,” Sanders said. “We’ve got to make sure soldiers are trained, and it becomes second nature to know what to do. We want to make sure he has all those tools, [and] understands there’s a specially dedicated element ... that will get you recovered and back home.”
The PRCC has executed two actual reintegrations since it stood up, Sanders said.
The first was in August 2007 for a contractor who was held in Ethiopia for 84 days. But the big test arrived when Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes were rescued July 2, 2008.
“What we try to do is normalize an abnormal situation,” Sanders said.
For example, Sanders and his staff worked with Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes on something as simple as eating.
“To a guy who has been held hostage, whose food intake was controlled, we slowly take them through and slowly get them used to eating on their own again,” Sanders said.
‘No longer chained’
For the three men, they moved from pre-prepared meals to choosing from a menu, to going to the hospital cafeteria and, finally, to a restaurant.
During their first days at Fort Sam Houston, the men were put in the same hospital room, Huber said. They were later asked if they wanted private rooms and then eventually asked if they were ready to move into quarters with their families, “understanding they had not been apart for five years,” he said.
“It’s something so simple that you don’t even think about it, but you slowly see it,” Sanders said. “They start to gain that control and regain who they were before captivity.”
For five years, personnel at the PRCC and Army South conducted full-blown rehearsals every December and June to prepare for the return of Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes.
On July 2, 2008, the men were rescued in a daring operation by the Colombian military, and less than 10 hours later, they were on the ground at Fort Sam Houston.
“The three returnees, when I walked them into at about midnight and we walked down the corridor of the hospital, and they looked at each other and they looked down at their feet, they said, ‘We’re walking on a floor. Look at these fluorescent lights,’ ” Huber said. “It was amazing to them, but you can imagine the sensory overload.”
Throughout the reintegration, Huber said he controlled the three returnees’ time in an effort to give them the time they needed to decompress and “understand they were no longer chained by the neck to trees, they were no longer forced to go on forced marches, and to go through that very emotional time to reunite with their family members.”
The three contractors’ reintegration was a success, Huber said.
“I think the testimony is when people who did not have to go through the process did go through the process,” he said. “The process has a logic to it, an approach to it. It cares for, it protects the returnees and their families ... and allows them to catch a breath and move on.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/04/army_recovery_team_041909w/
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/aliceamm/Military%20Times/041909at_recovery_800.jpg
[B]Sgt. Daniel Moon / Army
Tom Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves (foreground) were
taken hostage by the terrorist group FARC after their plane
crashed on Feb. 13, 2003, in Colombia. When released five years
later, the men recieved reintegration support from Army South's
Doug Sanders, Director of Personnel Recover Coordination Cell,
and Maj. Gen. Keith Huber (background).