OWASSO, Okla. — Two American airmen are safe and expected to return to their families soon after a dramatic rescue this weekend following their aircraft being shot down over Iran.
The airmen were forced to eject after an infrared-guided missile hit their aircraft. The rescue operation involved a fierce firefight, highlighting the critical survival training every U.S. combat pilot receives.
Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, a former F-16 fighter pilot who served three tours of duty in Iraq, said he knows exactly what was going through the airmen's minds. Rooney, who calls Owasso home, is the founder and CEO of Folds of Honor and the commander of recruiting for the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
"As you eject from that aircraft and you make it to the ground, your number one objective is escape and evade, and we want to get to high ground for communication," Rooney said.
Rooney told 2 News Oklahoma that fighter pilots go through extensive survival and evasion training to prepare for worst-case scenarios. The downed weapons systems officer survived 48 hours on a mountainside in Iran.
"So once we eject, the idea is escape and evade, get to high ground, and we have communication devices, a beacon, a radio, that at specific times only, we will communicate with those search and rescue forces to come get us," Rooney said.
Rooney said the rescue forces faced heavy resistance when recovering the airmen.
"They were able to come in and fight their way in. The first pilot that was rescued, who was the front seater, the actual fighter pilot, there was a tremendous firefight when they picked him up. Both of the Blackhawks were hit, the A-10 that came in for close air support was damaged so badly that the pilot had to fly out over the Strait of Hormuz and eject," Rooney said.
Rooney said one scripture comes to mind when describing the rescue of the airmen.
"There’s my favorite scripture when we talk about combat, John 15:13. No greater sacrifice than to lay down one's life for one’s friends," Rooney said.
"For those that are lost, we are so proud at Folds of Honor to stand behind over 73,000 Folds of Honor recipients now who have had someone either killed or critically disabled in combat," Rooney said.
Note: Rooney is also running for Congress for Kevin Hern's open seat. He joins 11 other Republicans in the race, including Kelly Walsh, Kim David, Jed Cochran, Mark Tedford, Courtney Gill, Nathan Butterfield, Jackson Lahmeyer, Nancy Dyson, Ron Durbin, Todd Woods, and Paul Royse. Democrat John Croisant is also running for the seat.
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