President Trump described Monday the 48 hours an F-15E Strike Eagle crew member spent behind enemy lines — who was “injured quite badly” and “bleeding rather profusely” before he was rescued by US forces.
“In the United States military, we leave no American behind. We don’t do it,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing, sharing new details about the daring mission to bring back the weapons system officer from the “treacherous mountain terrain.”
The “highly respected” colonel landed away from the F-15E’s pilot, “was injured quite badly and stranded in an area teeming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the president continued.
“They were given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot,” Trump added. “Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order to evade capture.”
“You want to go as far away because they all head right to that site. You want to be as far away as you can,” he also said, noting that the crew member was “bleeding rather profusely” from his injuries and had to treat his own wounds before being able to contact “American forces to transmit his location.”
