Behind Enemy Lines: U.S. Executes ‘One
of the Most Challenging, Complex Missions
in Special Ops History’ to Save Airman
Breitbart News,
by
Joshua Klein
Original Article
Posted By: FlyRight,
4/6/2026 4:44:16 AM
The United States executed what officials described as “one of the most challenging and complex” rescue missions in the history of U.S. special operations to recover a downed Air Force officer deep inside Iran after he survived more than 24 hours behind enemy lines — injured during a violent ejection, hunted across mountainous terrain by Iranian forces and civilians, and ultimately located through a high-stakes intelligence effort that initially raised fears of a trap before culminating in a dramatic extraction that forced U.S. forces to destroy their own aircraft.
President Donald Trump confirmed the rescue at 12:09 a.m. Sunday on Truth Social, declaring, “WE GOT HIM!”
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
DiegoDude 4/6/2026 6:38:26 AM (No. 2089348)
As a retired USAF enlisted troop, couldn't be more proud of our PJ's, combat controllers, combat weather and aircrews, who relentlessly train for these type of situations. It takes big, brass balls to go into enemy territory, fight, kill bad guys, find our guy and get the hell out of Dodge with not casualties.
45 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
mobyclik 4/6/2026 7:12:40 AM (No. 2089364)
Maybe it's just me, but I wish the media would shut up about broadcasting exactly HOW we did this and the agencies involved. The enemy also listens and learns too much from or own people..
51 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/6/2026 7:55:18 AM (No. 2089396)
The media keeps attempting to dazzle people but in the military it's called "getting the job done." They expect no less from each other.
26 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
SweetPea3 4/6/2026 8:05:48 AM (No. 2089401)
My thoughts exactly, #2. But knowing the evil of the enemedia, I suspect that their "TMI" is done on purpose. You know they and the donks are seething that both pilot and navigator were rescued.
32 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
seamusm 4/6/2026 8:08:13 AM (No. 2089404)
When this war is 'over', I cannot wait to see the movie.
23 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
felixcat 4/6/2026 8:32:21 AM (No. 2089417)
Slightly OIT but since some of the comments here are about the news media, let me add the following:
I realize the talking heads on news shows like Fox and Friends (weekend and weekday) are just that - talking heads spouting their opinions rather than reporting just the facts, and maybe some of them have a journalism degree, but that degree does not make one an expert on every topic. I had to change Fox Weekend when they had on Dr. Nicole Saphier on Sunday morning talking about the USAF Col and his physical and mental condition while waiting for rescue. I mean seriously? Nicole - you're a board certified radiologist and yet, there she is on more and more shows talking about subjects well outside her medical degree. And even worse was they had on a former Blackchawk Helicopter pilot who I have listened to before and she provided useful information when talking about the collision by the Blackhawk and commercial airliner last January over the Potomac. She was helpful in that interview as she talked about her real experience flying Blackhawks and stayed on that subject. This past Saturday, she was asked about ejecting from a jet, etc etc and she could not answer those questions because she has never been fighter pilot. Good grief - when will these producers realize that just because you retired from the military or are a veteran that you can comment on all things military. I know they have time to fill. And I say that as Navy veteran.
28 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
janjan 4/6/2026 9:56:39 AM (No. 2089465)
Our military under Hegseth is awesome. I could not be more proud of what they accomplished. USAF vet here and it made me want to re-enlist. Alas, I’m too old now. God definitely had His hand in this.
25 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
slsusnr 4/6/2026 12:14:16 PM (No. 2089556)
Read "Ghost Soldiers," by Hampton Sides. The Army Ranger and Philippine Alamo Scouts raid on the Japanese prison camp at Cabanatuan was one fine piece of work.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Cousair 4/6/2026 1:03:49 PM (No. 2089583)
The media and ( former talking heads) , every word they speak about a rescue put the next airman in danger and lessen their chance of a successful rescue from enemy hands.
Ask any soldier or marine that were trapped behind lines and sighted any helicopter coming over the hill.
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2026 1:15:28 PM (No. 2089587)
I'm waiting to hear the details of how this injured pilot was able to travel to the upper part of a mountain (presumably rugged terrain) and the hide out in a crevice in the rocks for a couple of day. Not a minor feat for an uninjured person.
I have always worried that the officer was injured. A parachute landing is always risky, and in rough terrain with wind, a broken ankle, tweaked knee or even broken leg is always a possibility. I'm guessing that the serious injury was of this nature. And given that he traveled some significant distance up a mountain on his own with the injury, he must have been able to fashion an effective splint. He had huge quantities of parachute cord, parachute cloth and probably sticks or brush. I once splinted a broken small bone in my leg and was amazed at how I could walk pretty decently with the bone stabilized, while I was traveling to a doctor. That was the SMALL bone (fibula) not a lot of weight bearing. It would have been far worse with a tibia fracture.
I am very impressed that a "seriously injured" officer did this feat, although it would be significantly less difficult if the injury was to an arm, but still a significant feat. Another real possibility is a back injury during the ejection sequence. Not going to splint that, unfortunately, and could be incredibly painful.
I agree on the irritating rambling talking heads with zero knowledge of pilot training, SERE schools, etc just rattling on. I am no expert, but have discussed SERE school with several relatives who went through it. None would talk a lot about the 'prison camp' portion of the training, extremely harrowing....like getting actually waterboarded and other very unpleasant things, fortunately not relevant in this case. The survival and evasion part they were more willing to discuss. They said that the lack of calories was more debilitating that most of us can imagine. They said that by the third day with no food, they couldn't walk more than 200 yds without a long rest no matter how hard they tried.
Ejection survival kits have water and food, so perhaps this guy was in better shape that way.
Bravo for the WSO! The first and most critical part of survival is getting to a safe hideout. He did that while "seriously injured".
Going to be an epic a story, I imagine.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2026 1:18:08 PM (No. 2089592)
Re #2, I expect that critical details of the story have been changed or fabricated to disinform the enemy and not give away key secrets. Of course, a LOT of this is just well known military training that ALL militaries have figured out and trained their people to, at some level.
The "special sauce" stuff is probably not being told.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2026 1:22:27 PM (No. 2089594)
As far as personal experience. I have flown as a passenger in a tactical jet, which required a full day of ejection seat, parachute landing, high altitude chamber with oxygen mask training, and an actual "ejection seat ride" in the USN simulator ejection seat. It actually fires you up a rail, in full gear, when you pull the curtain. Wild ride.
So....NOT a military pilot, but have been through a bit of the training, and have many family members who did it for a career, so lots of discussions about it, me learning. So, some of this stuff, I know about. AND all of my info is from the 80s or 90s or so, definitely not the latest story.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Troutgreen 4/6/2026 2:28:49 PM (No. 2089622)
They keep calling this guy an airman. Maybe it's just me, but are colonels usually referred to as airmen? And do colonels usually fly backseat as WSO? And would all the stops been pulled out to find an airman of more modest rank? Just askin'....
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2026 3:51:05 PM (No. 2089635)
Re #13.
Aircrew would be appropriate, and you're right "airman" is confusing because it is an enlisted rank. And any rank officer can be trained as a Weapons Systems Officer. They all started out as a 2nd Lt, and he has been in long enough to gain the rank of Lt. Col. And aircrew often love to fly and want to stay in the cockpit as long as they can. And all pilots and WSOs have a ground job in addition to their flying job, so busy doing other "Colonel stuff" when not actually flying.
Maybe Maintenance Officer, or Operations officer, etc. in the squadron, or Executive officer or even Squadron Commander.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Phantomll 4/6/2026 6:53:20 PM (No. 2089674)
In the F-4, we called our back seaters GIBs (Guy In the Back).
1 person likes this.
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