Three Americans freed after being held more than five years by rebels in Colombia gave thanks Saturday and urged people to not forget other hostages who were left behind.
They headed home to Florida after 10 days of treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.
"We're going to go home now, we're going to rest, we're going to unwind for about a month and a half," said Marc Gonsalves, who boarded a plane with Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell.
The men had been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungle in February 2003.
They were rescued by the Colombian military on July 2, when undercover agents tricked the leftist rebels into handing them over. Kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 11 Colombian police and soldiers also were released.
Stansell, Gonsalves and Howes faced reporters before boarding the plane, but asked for privacy after they return home.
"Remember that today, for the first time, we're going home. There's family members that are waiting for us," Stansell said. "Just imagine if you hadn't seen your family in 5 1/2 years. ... Let us go home and be family men again."
Stansell, who along with Gonsalves proudly displayed a new Florida driver's licenses, urged people — the media in particular — to remember the hostages still being held by FARC.
"Don't forget the people that are still there," Stansell said. "Because of our rescue, there are fellow hostages that are still there. Some have 10 years — right this minute, right this minute, they're in chains, looking for food and they're on the run. Their families haven't seen them for 10 years."
The men, employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary, were brought to Brooke Army Medical Center for a voluntary "reintegration process."
Col. Jackie Hayes, chief of pulmonary and critical care at Brooke Army Medical Center, said at a Monday news conference that the men "in general fared very well" and that examinations have "not revealed any significant medical problems."
Three American hostages - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell - that were being held in Colombia by FARC are now free. They are safely in Florida after their rescue by Colombian forces; 12 other hostages were rescued at the same time. They received care from the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio before being sent home to their families. The men were taken captive when their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungles of Colombia in 2003 - more than 5 years ago. All three of the men were working for a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation at the time.

Keith Stansell emphasized that while he was grateful to be home, no one should "forget the people that are still there". "Because of our rescue, there are fellow hostages that are still there," Stansell said. He reminded those listening that some of the remaining hostages have already been in captivity for 10 years, in squalid conditions. "You wait for a day like yesterday and today, you know, for the end, you... you want it to end," added Marc Gonsalves.