Chapter 1

The Bio on recently discharged Staff Sergeant Amy Powell's record jacket said it all in a few short lines.

Born: February 14, 1980

Date Joined: Enlisted California National Guard 1 May 1998

Training: Medical field training (400 hrs. Graduated September 1999)

Married: June 2000 in San Louis Obispo, California

Children: Violet Powell (2001), Duncan Powell (2003)

Deployed: Afghanistan (Kandahar) January 2005 in Medical support role.

Combat Status: Declared Missing in Action February 2006 (MIA) changed to (KIA) February 2009

Summary: Sergeant Amy Powell was promoted to Staff Sergeant in late 2007 on the DOD master list. Her MIA status was resolved by change to KIA status on the basis of two separate visual reports of her demise in a burning ambulance. Both reports were deemed credible and her file was closed in February 2009. Active duty pay ceased in February 2009. All effects shipped to next of Kin, Husband Douglas Powell in Rancho Cordova, CA on 1 March 2009. (See Annex B)

020001042013Z: Routine patrol operations near the Pakistan border uncovered a large cave complex with a number of wounded Taliban fighters being patched up for further hostile action. This was in the early morning hours of 1 April 2013. Two female non-combatants were scooped up and returned to Base Alpha for further screening. It was discovered that one of the females was actually Staff Sergeant Amy Powell Serial Number xxx xx 2224 mistakenly reported as KIA in early 2009. Interrogation revealed she was taken prisoner by enemy units in 2006 and had remained under their control for almost seven years. Staff Sergeant Powell was classified in "good health" by medical personnel at Kandahar base camp. She was evacuated to the main hospital in Frankfurt, Germany on 15 June 2013. Because of the sensitivity of her capture and detention at enemy hands, outside release of her return was not authorized. She expressly stated that she did not want her next of kin notified until she was able to determine if that was in the "best interests" of her family.

FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Hospital authorities reported that she had suffered several gunshot wounds that had broken no bones and had fully healed. The 2x shoulder sites were through and through and it was decided safe to leave the round in her left calf alone since it had not moved for several years. The pinky and ring finger of her left hand missing and she has a seven inch scar that starts in the middle of her forehead and ends at the crown of her head. The single silver streak marks the route of the dull blade that caused it. Staff Sergeant Powell also suffers from severe hearing loss sustained from IED explosions and drone bombing. They classified her as 70% disabled and recommended release from active duty.

Staff Sergeant Powell was given transport on MACV flight number FRKJFK departed Hospital jurisdiction on 4 September 2013.

Field investigative report (FIR6562013) reveals husband and former NOK Douglas Powell still resides at the home of record with subject's 2 biological children Violet (12) and Duncan (10). Mr. Powell born 14 August 1969 has remarried Candy Ashland (21) on 1 February 2012. She graduated from Rancho Cordova High School in June 2011. He is the owner of La Hacienda Restaurant in nearby downtown Sacramento. Records indicate business was purchased with funds received from the sale of subject's parent's home also in Sacramento which went to her estate prior to status change to KIA. Current home's mortgage paid off with proceeds of subject's death gratuity which has been deemed unrecoverable due to error in change in MIA status. Other non-essential details indicate that the former Miss Candy Ashland was employed as babysitter to the two children during the period 2009-2012. Her father Joshua Ashland is currently Mister Powell's manager at the La Hacienda Restaurant. No negative comments regarding legal or financial issues other than eminent bankruptcy anticipated for La Hacienda Restaurant Incorporated due to competition and labor disputes.

Frankfurt Main Base Finance Office shows that the full amount of $265,000 in back pay was paid to Staff Sergeant Amy Powell's banking facility and that all future disability checks would be sent to the same banking location at the beginning amount of $2,365 per month.

THE NEW CHAPTER OF AMY'S LIFE

Amy sat in the terminal because it was too early for her connection flight to Sacramento. She knew from the investigative report that her husband Douglas had remarried after she was declared KIA. It was a burden to her in those recuperative months but now it seemed like inescapable fate to regain her life and lose her family at the same time. Her children had at first been her anchor to reality in captivity but she soon succumbed to the numbing grind of complete lack of freedom and ill treatment at her captor's hands. They did not violate her feminine sanctity because that was the way of things in their culture, but they really knew all the little tricks to wear her down to the bone with chaotic existence.

After a while she dreaded the drone strikes because they all looked at her with accusing eyes as if she was bringing them the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was certain they were looking for the dreaded "Al Queda" who were reputed to have taken to the hills deep inside Pakistan.

Her clothes were sort of just hanging on her because she had lost so much weight. The last time she stepped on a scale, she was a paltry 98 lbs. It was really strange because she had been trying her best to gain weight and it was not working. Her two children were uppermost on her mind but she did not want to do anything that would cause them irreparable harm or any traumatic damage because of her sudden and unexpected reappearance. She tried to remember what Candy Ashland looked like but was unable to place her in her memory. She slowly sipped her coffee that came from the machine in the hallway. It tasted pretty good to her but her taste buds were all still out of whack from the slop she had eaten for the last seven years.

Two Marines with no stripes between them sat in her bank of chairs and they were all filled with boasting about who did better on the rifle range. She figured they had just gotten out of basic training and their spirits were high. Amy hoped they weren't heading to Afghanistan right away and would get some more training before being dropped into that worm-hole of despair.