“Welcome Home” Dude Bravo 44

During a recent mission in the incursion to keep Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, destroying Israel, destabilizing the Middle East, potentially striking Europe, and reopening the international waterway of the Strait of Hormuz to allow oil exports to travel to the world, a McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft was struck with what is believed to be a shoulder-launched heat seeking missile on Good Friday.  Faced with an airplane about to crash, both pilots elected to eject from the craft hitting 10-20 G-forces.  Ejecting from an aircraft about to crash has been described as a “violent” experience that is only used when the only other option is certain death.  The pilot from the plane was rescued after only a short period of time in a daring daylight rescue where one A-10 Warthog, providing cover, was damaged with the pilot being forced to eject over Kuwati airspace where he was rescued. 

Unfortunately, someone leaked to the media that the second airman of the F-15E had not yet been found.  This put the life of the airman and all rescuers at high risk.

The CIA had to intervene with a “deception campaign” spreading the word in Iran that the second airman had already been found and was moved out of Iran in a maritime exfiltration elsewhere.  In fact, for most of the time while the search for the airman was being conducted, even U.S. media were told that the crash occurred in Khuzestan Province of Iran when in fact it occurred in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province.  

The airman followed his training and got away from the crash and parachute-landing site, seeking high ground to send out an encoded distress signal.  The message the airman sent out was, “God is good,” and the airman was known to be a man of “deep faith.” When asked how it was possible to find the missing airman, CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated, it is like finding “a grain of sand in the desert.”  He said, “the answer is a combination of great skill on the part of the rescuers, God’s presence, the airman’s deep faith, and the body’s survival mechanism, know as the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.”

The airman, known by the call sign, “Dude Bravo 44,” had the rank of a colonel, meaning that he knew of military protocols and mission strategies, making him a wealth of information, if captured by the Iranian military, besides becoming a bargaining chip in negotiations. 

It is stated that the CIA spotted the airman in the cleft of a rock from a distance of 40 miles away.  That, in itself, is a miracle.  It was as if God had hidden airman in the cleft of a rock, just like the old hymn.  While injured, the airman had climbed a 7000 ft elevation, dressed his own wounds, and was able to send out the distress call. 

President Trump’s rescue operation involved 155 aircraft to bring this man home.  In the group were MQ-9 Reaper drones which fired upon the Iranian military if they approached the airman’s position, A-10 Warthogs, termed the “flying tank” to put themselves between enemy fire and the rescuers, MC-130J Commando II aircraft (two of which had to be abandoned and destroyed as they became stuck on the sand runway), Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green II choppers specializing in the rescue of airman and MH-6 Litte Birds, which is a specialized chopper.

In the end it was SEAL team Six commandos that extracted the airman and took him to a U.S. military medical facility in Kuwait, where he is receiving the highest level of medical care, and where it was said that he will in no doubt recover — “a clear-cut medical miracle.” 

It was stated that the airman used an unusual method to flag down the rescuers.  Apparently, his boxer shorts underwear was American-flag themed, and he took them off and waved them to the rescuers.  Also, apparently, the airman left his American-flag underwear for the Iranians to find, for Iranians took a photo of the underwear and posted it.

President Trump stated that while General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, “were totally on-board” with the rescue mission, not everyone else was.  President Trump stated, “There were military people that said, ‘You just don’t do this, you don’t go into the heart of a very powerful military.’  There were people within the military that said it’s unwise.  Hundreds of people could have been killed.”  President Trump continued, speaking of the airman stated, “In that moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shone through.  Shot down on Friday — Good Friday — hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday.  Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn.”

President Trump termed the rescue operation, an “Easter miracle.”

Concerning the release of classified information that an American airman was missing, an investigation is “underway” to determine who leaked the information to the press.   Apparently, Israel’s N12 News reporter Amit Segal, was thought to be the first to report that one of the “crew members was successfully rescued” citing a Western source.  However, another Israel N12 reporter, Barak Ravid, wrote an article for Axios and published the article hours before Segal’s report.  Barak cited “an Israeli official and a second source with knowledge.”  Specifically, Barak reported, “An American fighter jet was shot down by Iranian fire.  A search is underway to locate the two crew members, according to a source familiar with the details.”  These reports were followed by reports by the New York Post, CBS News, the Washington Post and Reuters, all of which put the airman’s life and the rescue mission at high risk.

While Segal has stated, “I’m not sure I was first.  And anyway — I will protect my sources.”

President Trump said that because of the media releases “the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land fighting for his life.  And it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him.” 

Concerning the leaker President Trump said, “We think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘National security, give it up or go to jail.”

Concerning the rescued airman, General Dan Caine stated, that this airman’s fortitude and “absolute commitment to surviving” was the stuff of legends.  He stated “Lastly, and most importantly, to Dude Bravo 44, welcome home.  Job well done.”

As writer David Hookstead stated, “the movie about this situation is going to be absolutely epic.”