USAF officer claims he ejected from jet over Iran, hit ground at 70-100mph, climbed 7000ft ridge with broken back, waited for rescue for 2 days

In early April 2026, a story that sounded straight out of a war movie hit the news. A US Air Force F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran with two men on board. The first, known as “Alpha”, was rescued within hours, but the second, “Bravo,” was only recovered after a lengthy rescue mission.

The story dominated the Easter news cycle, with Trump crowing “WE GOT HIM!” upon Bravo’s rescue, declaring it “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.” Now Bravo, an Air Force colonel and weapon systems officer, has detailed what sounds like an almost superhuman tale of survival.

Bravo gave an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, in which he told Norah O’Donnell that the moment the missile struck his plane was like “getting hit by a freight train.” Both men were ejected from the plane, and Alpha was soon rescued. However, Bravo realized his parachute had malfunctioned: “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, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.’”

“I looked up and saw no parachute”

For most, that thought would be the one of the last things going through your mind, but it appears Bravo is made of sterner stuff than most men. He says he slammed into the ground at an estimated 70-100 mph, an impact that should have killed him. It nearly did, breaking his back, arm, and shoulder, spraining his ankle, and giving him cuts and scrapes to his head and face.

Bravo says surviving the fall was a “modern day miracle,” and added, “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.”

Then, almost unbelievably, he realized he had to escape the crash site or be caught. Despite his broken back and several other broken bones, he escaped: “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.”

Then he decided to head to high ground to be rescued, choosing to scale a 7000-foot ridgeline. Once again, we can only emphasize that Bravo did this after striking the ground at high speed and breaking his back. Bravo rightfully says, “you’d find it surprising what I was able to overcome,” but credits his “warrior ethos” for letting him push his smashed body beyond all believable limits.

Even after he’d scaled the 7000-foot ridge, he had to wait for two days to be rescued. He had no food or water, and had to contend with not only the cold and wind of the mountain range, but also Iranian troops seeking to capture him. Once again, he can only say his survival was down to divine intervention:

“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, and successfully evading people that were actively looking for me. I could only think of that as miraculous.”

Later, when rescuers finally arrived, all he reportedly said was “Let’s go”. Later, reflecting on his ordeal, Bravo summarized the events as a credit to the honor, faith and heroism of the US military, “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 the 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.”