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[Herald Economy=Lee Won-yul] A U.S. F-15 fighter involved in operations against Iran was shot down, and one pilot is missing. The incident has refocused attention on survival stories from veteran aviators who have endured similar shootdowns.
The New York Times on April 3 published the recollections of Ronald Young Jr., 49, a pilot who escaped a downed helicopter and survived during the 2003 Iraq War.
Young was 26 at the time. On the first day of the Iraq campaign, he was flying an Apache Longbow when enemy fire forced the helicopter down in central Iraq.
In an interview with the Times, Young recalled, “There’s nothing like the feeling of being shot down and crashing. You feel like someone is hunting you and trying to kill you. All you can think about is surviving.”
Young and the co-pilot who escaped with him hid in a nearby irrigation canal before Iraqi forces captured them. They endured 23 days of interrogation, surveillance and beatings before they were released.
Military aviators train under SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape—principles.
Under SERE doctrine, aircrew who eject or crash must move to a secure location away from enemy forces and use the radio and signaling gear in their survival kit to relay their position to friendly forces.
During the 1995 Bosnian conflict, Air Force Capt. Scott F. O’Grady, who was shot down and went missing, hid in a wooded area for six days amid missile and machine-gun fire before rescuers located him.
In a 2015 CNN interview, O’Grady said, “I realized there’s no guarantee you’ll see tomorrow,” and recounted enduring thirst and hunger in the woods, even eating ants to survive.
Iranian media have released photos of wreckage, and CNN analysts say the images match U.S. Air Force F-15 reference photos.
U.S. forces are conducting search-and-recovery efforts for the missing pilot, while Iranian forces are reported to be searching to secure the individual first.
Iranian officials told the New York Times that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sealed off the area in southwestern Iran—Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad—where the pilot is believed to have gone down.
State media announced a reward for anyone who finds and turns over the missing person.
The Times warned that the loss of an aircraft and the subsequent search-and-rescue operation present both military and diplomatic dilemmas for the United States, and those challenges would grow if the missing American were taken captive.
In a phone interview with NBC, President Trump said the shootdown would not affect negotiations with Iran, asserting, “Not at all. This is war. We are at war.”
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