'Broken back, arm, shoulder': US Air Force officer recalls 2 days behind enemy lines after Iran shootdown; calls it 'miracle'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Broken back, arm, shoulder': US Air Force officer recalls 2 days behind enemy lines after Iran shootdown; calls it 'miracle'")
Image is used for representational purpose. Photograph: (AFP)
Bravo claimed that he had a broken back, an arm and a shoulder till help arrived for him after two days. His injury came after he hit the ground at high speed after the Iranian shoulder-fired missile had damaged his parachute when their F-15E aircraft was attacked.
A US Air Force officer who Iran shot down in April shared his ordeal for the first time on Sunday (September 14). Injured after a harrowing ejection and evading Iranian forces, the Air Force colonel needed help after he crashed over a mountainous part of Iran's desert. After the attack, the weapons-systems officer on a two-man crew of flight, identified as Bravo, free-fell to the ground at an estimated 70-100 mph. Along with Bravo, the F-15E pilot was Alpha, and they were part of the mission call sign Dude 44.
"At one point when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen," Bravo said in the season premiere of 60 Minutes. "So I paused, right then, and I prayed, 'Lord, your will be done. But if I'm getting through this, I need help.'"
Broken back, arm and shoulder
Bravo claimed that he had a broken back, an arm and a shoulder till help arrived for him after two days. His injury came after he hit the ground at high speed after the Iranian shoulder-fired missile had damaged his parachute when their F-15E aircraft was attacked. With those conditions, he had to hide and survived two days behind enemy lines before his rescue, calling his survival a "modern-day miracle."
"I believe that 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," Bravo said.
Also read: ‘Let’s go’: Newly declassified videos show dramatic rescue of US Air Force officers downed in Iran
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The United States has carried out roughly 13,000 missions since the start of the conflict with Iran, according to Adm. Brad Cooper, the U.S. commander overseeing American forces in the Middle East as head of Central Command. On the night of April 2, Dude 44's mission took it near a mountainous stretch south of Isfahan, not far from where Iran had reportedly stored much of its highly enriched nuclear material.
Cooper said the aircraft's objective that night was to strike industrial sites tied to Iran's drone and missile programs. "We had air superiority," he noted, "but clearly we weren't flying over Kansas." The F-15E, a two-seat aircraft worth roughly $30 million and a mainstay of American air power for decades, was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile costing an estimated $100,000.
