I forced myself to watch most of Trump’s briefing. It’s just (mercifully) finally ended. An hour-and-a-half of exaggerations, lies and bullshit, with Hegseth and Ratcliffe singing a little backup. Unfortunately I’d eaten lunch and it felt like it was turning toxic in my stomach. The short version is that Trump painted a picture of the rescue of two downed pilots in Iran as something so risky prior Presidents wouldn’t have allowed such a mission. FYI, no President has EVER refused to authorize rescue of downed air crews in hostile territory. And while as always this was a dangerous mission plenty of SAR (Search and Rescue) troops have faced tougher circumstances yet stood into danger to rescue our people. Many have volunteered even after others had been killed trying!
Of course, Cadet Bone Spurs has that nickname because he wanted nothing to do with military service, much less serving in Vietnam. It’s the LAST thing he wanted to know anything about. He was young and rich and in NYC with all it’s trendy night spots. Places where he could indulge in not service to country but service to his desire to find hot women to f**k. If that sounds crass it doesn’t change the facts.
The first use of an aircraft for SAR was in WWII when a small, winged aircraft carried out a daring rescue mission in Burma. With the advent of helicopters during Korea both medical evacs and some rescue became part of war operations. By the time of Vietnam with bigger helicopters that had room for door gunners in addition the the chopper’s own weapons their use to extract downed flyers from desperate situations was greatly enhanced. More importantly, a whole range of aircraft from low altitude propeller planes (nicknamed Sandys) to attack aircraft and sometimes even high altitude bombers would be employed to give choppers an opportunity to go deep into hostile territory on rescue missions. Not always only for pilots I might add.
In some cases where it was someone we simply couldn’t allow to be captured (I’ll get to the most well-known example) and too many aircraft had been lost an attempt to insert ground troops to locate and evacuate someone would be ordered. And we lost plenty of people THAT way. My point is that it was an article of faith in the military that when someone got shot down and managed to evade immediate capture you by god did all you could to go in, rescue them and bring them home. Or their body if they died before you could pull them out alive.
During Vietnam no angel from heaven was as beautiful to see hovering overhead as that HH-3E, better known a a “Jolly Green’ (shown in the title pic) for someone down in enemy territory. A doctrine was established in the uniformed chain of command that you did whatever it took to bring out someone shot down/trapped in enemy held territory. It was because those flying missions over hostile territory knew that any and all efforts that could be made WOULD be made to rescue them that they willingly flew into incredible danger. The knew, they knew others would risk all to get them out. And if an attempt failed, even with fatalities their brethren would keep trying. It was something no civilian in the chain of command is known to have ever questioned.
Bluntly put, Trump and his cheerleaders today were lying their asses off talking like the Iran rescue was if not unprecedented then exceedingly rare. I’d bet all I own (admittedly not much) that more than once Trump asked why bother making a big effort to ‘rescue a couple of losers who let themselves get shot down.’Â As he told a wife during a condolence call in his first term (a soldier killed in Africa on an observe and report mission gone wrong) ‘they knew what they were signing up for.
But even growing up in the 1960s I knew we went to extraordinary lengths to rescue down air crews. There are so many examples of heroics and if you don’t believe me type the words Vietnam search and rescue missions into your search engine. Which brings me to the point of bringing up a specific rescue that cost plenty of aircraft and lives but kept going forward. Eventually the story was told in a book, and later made into a movie. I’m referring to the rescue mission for Bat-21. You can read about it in detail here and given the freight train of bullshit spread earlier today you frankly owe to pilots and others who for over six decades risked all, many volunteering without hesitation to go on rescue missions.
The rescue of Bat-21, or more specifically Bat-21 Bravo (one of the two survivors of the six aircrew that got shot down) was as I said made into a movie starring Gene Hackman as the title character. Like most things Hollywood it of course took some license with history yet it got more than a little right. In the process it illustrated how things were both for a downed airman and those trying to mount a rescue. When Lt. Col. Iceal “Gene” Hambleton’s EB-66C intelligence gathering (they were looking for SAM sites which were tearing up high altitude bombers on Operation Arc Light missions – the idea was to pinpoint locations for ground attack aircraft to ‘clear a path for the bombers) only Hambleton (Bat 21 Bravo) and the pilot survived. As is typical when hit at speed they landed well apart from each other.
It’s of course bad to get shot down over enemy held territory but this was no ordinary situation. Enough interdiction along the supply train called the Ho Chi Minh trail had prompted the mobilization of tens of thousand of PAVN troops to open up the trail/supply line into south Vietnam. THIS is what they bailed out in the middle of. Day after day went by with rescue efforts failing if they could be attempted at all (weather) and as I’ve noted aircraft (five) and aircrew (11) were lost. The Marine’s Al Gray (who a couple of years later would oversee the final withdrawal and later become Commandant of the Corps) suggested a ground rescue mission be attempted.
That was greenlighted but attempts at air rescue continued. Numerous ground troops were lost although since some were ARVN it’s unsure how many. If was confirmed many were killed but there was a reason our own troops didn’t trust the ARVN because so many would simply run away during fighting and make their way home. Incredibly, even though by the time they reached him Hambleton was so weak he couldn’t move (he lost over forty pounds during the ordeal to to lack of food and minimal water) but the point is that he, like the pilot who’d been rescued first came home.
There’s another incredible story about an impromptu rescue of south Vietnamese troops who found themselves surrounded by a far greater number of NVA regulars. Two chopper pilots set forth on a Sunday ‘milk run’ to ferry a chaplain around. A VIP mission in an unarmed chopper as it wouldn’t be anywhere near any fighting. When they learned another chopper had gone down trying to rescue a group of guys on our side, even though those trapped were south Vietnamese troops both had SAR experience and though one had gotten dressed down for an impromptu rescue mission a week earlier they flew into the danger. In a chopper with no guns and no door gunners.
It would be an epic day, starting with them having to use the rotor blades of their Huey to cut forty feet of bamboo to create their own LZ – both to drop off a Special Forces medic that had been on the chopper than went down who found them and asked for help, and haul out their first load of wounded. There would be more flights that day. Again, my point is that six decades ago both chopper pilots, fixed wing pilots and even ground troops went into danger as a matter of course.
It was NOT, as Trump claimed the result of any Presidential level ‘tough decision.’ It was simply what would happen when the need arose. You did all you could do to rescue our folks. A quick glance at news stories after the second pilot was rescued showed headlines that if not mirroring the bullshit narrative Trump put out today seemed to suggest this was a fairly new thing. Pardon my language but to talk like the grunt I once was “this sh*ts been going on since before most of these idiot journalists so awed by the Iran rescue were f**king born!
There was more bullshit spread about Iran during that long, long presser. I just want readers to know what just happened is continuation of policy that has existed since (remember I mentioned Korea) even many of their grandparents were born! I have nothing but the highest of praise and thanks to offer to those who stood into danger to rescue our pilots. But they didn’t do anything a sh*load of others hadn’t done starting long before it was their turn.
I tried hard not to cut loose and rant the way I wanted to I hope where I’ve failed to control the bad language it wasn’t too much for you to put up with. For now I’ll shut up.
I stomached it too. When he turned to the general and asked how many military were involved in the rescue – holy shite. I thought for sure someone would end his bloviating. Nope – not until he invoked Greenland. General McAfree – on Deadline White House today – said 47 was UNHINGED. Yup.