'Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV': US airman shares intense Iran survival story after shootdown

A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle flying over the US Central Command area of responsibility.

US Air Force photo by Tech.

Sgt.

Daniel Asselta The aviator shot down over Iran in April survived a damaged parachute and serious injuries before being rescued.

The aviator, called "Bravo," credited the jet's pilot with their fast ejection from the damaged jet.

The rescue involved 92 troops on the ground, multiple aircraft, and thousands more troops in support.

An Air Force officer who survived behind enemy lines for two days in Iran after his F-15E fighter jet was shot down said he hit the ground hard after the shoulder-fired missile that struck his Strike Eagle also shredded part of his parachute.

Severely wounded and stranded in hostile territory, the downed airman was forced to rely on survival training for one of the military's worst-case scenarios.

In an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes , the weapons systems officer, identified only by his call sign, Bravo, described surviving a nearly catastrophic fall, scaling a towering ridgeline despite broken bones, and evading Iranian forces for days before US special operations troops could rescue him.

The pilot, who declined to speak with 60 Minutes, and the weapon systems officer were shot down on April 2 by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Bravo said the missile strike was like being hit by a freight train.

He credited fast action from the pilot, known as Alpha, for the pair's ejection, a notoriously violent process for aviators.

US military aviators undergo extensive training for ejections, which alone can cause serious injury or prove fatal, and also for surviving and evading enemy capture.

Alpha landed safely five miles away from Bravo, who described the ejection as "terrifying." The weapons officer recalled during the interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O'Donnell a dangerous free-fall into rugged Iranian territory.