The Patriot Post® · A Spectacular Search-and-Rescue

What no one knew was the Taliban had some sort of bunker back there, and as the MH-47 tilted back for the insert and the ropes fell away for the climb-down, the Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade straight through the open ramp.

It shot clean past the heads of the lead group and blew with a shattering blast against the fuel tanks, turning the helo into an inferno, stern and midships. Several of the guys were blown out and fell, some of them burning, to their deaths, from around 30 feet. …

The helicopter pilot fought for control, unaware of the carnage behind him but certainly aware of the raging fires around and above him. Of course, there was nothing he could do. The big MH-47 just fell out of the sky and crashed with thunderous impact onto the mountainside, swayed, and then rolled with brutal force over and over, smashing itself to pieces on a long 200-yard downward trail to extinction.

That was Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, in his book Lone Survivor, recounting the events of June 28, 2005, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, when our nation lost eight Navy SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers in a single blow.

Said Luttrell: “Weeks later I broke down when I saw the photographs, mostly because it was me they were all trying to rescue.”

Indeed, 16 warriors willingly risked and lost their lives in an effort to rescue just a single one of their own. Some might wonder why. But these were American fighting men, and it’s what they do.

I mention all this on the heels of a spectacularly successful operation this weekend by our special forces, in coordination with the CIA, during which we rescued a missing American Airman, an unnamed Air Force colonel, as well as his weapons systems officer, who landed several miles away, from an F-15E fighter jet that had been shot down deep inside Iran. As The New York Times reports, “The rescue followed a life-or-death race between U.S. and Iranian forces that stretched over two days to reach the injured Airman, who is a weapons system officer, current and former U.S. officials said. In the end, Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos extracted the officer in a massive operation that involved hundreds of special operations troops and other military personnel.”

The Times adds: “The two crew members of the F-15E Strike Eagle, the first lost to enemy fire in the monthlong war, had both ejected from the cockpit on Friday after Iran’s military struck their plane. The jet’s pilot was quickly rescued, but its weapons systems officer could not be found.”

Here again, the many are committed to rescuing the one, committed to leaving no man behind. To outsiders, this seems like a bizarre and reckless commitment, but it’s downright credal to American fighting forces.

It doesn’t require a lot of imagination to consider what would’ve happened to this warrior — and to the American war effort — had he been captured by the Iranians, paraded before their cameras, propagandized, and tortured. So the additional incentive was enormous, though unnecessary.

After being shot down on Good Friday, the injured officer tapped into the first two components of his SERE training — survival and escape — by hiking to an elevation of 7,000 feet in the Zagros Mountains and evading capture for 36 hours while American Reaper drones kept Iranian forces at bay until a special forces team could reach him.

In the meantime, our efforts to protect this lone Airman were nothing short of ferocious. As a military source told veteran war correspondent Toby Harnden, “They’ve been schwackin’ dudes chasing him all day. Was nuts.”

The New York Post reports that neither cost nor complexity ever entered into the equation: “In an effort to confuse the Iranians, who put a $60,000 bounty (more than 10 times the average household income) on the officer’s head, the CIA pulled off a diversion on Saturday — planting fake intel that he had already been rescued and was being driven out of Iran. … The operation involved landing multiple transport aircraft inside Iranian territory just south of the city of Isfahan, some 200 miles inside the country.”

The U.S. Air Force then set up a landing strip near the city. There, two U.S. transport planes became stuck and were demolished in place so as not to fall into Iranian hands. But those on the Left who are inclined to caterwaul about the expense of the operation might want to shut their lousy soup coolers — lest we remind them that Joe Biden abandoned some $7 billion worth of American military equipment and the superbly strategic Bagram Air Base when he high-tailed it out of Afghanistan.

Our commander-in-chief broke the news at eight minutes past midnight on Saturday night, so most Americans learned of it on Easter Sunday morning.

WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND! …

This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation.

There’s still much work left to be done in Iran, and the outcome of the mission is up in the air. But this weekend’s remarkable success shows us once again that the best-in-the-world American military is working at its peak — and well worthy of our respect and admiration.