- Buchanan shares with audiences her experience in learning firsthand that the human spirit is indomitable.
On October 25, 2011, Jessica Buchanan and a colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint by Somali land pirates and held for 93 days, enduring the most harrowing and painful experience of her life. On the day of her kidnapping, she silently said to herself, “Some do come out alive, the numbers are small but they do exist.” During her captivity, she was terrorized by her captors, held outdoors in a scrub desert and kept on a starvation diet. With her health steadily deteriorating her husband, Erik Landemalm, was furiously working behind the scenes with the FBI, professional hostage negotiators, and the United States government in negotiating her release. Finally after fruitless negotiations with her captors and her medical state becoming a life-or-death issue, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue. On January 25, 2012 members of SEAL Team Six attacked the heavily-armed captors killing all and airlifting Buchanan and her colleague to safety. Through this experience, Buchanan learned that the human spirit is indomitable. Today she shares with audiences the tools she quickly learned to find strength to face any situation no matter how large or small the challenges or obstacles. She learned first-hand how to remain hopeful, dig deep even when you feel completely empty of any resources and trust your instincts as all can find the inner strength to face any situation. She chronicled the story in the New York Times best-seller and 2013 USA Best Book Award/Autobiography, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six (2013).
Jessica Buchanan shares her story of the impossible odds facing her during her 93 days of captivity by Somali land pirates and her determination and efforts to survive the harrowing and most painful experience of her life. In sharing her story with audiences she provides to use in everyday life to help find strength in any situation or challenge. They will be surprised to find that you can scrape out just enough to get through that day. It may not be more than enough—but just enough has got to be ok, and as Buchanan experienced day after day after day—just enough will do just fine.
Jessica Buchanan is a wonderful ambassador for our Navy SEAL Foundation. During her life and death struggle in an austere environment, she never quit. Like
the U.S. Navy SEALs who came to her rescue, Jessica’s faith in herself and her loved ones triumphed over evil in the most daunting of circumstances. She speaks from the heart, and offers an articulate, inspirational message of hope and courage. Jessica Buchanan’s humanitarian work, then and now, continues to make a positive difference in the world.
