A US Air Force colonel left stranded behind enemy lines in central Iran for two days has described his ordeal, including the terrifying instant he discovered his parachute had failed and the high-risk mission that brought him home.
The weapons system officer, identified only by the callsign ‘Dude 44 Bravo,’ was seated in the rear of an F-15E Strike Eagle on April 2 when the aircraft was shot down in a remote part of Iran.
He has since called his survival a ‘modern-day miracle.’ The colonel suffered a broken back, arm and shoulder, as well as a sprained ankle.
That night’s operation involved striking industrial sites connected to Iran’s drone and missile program, Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, told 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
As Bravo and the pilot, known only as ‘Alpha,’ flew south of Isfahan, their $30 million fighter was hit by a shoulder-fired missile. Bravo said the impact felt like being ‘hit by a freight train.’
The two airmen initially tried to keep the stricken F-15E in the air, but soon concluded the jet could not be saved. They were forced to eject.
Alpha reached the ground safely. But after Bravo ejected, he realized the attack had damaged his parachute.
‘At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,’ the airman said, becoming emotional as he recalled the moment.
‘So I paused right then and I prayed, “Lord your will be done. But I’m getting through this.”‘
A US Air Force colonel, identified only by the callsign ‘Dude 44 Bravo,’ has described being stranded behind enemy lines in Iran.
Bravo shared how terrified he was when he realized his parachute had been destroyed
Bravo was flying in the back seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle on April 2 when it was struck down over a remote area of Iran
Bravo then free-fell to the ground, crashing down at an estimated 70 to 100 mph.
‘I believe it’s a testament to God’s provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn’t prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive,’ he said.
‘I had injuries, but we all train to adapt and overcome the things that we’re faced with,’ he explained. ‘I moved as quickly as I could, despite the injuries, away from the place that I landed.’
When the sun then rose that morning, Bravo was able to make out some of his surroundings – and found himself in a valley with cliffs to either side.
He then realized the safest place for him to go would be up, where he could see Iranian forces coming from the valley below.
So, despite his broken bones, Bravo hiked and climbed up a 7,000-foot ridgeline as he told himself to ‘never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV.’
Meanwhile, back in the United States, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had to be woken up in the middle of the night as his aides told him about the crash.
His immediate reaction, he said, was to ask whether the crew was OK and whether Iran knew what had happened.
But ‘whether they’re alive or not, we’re going to get them,’ Hegseth vowed.
Following the crash, Iranian military forces put a $60,000 bounty on the airman’s head, prompting Iranian militants to hunt for him in the mountains. (Pictured: Bakhtiari tribes in Khuzestan headed into the mountains, rifles in hand, searching for the missing American F-15 jet pilot)
Evidence of the wreckage was quickly shared on Iranian media
Soon, though, evidence of the wreckage was shared on Iranian media and videos emerged online of armed groups hunting down the F-15E’s crew.
Some came within just a few hundred meters of where Bravo was hiding, US military sources told 60 Minutes.
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‘There was clear intent out of the Iranian ground force to come find those two guys,’ said General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
During the ‘race against time,’ US military closely tracked the Iranians in the area, and after six hours, US forces were able to rescue Alpha in a risky daytime raid as American helicopters took fire.
‘It was a gun fight all the way in and all the way out,’ Hegseth recounted. ‘But they got Alpha back in.’
Still, the crews were unable to find Bravo and withdrew from the region.
Declassified video showed the moment rescuers approached Bravo after two days of hiding on the ridgeline at about 7,000 feet above sea level
But 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 recognition of all that He had brought me through,’ said the airman.
He also alerted the US military that he was injured but was moving.
A rescue force was almost sent in immediately after US forces received the message, but it ‘just didn’t line up,’ Hegseth said.
‘That was a really tough decision,’ he said. ‘I’ll never forget, you know, being in the situation room and saying “OK I guess we’re gonna roll 24,” which means, “Hey Bravo’s going to be out there for basically 24 hours more.”‘
Fortunately, the airman was able to survive with almost no food or water, in the wind and the cold on the high mountain desert.
At the same time, the CIA launched a multi-pronged deception campaign meant to confuse Iranian forces looking for Bravo as they used top-secret technology to pinpoint the airman’s location.
When US forces were then ready to conduct another daring rescue, American bombers and drones struck Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces near where he was hiding.
Once the path was then cleared, the US sent more than 90 soldiers on the ground – marking the first US boots on the ground in Iran in 46 years.
Several hundred other soldiers took to the air while several thousand more served as support, as General Caine said the US would have sent even more to rescue Bravo.
The rescue teams then came in on two large planes and landed on a makeshift desert airstrip, while ‘Little Bird’ helicopters reached Bravo on the ridgeline several miles away.
When Bravo then saw his rescuers approach, he said it was ‘one of the greatest moments of my life.’
Still, Bravo was not in the clear – as the rescue planes’ landing gear got stuck in the desert sand and could not take off, leaving more than 90 of what Adm Cooper described as the military’s ‘most elite service members’ stuck until a clandestine Air Force unit came to the rescue.
It then destroyed the two stuck aircraft, worth about $100 million each, as well as the Little Bird helicopters so that the technology wouldn’t fall into Iranian hands.
Finally, about 50 hours after being shot down, Bravo was safe.
When he then left the country, the airman made sure to call his wife back home.
‘I was really proud of her and grateful for the strength that she showed,’ he recounted.
Bravo said he now wants the American public to realize the rescue mission was about more than what he had 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.’