Ritter’s Rant 083: Search and Rescue

Ritter’s Rant 083: Search and Rescue

Источник: https://scottritter.substack.com/p/ritters-rant-083-search-and-rescue

Hello and welcome to this edition of Ritter's Rant. Today we're going to be talking about search and rescue. I think as most people who are following the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran are aware of, there are credible reports of an American F-15E Strike Eagle having been shot down over Iran and the pilots are apparently on the run. And there are active measures underway by American Special Operations Forces to rescue these pilots. Now, this is an extraordinarily difficult operation, a very dangerous operation for those involved. You know, as it's unraveling, of course, the details, the specifics aren't going to be unknown. Nobody wants to give away too much. But, you know, clearly there are operations underway. Men's lives are at risk. And this is a very serious turn of events. But in order to better understand this, we can go back in history. During Desert Storm on the evening of January 19th, 1991, a flight of F-15E strike eagles from the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing were sorting out to strike targets in and around the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim.

that were associated with Scud missile operations. One of these F-15Es flown, Corvette 3, the call sign flown by David Eberle, a colonel, and Thomas Griff, that's a major, his weapons officer, was hit by an Iraqi service air missile and brought down. You know, they're They landed on the ground, they survived, and they began to evade capture, awaiting rescue. Now, rescuing them was going to be difficult because Al-Qaim is in West Iraq, but the furthest northern corner of it on the border with Syria. Most of the combat search and rescue forces were located down in the area of Al-Juf or Ar-Ar, These are northern Saudi towns, cities that had airports. And for them to fly north would be problematic. It's a long flight, a lot of refueling, very dangerous at that time. The United States did have a combat search and rescue capability based out of Batman near Diabraker in Turkey. And these forces did prepare to go in.

Now, there were some problems, because in order to get into Iraq, they would have to fly through Syrian airspace, and we needed permission of the Syrian government to do this, and this was not immediately forthcoming. This kept Colonel Eberle and Major Griffiths on the move longer than they would have liked to have been. Ultimately, they evaded for about two days, and then they were captured as they tried to make their way across the Iraqi-Syrian border. The communications between the downed crewmen and the people trying to rescue them were intermittent at best. There was some positive communications, but they got broken up. And oftentimes, you know, Everly and Griffith were communicating, not knowing if anybody was listening. And sometimes people were transmitting the same way. It was an imperfect situation. Complicating factors even more was the fact that the CIA had put together a a group of agents on the ground inside Iraq whose job was to assist in escaping evasion of American pilots there.

These agents, primarily from local Bedouin tribes, that traveled back and forth into Syria. There was a CIA paramilitary team based out of Syria that had recruited these people over time. And these are people who had tribal connectivity between their families in Syria and their families in Iraq. Their job was to provide safe houses. So if they found a pilot, the pilot could be put in a safe house and then held until rescue could be brought in. So you had these CIA guys on the ground, these Arabs on the ground looking for the pilots. you had the pilots evading, and then you had special operations forces coming in from Turkey. It was a very difficult mission to come in. The first time they made an effort to go in, the helicopter pilots, CH-53 pilots, they were commenting that it was the heaviest anti-aircraft gunfire they've ever seen in their lives. But the other thing they found out is that as they attempted to communicate, the, um, the Iraqis were zeroing in on them.

Um, this of course was after, uh, Eberle and Griffin had already been captured and we had not been made aware of it. And, um, The Iraqis were using the rescue beacons of the downed pilots as a way to bring the rescuers into a trap, into an ambush. They were forced to go back. They regrouped for one last try. They came in. They actually put guys on the ground to do a sweep. But it was too late. Everly and Griffith were on their way to Baghdad. We were fortunate that we didn't lose any other helicopters. It was a very close one thing. Had they committed even further, there's a good chance helicopters wouldn't have shot down. And, you know, then we have to rescue downed troops. It becomes sort of a scenario that we once saw in Black Hawk Down, except that You're not operating from nearby facilities. You're stuck in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by an enemy waiting for people to come and get you who have to come from a long way.

This is a scenario that the current pilots face. I think people should just take a pause and reflect on a while that at this juncture, this isn't a matter of right and wrong. This isn't a matter of who started the war. We all know it's an illegal war of aggression. We all know that the United States carried out a war that didn't need to be fought. There's two Americans on the ground and there's other Americans going out to try and find them and their lives are on the line. There are Iranians right now who are protecting their country. They're out searching for these pilots and they're engaging these special operations forces. This is a life and death struggle in the mountainous terrain of Iran of the likes that most people will never have experienced. This isn't normal combat. This is a different kind of combat, one that's very dangerous, very difficult, and one that unfortunately will more than likely repeat itself as this conflict goes on.

I just thought I'd put what's happening today in Iran in a historical perspective. That's been my rant. Next time a thought crosses my mind, I'll be sure to let you know.

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Hello and welcome to this edition of Ritter's Rant. Today we're going to be talking about search and rescue. I think as most people who are following the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran are aware of, there are credible reports of an American F-15E Strike Eagle having been shot down over Iran and the pilots are apparently on the run and there are active measures underway by American Special Operations Forces to rescue these pilots. Now this is an extraordinarily difficult operation, a very dangerous operation for those involved and you know as it's unraveling of course the details, the specifics aren't going to be unknown. Nobody wants to give away too much, but you know clearly there are operations underway. Men's lives are at risk and this is a very serious turn of events. But in order to better understand this we can go back in history during Desert Storm on the evening of January 19th 1991, a flight of F-15E Strike Eagles from the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing were sorting out to strike targets in and around the Iraqi city of Al Qaim that were associated with scud missile operations. One of these F-15E's flown the Corvette 3 at the call sign flown by David Eberle, a colonel and Thomas Griffiths, a major, his weapons officer, was hit by an Iraqi service air missile and brought down. You know they landed on the ground, they survived and they began to evade capture, awaiting rescue. Now rescuing them was going to be difficult because Al Qaim is in West Iraq, but the furthest northern corner of it on the border with Syria. So most of the combat search and rescue forces were located down in the area of Al Juf or RR. These are northern Saudi towns, cities that had airports and for them to fly north would be problematic. It's a long flight, a lot of refueling, very dangerous at that time. So we did have a, the United States did have a combat search and rescue capability based out of a Batman near Diabraker in Turkey. And these forces did prepare to go in. Now there were some problems because in order to get into Iraq, they would have to fly through Syrian airspace and we needed permission of the Syrian government to do this. And this was not immediately forthcoming. This kept Colonel Everly and Major Griffiths on the move longer than they would have liked to have been. Ultimately, they evaded for about two days and then they were captured as they tried to make their way across the Iraqi-Syrian border. The communications between the down crewmen and the people trying to rescue them were intermittent at best. There was some positive communications, but it got broken up. And oftentimes, you know, Everly and Griffith were communicating, not knowing if anybody was listening. And sometimes people were transmitting the same way. It was an imperfect situation.

So, uh, complicating factors even more was the fact that the CIA, uh, had put together a, um, a group of agents on the ground inside Iraq, whose job was to, uh, uh, assist in, uh, escape and evasion of American pilots there. These agents, uh, primarily from local Bedouin, uh, tribes, um, that, that traveled back and forth into Syria. There was a CIA, um, paramilitary team based out of, uh, Syria that had recruited these people over time. And these are people who had tribal connectivity between their families in Syria and their families in Iraq. Uh, their job was to provide safe houses. So if they found a pilot, the pilot could be put in a safe house and then, uh, held and, uh, until rescue could be brought in. So you had these CIA guys on the ground, these Arabs on the ground, looking for the pilots. Uh, you had, uh, the pilots evading, and then you had special operations forces coming in from, uh, from Turkey. Um, it was a very difficult mission to come in the, uh, the first time they made an effort to go in the, uh, the, um, helicopter pilots, uh, CH-53 pilots, uh, they were commenting that it was the heaviest, uh, anti-aircraft gunfire they've ever seen in their lives. But the other thing they found out is that, uh, as they attempted to communicate, the, um, the Iraqis were zeroing in on them. Um, this of course was after, uh, Everly, and Griffith had already been captured and we had not been made aware of it. And, um, the, the Iraqis were using the, um, the rescue beacons of the, uh, downed pilots as a way to bring, uh, the rescuers into a trap, into an ambush. Um, they were forced to go back, uh, the, the regroup for one last try. They came in, they actually put guys on the ground to do a sweep. But, uh, it was too late. Everly and Griffith were on their way to Baghdad. Uh, we were fortunate that we didn't lose any other helicopters. It was a very close one thing. Had they committed even further, uh, there's a good chance helicopters wouldn't have shot down. And, you know, then we have to rescue down troops. It becomes sort of a scenario that we were once on Black Hawk down, except that, uh, you're not operating from nearby, uh, facilities.

These are, you're stuck in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by an enemy, waiting for people to come and get you who have to come from a long way. This is a scenario that the, that the current pilots face. Um, I think people should just take a pause and reflect on a while that it, at this juncture, this isn't a matter of right and wrong. This isn't a matter of, uh, who started the war. Uh, we all know it's an illegal war of aggression. We all know that the United States, uh, carried out a war that didn't need to be fought. But there's two Americans on the ground and there's other Americans going out to try and find them and their lives are on the line. There are Iranians right now who are protecting their country. They're out searching for these pilots and they're engaging these special operations forces. This is a life and death struggle in the, uh, mountainous terrain of Iran, um, of the likes that most people will never, um, have experienced. This isn't normal combat. This is, uh, a different kind of combat, uh, one that's very dangerous, um, very difficult. And, uh, one that unfortunately will more than likely repeat itself as this conflict goes on. I just thought I'd put, uh, what's happening today. And I, I ran in a historical perspective. That's been my rant. Next time a thought crosses my mind, I'll be sure to let you know. I'll be sure to let you know. you Thank you.