Extended Interview: Bravo on survival behind enemy lines in Iran

There was an Iranian search party that had assembled at the base of the mountain to come find you. You knew that the Iranians were trying to find you as well, right? I knew that they were coming. I saw. I knew for a fact that they were looking for me. Were you armed? I was. In April, five weeks into a costly and unpopular war, an American fighter jet was shot down over Iran, leaving two American aviators stranded behind enemy lines. The officers on board, the pilot, Mission Call Sign Alpha, and the weapons systems officer, Mission Call Sign Bravo, had ejected from their F-15E and landed miles apart in a mountainous desert region. They would both soon have Iranian bounties on their heads. What unfolded was one of the largest search and rescue operations in U.S. military history. In his first interview, Bravo told 60 Minutes his harrowing story of survival and provided new details about the 50-hour operation to rescue him and his crewmate. Thank you so much for doing this, Bravo. First, let me ask you, how are you doing? Overall, very well. Thank you for asking. There's some things I'm still recovering from, but I'm receiving tremendous care and continue to recover. How grateful are you to be here, safely on American soil? It's hard to describe the depth of my gratitude, not just for those who came to get me, but for the millions of Americans that were supporting them. I really do thank each and every one of them. We've heard from the president and from the chain of command about your rescue and about Alpha's rescue. But is this the first time you are publicly sharing your story? It is. The only time I've talked about these details or any of this is either with medical professionals or with close personal friends that are helping me recover. But I think it's important for America to hear what we're capable of and remember that there are thousands of Americans that are out protecting us and defending us every day. And I want to make sure that they get their due credit. Often people will say, thank you for your service. And I don't think they realize just how much harder it is on our families that we're leaving behind as we go to do what's necessary to defend America. The whole family serves. That's right. I think it'd be helpful to just start with the basics and go through chronologically what happens. Walk me through that day on April 3rd. What was it like? That day was just another day in the war for us until the moment where we got hit by an Iranian weapon. You were flying in an F-15? Yes. F-15 is, in my biased opinion, America's greatest warhorse. It's two-tailed, two engines, two crewed, can carry an enormous amount of weaponry. It also has the ability to fly greater distances than most of our force. And I'm really proud to be part of that F-15E community. Why was it called Dude 4-4? So when deployed, each type of airframe have call signs that are associated with some of those things. In this particular case, our airframe, the F-15, was called Dude. And we were the fourth F-15 in that particular formation, thus Dude 4-4 rather than, say, 4-1. Had you and your crewmate flown together before? We'd never flown together before. In fact, that's not necessarily uncommon because we're all trained to do a particular job. And you don't want to give yourself artificial constraints in only flying with the same people over and over again. And yet as a community, we build trust knowing that the person that you're flying with is an expert at their craft and you do your best to uphold your half of that bargain. You're on a nighttime mission, correct? It was a nighttime mission that we were flying. Specific details of the mission I may not be able to get into just for security risks. While the warplane was flying over a mountainous area south of the city of Isfahan, it was struck by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile. When did you know something was going wrong? It is without a shadow of a doubt. It was evident that we'd been impacted by an Iranian weapon. When it happened, it's difficult to describe because you think about these scenarios as part of our training and how we would react given each of them. And yet when it happened, it was perfectly clear to me that we'd been hit because of the violence of that impact. Can you describe it or what you and your crewmate were able to say to each other? I think the best way I've been able to describe that moment was getting hit by a freight train. We do all we can to try to save the aircraft. It was evident that that wasn't possible. And soon thereafter, we ejected and found ourselves floating over the heart of Iran. So within seconds, you're ejecting. That's how quick the decision is. It is. I will be thankful to my dying day for my pilot and crewmate, Alpha, for saving our lives and ejecting us. So it was at the same time. We eject slightly different in an F-15 so that it will keep the two of you safe. And so there's a minor amount of time between the ejections. That extra couple of seconds will mean that there's some distance between the two of you at the ejection moment. How did that explosion impact to the plane affect the cockpit where you were? It damaged catastrophically many of the systems on the aircraft. That also includes my ejection seat. And I want the airmen that work diligently on the seat and on the equipment for our survival gear there to know, because I haven't had a chance to talk to them directly, that they did an incredible job. Because despite the damage to the aircraft, to include the damage to my ejection seat, it outperformed the design specifications. And I call that a testament to their professionalism. That actually gives me the chills. I am incredibly proud of the men and women I served with. And I'm proud of the job that they do every day. You believe it saved your life? I do. Without their professionalism and their work, the work of the maintainers that work on that aircraft that allow it to survive even for that extra minute, because the systems that they keep in working order for us to employ mean that it's going to work that much longer, even under that much damage, is more a testament to them than I would say just the every day of getting that jet into the air. They're doing so under incredibly difficult circumstances right now. So your seat was damaged by Iranian fire, and yet you still were able to eject safely. I was. Did your parachute deploy? My parachute was damaged in the initial attack at one point when I looked up and saw no parachute. That was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. So I paused right then and I prayed, Lord, you will be done. But if I'm getting through this, I need help. While you're in the air, is that almost like free falling or how would you describe that? Free falling is a good way to put it. I wasn't focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose. In SEER training, so survival, evasion, resistance, escape, we're trained to work through problems not only through the ejection sequence, but any survival scenario. And under considerations for parachute malfunctions, I never want to become a victim of my circumstances. And so I'll take the circumstances for what they are and then I'm going to keep moving forward in them. And that's what I tried to do in those moments. So how fast do you think you were going when you hit the ground? Professionals, based on my description and the injuries that I had, the professionals think I hit the ground going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour. How did you survive that? 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. And I'm grateful eternally for knowing that he was there with me. Because you don't see any other explanation for how you survived. I don't think there can be. And I think the facts around my survival, the facts proven out by my medical records, the facts proven out by the equipment that was still there, I think they all determine that that is true. The fall broke Bravo's back. He also sustained a broken arm, broken shoulder, sprained ankle, and was bleeding from cuts and scrapes to his head and face. I had injuries, but we all train to adapt and overcome the things that we're faced with. I moved as quickly as I could, despite the injuries, away from the place that I landed. Soon after the crash, an Iranian news anchor announced a bounty for the capture of the Americans. Videos emerged on the internet of armed groups hunting for the downed crew. I can tell you for a fact that they were looking for me. According to U.S. military sources, Iranian forces got to within a few hundred meters of Bravo. Walk me through what's going through your mind and what you have to do to evade capture or Iranian fire. Those SEER professionals trained me over 20 years ago in my case on setting priorities. So it's not just what you need to do, it's the timeframe that you need to do them in. So for me, I was focused on things like getting away from the enemy, finding the right place to communicate, finding the way to hide or defeat the ways the enemy might track me. It's dark, right? And can you tell me what you see around you? It is dark, but much like early morning hunting trips, you know, the sun starts to come up and you can start to perceive elements of the environment around you. Iran is the size of Alaska. And in the heart of Iran, where we were, there are high desert valleys, but also amazing craggly cliffs. And so I find myself in one of those valleys with cliffs on either side. Why did you decide to make the decision to seek higher ground? Our training gives us indications of what we should do, but not necessarily what we should do in the circumstances we find ourselves. So for me, I thought higher ground was going to give me the best chance of survival. Are you able at that point to communicate back to Central Command? I had communication equipment with me, but I did not immediately take the opportunity to communicate. I thought the priority should be getting away from that spot before someone else started showing up to look for me. Bravo told us the safest place for him to go was up. So he quickly made the decision, despite his broken bones, to hike and climb up a 7,000 foot ridgeline. Given your injuries, how did you find the strength to make it up the mountain? Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV. You were thinking that? Absolutely. Given the terrain that I faced, I think you'd find it surprising what I was able to go to overcome given those injuries. But I did it because of a warrior ethos that we talk about. My airmen that we led in theater had months of hearing about the importance of warrior ethos and how we are going to apply it. And I saw them apply that in the lead up to the conflict, during the conflict, night after night with unprecedented threats against them. And yet they're doing their job at a way that no one would have felt possible. I owed it to them to show the same warrior ethos in my situation and walk the same walk that I've been talking for months. As much as you can tell me, you started to find a place to hide inside the mountain. What was your objective at that point? My objectives were to get away from my landing site and then find the best concealment I could in order to do the other things like communicate, consider my equipment, move up. But the specific elements of tradecraft or what I did, I'd rather not talk about given the security concerns of an ongoing conflict. Did you have food and water on you? Typically a survival kit, which is included in the seat, has food, water, additional survival equipment, some medical kit. But due to the damage of my seat, I did not have one of those with me. I did have a survival vest, which we all wear. So wearing what you see before you, plus a harness and a G-suit, things to help me in the flying aspect. Then on top of that as a survival vest, that includes some basic signaling equipment, communication equipment, a very minimal amount of water and a couple of other tools to help me survive. How did you deal with your injuries? I did my best given the things that we had. So the internal ones, there's not much to do about other than make allowances for them as I moved. The external ones that I did my best to stop the bleeding once there was an opportunity to do so. When were you first able to send a signal? As soon as I found a spot that I felt provided some concealment, I started working on toward communication. At every opportunity that presented itself, I worked toward communicating with friendly forces. I did not allow that to be the priority over staying, over evading or dealing with the environmental factors that were around me. Six hours in the U.S. was able to rescue Alpha, the pilot. This is declassified video of the risky daytime raid to pick him up. Two helicopters of the 21 aircraft deployed. Videos posted on social media showed American helicopters taking fire. Were you able to see the rescue operation of Alpha? I was. What was that like? It was the proudest dad moment of my life with apologies to my kids. I was deployed with those, many of those men and women on that rescue operation as part of my unit. I know they build an ethos around doing extraordinary activities so that others may live. And to see it firsthand made me incredibly proud of them and of Americans like them that continue to raise their hand and say, Here I am. Send me. It's incredible to think that you had that vantage point to see your crewmate being rescued. I'm actually grateful for that. I would imagine that some would think it would provide a negative feeling, but instead it was only positive. It was a boon to my survival to know that America keeps its promise and I get to see the people that I'm closest to, my teammates, doing the thing that they say they're going to go do. And I get to see them upholding that with someone who I was flying with and I care deeply about. Why do you call it a dad moment? Proud dad moment. At this point in my career, in a fighter pilot career, I should be getting fitted for my rocking chair right now. And so I think I feel a bit of responsibility, not just my formal responsibility given my duties in the deployed environment, but a responsibility to make sure that they have the equipment that they need, the resources that they need. Just like you equip your children to grow and be able to do the things that they want to do and follow their dreams. And then when you get to see them doing the thing that they have worked so hard toward, I think the only appropriate description is that it's a dad moment. The force that rescued Alpha also attempted to locate Bravo, but were unsuccessful and eventually withdrew. Then as night fell on that first day in Iran, Bravo sent messages. I'm hurt. I'm moving. God is good. When I got to the moment where I could review and think about all that I'd gone through, I sent God is good as a recognition of all that he had brought me through, surviving the impact of the Iranian weapon, surviving my impact to the ground, successfully evading people that were actively looking for me. I could only think of that as miraculous. How important has your faith been in all of this? I don't have this story without faith. I'm not saying faith is replacement for training, but instead it is a boon to training. Training helps us understand what we do, but faith is the backstop of all of my actions during my time in Iran and the way that guides what I do day in and day out. Bravo would have to survive with almost no water and no food in the wind and the cold of the high mountain desert for another full day. What was your worst fear? My worst fear was letting the team that was working so diligently to rescue me down. I knew that they were going to come. I knew that America, whether it was one day or one year, was going to uphold its promise and rescue me. I had to do my part to give them time to effect that rescue. There was an Iranian search party that had assembled at the base of the mountain to come find you. You knew that the Iranians were trying to find you as well, right? I knew that they were coming. I saw, I knew for a fact that they were looking for me. Were you armed? I was. Did you consider what would happen if the Iranians had gotten close? I did, yet the thing that I was most focused on is what is next. I considered moving forward in my circumstances and so there was a problem before me and time and again I considered, what is that problem? How would I overcome it? What's the next decision I need to make and how would I take care of that? I did not focus in the least on things that were outside of my control. How cold was it at night? Were you able to stay warm? It was a high cliff in a somewhat desert-y environment with heavy winds. I did the best to stay warm given the circumstances and no additional survival equipment. It was really difficult. What I went through is difficult but I think no more difficult, in fact, less difficult than what millions of Americans go through in difficult situations that they face. And it's made easier when there are people that surround you and encourage you and tell you to keep going because we're coming or we're here to help you. And I had the exact same thing. In the end, it was the CIA that played a pivotal role launching a multi-pronged campaign which included deception to confuse Iranian forces and top-secret technology to pinpoint Bravo's exact location. To clear the way for his rescue, American bombers and drones hit Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces nearby as seen in this newly declassified video. Nearly two days after Dude 4-4 went down, it was time to go in for Bravo. The force came in on two large search and rescue planes and landed on a makeshift desert airstrip. They then unloaded small little bird helicopters capable of reaching Bravo on the ridgeline several miles away. This is Bravo on the ridgeline waiting to be picked up. The Pentagon declassified this video of the rescue the two service members on either side of Bravo were elite Air Force pararescue operators known in the military as PJs. The moment a PJ showed up to me on that ridgeline 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 rescuer say when they got to you? The specific conversation, I think I'll leave for another time as I don't want to release anything that's not just my story to tell. 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 planes landing gear was stuck in the desert sand and the planes could not take off. It took a clandestine unit of the U.S. Air Force to get Bravo and the 90 plus special operators out of Iran. The U.S. then bombed its own marooned aircraft so no technology fell into Iranian hands. 50 hours after being shot down, Bravo was finally safe, rescued as the sun came up on Easter Sunday. His wife waited for a call back home in the U.S. What was that call like? I was really proud of her, grateful for the strength that she showed and I looked forward to seeing her again. It's a reminder, as you say, about how families serve. The sacrifice of a whole family. My wife is an incredible example of what spouses and families across this nation go through when we send our sons and daughters to defend the nation. I count myself blessed beyond measure to be married to such a wonderful woman. What do you want the American people to know about this rescue mission? This is not a story about what I went through. Instead, it's a story of the teamwork, the training, of the faith, of the decisions and leadership to do something that will live in history as an example of what America is willing to do in order to uphold our promise and leave no man behind. Did you ever have any doubt that the U.S. military was coming for you? Never a doubt. It's what we do. I have great faith in my creator. Second only to that is my faith in the men and women of the United States military to do what we say we're going to do. You have put your life on the line to serve our country. Would you do it again? I intend to continue to serve in whatever capacity I can. And when we swear an oath to defend this nation and our constitution, I think it's easier to do so knowing that we're doing it as a team, that you have warriors on the left and right of you that are going to continue to fight and answer the call when it goes out. I think about, too, the selfless sacrifice and service of so many of those you serve with and that came to rescue you and Alpha. Can you talk about that selfless sacrifice? The most important thing for me is that all of those involved in this rescue understand just how grateful I am for their work. It doesn't happen on a whim. It is years of professionalism and training that lead up to a moment like this. It takes dedication beyond belief. And I don't believe Americans even realize just how much of a lifetime of effort goes into accomplishing something that seems like it happened overnight. It was a miracle that all of those individuals chose to do what they did for their lifetime and for their profession. And I get to be the recipient of that hard work. And now I sit here before you as evidence of real life miracles and the incredible professionalism of the United States military. Alpha's back flying for the Air Force. He declined our request for an interview, but he provided us with a statement. The statement reads, I am still in awe of the professionalism and tactical prowess of the Combat Search and Rescue Specialists and the Joint Force who executed the rescue missions of me and Dude 44 Bravo, both those in theater and behind the scenes, words cannot capture how thankful my family and I are and how proud I am to serve alongside each and every one of them.