Austen, Sergeant Sam

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Resided in: Unknown
Occupation: US Army Recruiter (Sergeant Major)
Reason for Travel: N/A
Flight Seat #: N/A

Sam Austen helped raise Kate as her father, and was previously married to Kate's mother, Diane Jansen. Although Kate grew up believing Sam was her biological father, it turned out that while Sam was in Korea, Diane had an affair with Wayne Jansen, who is actually Kate's biological father.

Kate spent some time with her father at Fort Lewis in Washington State. There, Kate learned some skills from her father such as hunting and tracking.

Austen was once deployed to the Middle East during the first Gulf War.  SGT Sam Austen approached an imprisoned Sayid to do some "translation" work (which later turned into the interrogation and torture of Tariq, under the supervision of Agent Inman).  Afterwards, he was also part of the convoy that escorted Sayid for release in Iraq.  He asked him "You got a wife, kids?" while looking at a photograph of young Kate.

At some point, Diane and Sam divorced, and Diane married Wayne Jansen. When Kate discovered that Wayne is her real father, she killed him - because she couldn't stand the thought of Wayne (a drunk, abusive husband, and bad father) being a part of her.

While on the run from the US Marshal, Kate visited her father at an army recruiting office. During their conversation, Kate asked "Why didn't you tell me that Wayne was my father?" to which Sam responded, "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd kill him. And your mother loved him." When Kate asked her father why he didn't kill Sam, he replied, "Because I don't have murder in my heart."  Kate asked him to give her one hour before calling the police on her, hugged him and left.