Between 1991 and 2001, the former Yugoslavia faced a series of armed conflicts collectively known as the Yugoslav Wars. The Kosovo War was one such conflict, fought between controlling Yugoslav and Serb forces and Albanian rebels. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, launched an airstrike campaign in March 1999 to aid the rebel group. On March 31, 1999, Yugoslav and Serb forces ambushed and abducted three American soldiers near the Macedonian border. Staff Sergeants Andrew Ramirez and Christopher Stone and Specialist Steven Gonzales were held prisoner for 32 days until Reverend Jesse Jackson negotiated their release on May 2. In this news segment for Houston’s KPRC-TV, broadcast on October 26, 1999, reporter Cindy Garza talks with Gonzales about the ordeal. The Huntsville native enlisted in 1996 after his first year at Texas A&M University. Changed by his POW experience, Gonzales resigned from the Army to continue his college education.