“Stay out of enemy hands for as long as possible,” advises retired Brigadier General Houston Cantwell.
WASHINGTON: As U.S. forces scramble to locate an aviator reportedly shot down on Friday, a former Air Force pilot and a rescue specialist told AFP what it takes to survive, evade, and extract someone behind enemy lines.
“You’re like, ‘Oh my God, I was in a fighter jet two minutes ago, flying 500 miles an hour, and a missile just exploded, literally 15 feet from your head,’” said retired Brigadier General Houston Cantwell, now with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
A pilot’s training, known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE), would likely activate even before hitting the ground after a parachute ejection.
“Your best view of where you may want to go—or where you should avoid—is while you’re descending under your parachute,” said retired Brigadier General Houston Cantwell, who logged 400 hours of combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan.
Parachuting carries risks of foot, ankle, and leg injuries, Cantwell explained. “There are many stories of Vietnam survivors who suffered severe injuries—compound fractures—just from ejection,” he said.
Upon landing, pilots assess their condition: “What condition am I in? Can I move? Am I mobile?” From there, aviators determine their location, whether it is behind enemy lines, where to hide, and how to communicate.
“Try to avoid enemy capture for as long as you can,” Cantwell advised. “And if I were in a desert environment, I’d want to find water.”
Meanwhile, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) teams—highly trained soldiers and pilots already on alert—would be activated.
“It gives you tremendous peace of mind knowing they will do everything possible to retrieve you,” Cantwell said. “At the same time, they’re not going on a suicide mission.”
The downed airman can improve their chances of a safe extraction by prioritizing concealment and moving to a location suitable for rescue.
“In a city, that could be a rooftop. In rural areas, a field where helicopters can land. Movement is best at night,” he said. Cantwell also noted that he carried a pistol during his missions.
Meanwhile, in a CSAR “ready room,” soldiers like retired Master Sergeant Scott Fales prepare and suit up for the rescue mission.
Experts like retired Master Sergeant Scott Fales—a pararescue jumper who played a pivotal role in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident in Mogadishu, Somalia—are always on standby whenever U.S. aircraft operate over hostile territory.
“Before any operations are conducted… there is always a CSAR plan,” Fales told AFP.
At the same time, intelligence is continuously collected and analyzed to determine the missing aviator’s location and condition.
“Everything from human intelligence to imagery intelligence, all the different drones we have looking—signals intelligence—it’s all being used to locate this individual,” Fales said.
Once the aviator is pinpointed, a real-time rescue plan is developed from the helicopters.
“The gunners are scanning for threats, the pilots are identifying landing zones, and we’re communicating with the downed aviator,” he explained.
On the ground, rescuers confirm the identity of the pilot and assess both immediate threats and medical needs.
Fales described the process: “What kind of immediate threat are we in? How much time do we have to get this person out? What injuries do they have? Then we decide the type and amount of treatment needed on the scene—or whether we just grab and go, depending on the threat.”
With a fellow U.S. soldier still unaccounted for in southwest Iran, Fales said he remains “very hopeful” the aviator will be found.
“I’m hoping that friendly forces have located him and are keeping him hidden,” he said. “Or that he’s still evading capture.”
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