The tough-as-nails US Air Force colonel shot down over Iran was seriously wounded but still climbed a 7,000-foot ridge and hid in a crevice to evade capture for 36 hours — even with bounty-hunters on his tail.
The cool-as-a-cucumber American hero, who has yet to be publicly identified, spent one and a half days hiding in the Zagros Mountains range and dodging the enemy after his F-15E went down in hostile territory Friday.
Despite his injuries, the weapons officer was able to climb more than 1.3 miles and avoid detection from blood-thirsty nearby Iranian fighters spurred by the chance to capture an American soldier and the $60,000 bounty placed on his head, the New York Times reported.
“Thousands of these savages were hunting him down,” President Trump told Axios of the harrowing situation.
The officer was armed with only a handgun as he awaited rescue, which occurred partly thanks to the emergency beacon he sent out from a crevice along a mountain early Sunday local time, CBS News reported.
Trump and his team initially feared that the signal could be a trap to lure more American soldiers into a dangerous situation.
A US defense official said that before the colonel’s extraction, the weapons officer submitted a short, unusual message over the radio that said, “God is good.”
“What he said on the radio sounded like something a Muslim would say,” Trump told Axios, referencing the Islamic phrase “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted the same phrase, “God is good,” on X after the hero was rescued.
The officer’s pilot had already been rescued just hours after their F-15E was shot down.
It’s not clear what injuries the colonel suffered, but they have been described as serious by US officials.
With the help of the CIA, military officials were able to track the colonel’s equipment to his exact location and confirm his status, according to the Times.
Along with helping track the officer, the CIA pulled off a diversion tactic that saw the US plant fake intel that the soldier had already been rescued and was being driven out of Iran, the Times reported.
When it was time to act, a massive broad daylight operation was launched involving dozens of aircraft and MQ-9 Reaper drones providing a protective perimeter and striking any hostile forces that got within 2 miles of the airman’s position, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The complex operation involved 100 Special Operations forces, led by Seal Team 6, with Delta Force commandos and Army Rangers on standby, according to the Times.
US special ops commandos also engaged in skirmishes with local tribesmen during the hunt for the pilot.
The rescue mission ran into last-minute trouble when two aircraft stationed with a force just south of the city of Isfahan became stuck, forcing the US to dispatch three more aircraft to pick up the stranded forces and destroy the trapped vehicles lest they fall into enemy hands.
The injured airman has been flown to Kuwait for medical treatment in a rescue plane.
Trump, who boasted about the rescue Sunday, said he would hold a news conference with the military at the Oval Office on Monday at 1 p.m. about the successful operation.
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