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Free fall, prayers, ‘God is Good’: US Air Force officer's remarkable rescue after Iran shootdown
When the US jet was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile from Iran, both Alpha and Dude 44 Bravo, ejected and landed in a mountainous region of Iran’s desert.
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The US officer who spent two days in enemy territory in Iran before being rescued by US forces had managed to send a message indicating that he was alive. His first words were, “God is good.” He was also able to alert the US military that he had been injured but was still moving.
When the US jet—a $30 million, two-seat F-15E—was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile from Iran in April, which can cost around $100,000, both Alpha, the pilot, and Dude 44 Bravo, the Air Force colonel, ejected and landed in a mountainous region of Iran’s desert.
Bravo, spoke to correspondent Norah O'Donnell for the season premiere of "60 Minutes", and described the chilly moments of his rescue.
How did Bravo send his first message
After the jet was hit, an impact Bravo described as “getting hit by a freight train,” he and Alpha did everything they could to save the fighter. But it quickly became clear that the aircraft could not be salvaged, forcing the pair to eject.
However, Bravo soon realised that his parachute was damaged and free-fell to the ground at an estimated 70-100 mph, breaking his back, an arm and a shoulder on impact.
Bravo recalled the terrifying moment he realized his parachute had failed, saying, "At one point when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. So I paused, right then, and I prayed, 'Lord, your will be done. But if I'm getting through this, I need help.'"
Despite his injuries, he managed to move away from his landing site right away. "I had injuries, but we all train to adapt and overcome the things that we're faced with," he said.
Surrounded by high desert valleys and craggly cliffs in Iran, Bravo realised the safest place to go was up. He hiked and climbed up a 7,000-foot ridgeline.
"Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV," Bravo said.
While Alpha was rescued in a risky daytime raid, which saw a gun fight with Iranian forces, Bravo could not be rescued by the teams at that time.
As night fell on that first day in Iran, Bravo was able to send a message back home. "When I got to the moment where I could review and think about all that I'd gone through, I sent, 'God is good,' as a recognition of all that he had brought me through," Bravo said.
What happened to Alpha and Bravo
On what Bravo described as “another” night into war, the US colonel was gearing up for a strike near a mountainous area, south of the city of Isfahan, close to where Iran had been keeping much of its highly enriched nuclear material, CBS reported.
According to Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, Dude 44's mission that night was to conduct a strike on industrial facilities related to Iran's drone and missile program.
The jet, however, came under attack and the two were left with no option but to eject and land in Iran.
How did Bravo’s rescue pan out?
After Alpha was rescued and Bravo was left alone to fight for his survival in between the rocky mountains of Iran, he used his SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training to survive while Iranian forces searched for him. He hid in a mountain crevice with little more than a pistol for protection. He also used his locator beacon as little as possible to avoid being detected. According to CBS News, Iranian forces reportedly came within a few hundred meters of him.
Bravo survived with almost no water or food, in the wind and cold of the high mountain desert, for another full day.
The CIA reportedly launched a deception operation designed to convince Tehran that Bravo had already been rescued and smuggled out of Iran by road. The agency also used highly classified technology to help pinpoint his exact location.
To clear the way for Bravo's rescue, American bombers and drones hit Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces nearby where he was hiding. Then, they went in back for Bravo.
There were over 90 US service members on the ground — the first US boots on the ground in Iran in 46 years, Adm. Cooper said. Several hundred people were in the air, and several thousand served as support in the rescue mission.
US Special Operations forces then constructed a makeshift landing strip inside Iran to facilitate the rescue. However, two C-130 aircraft became stuck at the site, forcing the military to send in three additional aircraft.
The stranded aircraft and helicopters, each reportedly worth around $100 million, were later destroyed by US forces to prevent their sensitive technology from falling into Iranian hands.
Bravo was finally rescued 50 hours after being shot down, on the morning of Easter Sunday. He later described the moment as “one of the greatest moments of my life.”
But Bravo said his experience was about more than what he had personally endured. “It's a story of the teamwork, the training, of the faith, of the decisions and the leadership to do something that will live in history as an example of what America's willing to do, in order to uphold our promise and leave no man behind.”
(With inputs from CBS News)
