US Military Rescue Operation Analysis

This is Bravo on the ridge line, waiting to be

picked up. The Pentagon declassified this video of

the rescue.

We asked General Keane to take us through it.

Well, we're looking at a feed from a

intelligence,

surveillance, and reconnaissance asset.

That's 44 Bravo up there, I'm quite sure.

And we've got two Special Forces folks coming forward,

and it looks like they're bringing him out.

The two service members on either side of Bravo were

elite Air Force para rescue operators, known in the

military as PJs.

The moment a PJ showed up, uh, to me on that ridge line was one of the

greatest moments of my life, and I don't know how to say it any more

clearly than

thank you for all that they did.

What did your rescuers say when they got to you?

The specific conversation I think I'll leave for another time, as

I don't wanna release anything that's not just my story to tell.

Mm-hmm.

What did you say to them?

Let's go.

Bravo was in American hands, but not out of danger.

Back at the makeshift airstrip, the rescue plane's landing gear

was stuck in the desert sand, and the planes could not take

off. You had more than 90 service members on

the

ground that then needed to be rescued.

We had more than 90 of America's most elite service members on the

ground, and our focus at that point was to make sure we got them safely out.

It took a clandestine unit of the US Air Force to get

Bravo and the 90-plus special operators

out of Iran.

The US then bombed its own marooned aircraft, so

no technology fell into Iranian hands.