[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A US Air Force colonel who was stranded behind enemy lines after being shot down in the heart of Iran and stranded for two days has opened up about the experience – including the 'terrifying' moment he realized his parachute was broken.
The weapons system officer, who has only been referred to by his callsign 'Dude 44 Bravo,' was flying in the back seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle on April 2 when it was struck down over a remote area of Iran.
He now calls his rescue and fight for survival a 'modern-day miracle' after breaking his back, an arm and a shoulder, and spraining his ankle.
Bravo's mission that night was to conduct a strike on industrial facilities related to Iran's drone and missile program, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, told 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
But as he and the pilot of the plane, who has only been referred to as 'Alpha,' were crossing south of the city of Isfahan, a shoulder-fired missile struck the $30 million plane in what Bravo likened to 'getting hit by a freight train.'
At first, the airman said he and his partner did everything they could to try to save the fighter jet – but it quickly became apparent that the plane couldn't be saved and they were forced to eject.
Alpha was able to land safely, but after Bravo jumped out of the plane, he realized his parachute had been damaged in the attack.
'At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen,' the airman recounted, choking up as he spoke.
'So I paused right then and I prayed, "Lord your will be done. But I'm getting through this."'
Bravo then free-fell to the ground, crashing down at an estimated 70 to 100 mph.
'I believe it's a testament to God's provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn't prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive,' he said.
'I had injuries, but we all train to adapt and overcome the things that we're faced with,' he explained. 'I moved as quickly as I could, despite the injuries, away from the place that I landed.'
When the sun then rose that morning, Bravo was able to make out some of his surroundings – and found himself in a valley with cliffs to either side.
He then realized the safest place for him to go would be up, where he could see Iranian forces coming from the valley below.
So, despite his broken bones, Bravo hiked and climbed up a 7,000-foot ridgeline as he told himself to 'never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV.'
Meanwhile, back in the United States, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had to be woken up in the middle of the night as his aides told him about the crash.
His immediate reaction, he said, was to ask whether the crew was OK and whether Iran knew what had happened.
But 'whether they're alive or not, we're going to get them,' Hegseth vowed.
Soon, though, evidence of the wreckage was shared on Iranian media and videos emerged online of armed groups hunting down the F-15E's crew.
Some came within just a few hundred meters of where Bravo was hiding, US military sources told 60 Minutes.
'There was clear intent out of the Iranian ground force to come find those two guys,' said General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
During the 'race against time,' US military closely tracked the Iranians in the area, and after six hours, US forces were able to rescue Alpha in a risky daytime raid as American helicopters took fire.
'It was a gun fight all the way in and all the way out,' Hegseth recounted. 'But they got Alpha back in.'
Still, the crews were unable to find Bravo and withdrew from the region.
Newly declassified footage shows intense airmen rescue in Iran.
But as night fell on that first day in Iran, Bravo was able to send a message back home.
'When I got to the moment where I could review and think about all that I'd gone through, I sent "God is good" as recognition of all that He had brought me through,' said the airman.
He also alerted the US military that he was injured but was moving.
A rescue force was almost sent in immediately after US forces received the message, but it 'just didn't line up,' Hegseth said.
'That was a really tough decision,' he said. 'I'll never forget, you know, being in the situation room and saying "OK I guess we're gonna roll 24," which means, "Hey Bravo's going to be out there for basically 24 hours more."'
Fortunately, the airman was able to survive with almost no food or water, in the wind and the cold on the high mountain desert.
At the same time, the CIA launched a multi-pronged deception campaign meant to confuse Iranian forces looking for Bravo as they used top-secret technology to pinpoint the airman's location.
When US forces were then ready to conduct another daring rescue, American bombers and drones struck Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces near where he was hiding.
Once the path was then cleared, the US sent more than 90 soldiers on the ground – marking the first US boots on the ground in Iran in 46 years.
Several hundred other soldiers took to the air while several thousand more served as support, as General Caine said the US would have sent even more to rescue Bravo.
The rescue teams then came in on two large planes and landed on a makeshift desert airstrip, while 'Little Bird' helicopters reached Bravo on the ridgeline several miles away.
When Bravo then saw his rescuers approach, he said it was 'one of the greatest moments of my life.'
Still, Bravo was not in the clear – as the rescue planes' landing gear got stuck in the desert sand and could not take off, leaving more than 90 of what Adm Cooper described as the military's 'most elite service members' stuck until a clandestine Air Force unit came to the rescue.
It then destroyed the two stuck aircraft, worth about $100 million each, as well as the Little Bird helicopters so that the technology wouldn't fall into Iranian hands.
Finally, about 50 hours after being shot down, Bravo was safe. When he then left the country, the airman made sure to call his wife back home.
'I was really proud of her and grateful for the strength that she showed,' he recounted.
Bravo said he now wants the American public to realize the rescue mission was about more than what he had endured.
'It's a story of the teamwork, the training, of the faith, of the decisions and the leadership to do something that will live in history as an example of what America's willing to do, in order to uphold our promise and leave no man behind.'
Posted by: Skidmark ||
09/14/2026 07:59 ||
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#1
'never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV.'
[ShabelleNews] Somali pirates have released the MV Sward and its 17-member crew after holding the ship for months, security sources in Somalia’s Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region told AFP.
The sources said a ransom was paid, but did not say how much.
The ship was released near Garacad, a port in Puntland. Pirates hijacked it off the Somali coast on April 26. The crew includes 15 Syrian nationals and two Indian nationals.
The MV Sward was also used by the pirates to capture other vessels. These included two Iranian fishing boats and the Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... -flagged fat merchantman MV Lutuf.
Piracy has increased again off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The International Maritime Organisation has recorded at least 15 attacks in the region this year, the highest number since 2013.
A Puntland security source told AFP that the crew was still on board when the MV Sward was released near Garacad.
The pirates left the ship and went to the shore. Several vehicles were waiting for them there. The source said the pirates received money for the release of the ship but did not give an amount.
Another Puntland security source said the vehicles were waiting for the pirates before they reached Garacad. He said this could mean the pirates had been in contact with people on land while they were at sea.
Two other Puntland security sources confirmed the details to AFP.
The pirates had used the MV Sward to capture other vessels after taking control of it in April.
Puntland security sources said in late August that a $2.5 million ransom was paid for the release of the MV Lutuf. They also said $40,000 was paid to release the two Iranian fishing boats.
Somalia’s federal government gave a different account of the MV Lutuf release.
It said the ship was freed after "sustained military pressure" from the Ottoman Turkish navy and Somali armed forces. The government said four boats used by the pirates were destroyed and 14 pirates were killed.
Four commercial vessels are still being held by Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia. They are the tankers Honour 25, Eureka, Asana and Seamull.
The Seamull was sanctioned by the United States in December last year. The US identified it as part of Iran’s "shadow fleet" and accused it of exporting Iranian oil using deceptive shipping practices.
[IGIHE] Anthropic, the American AI company behind the Claude chatbot, has disclosed a coordinated, AI-powered disinformation network that used fake news sites and fabricated journalist identities to push content favourable to the Democratic Republic of Congo's official position in its conflict with Rwanda.
The disclosure appears in Anthropic's September 2026 threat intelligence report, "Detecting and countering misuse of AI," which the company published on September 10, 2026, documenting cases of AI misuse it disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026.
According to the report, the network operated 70 fake news websites, built to look like independent local newsrooms, each paired with matching X accounts and amplified by more than 250 inauthentic commenting accounts, many using AI-generated profile photos.
Anthropic traced the operation to LKM Company, a France-based digital advertising agency, and said it used Claude to both write original articles and rewrite real news stories from legitimate journalists into politically slanted versions tailored to different national audiences.
The network published at least 8,913 articles in about 20 languages, targeting audiences across six continents, according to the report.
قد ترمي المملكه العربيه #السعوديه بكامل ثقلها العسكري الضخم والأبرز في منطقه الشرق الأوسط ولن تتهاون هذه المره كما تعمل كل مره بالنفس الطويل والصبر الاستراتيجي كما كان في السابق ضد مليشيا الحوثي الارهابيه التابعه لنظام ايران المسحوق.
The Kingdom of #SaudiArabia may throw its entire massive and most prominent military weight in the Middle East region and will not hold back this time, unlike every previous instance, operating with the same long breath and strategic patience as before against the terrorist Houthi militia affiliated with the crushed Iranian regime.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia possesses a tremendous offensive military force capable of crushing any army in the region.
- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia possesses approximately — 36,944 precision-guided bombs or bombs capable of precision guidance, as experts describe them.
- Recently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed a historic military deal that includes approximately 10,004 additional bombs to its massive offensive arsenal.
- It also possesses approximately 450 Storm Shadow cruise missiles and more than 1,000 of the most advanced Brimstone missiles ever.
- A massive fleet of modern F-15SA fighter jets
- A defense budget that ranks among the top countries globally, exceeding 80 billion dollars — this is the announced budget.
- It possesses more than 600,000 dedicated soldiers.
- It possesses massive alliances such as the Mecca Alliance and the Red Sea Alliance.
[BB] Mexico’s top military official confirmed that his forces have not shot down or intercepted a single cartel drone along its northern border after recently having announced a team-up effort with U.S. authorities. This as U.S. forces shot down more than 300 drones so far this year.
Earlier this month, Mexico announced the start of operation Aguila Alta (High Eagle), a joint operation between U.S. and Mexican authorities where they would share information and have each side work to intercept cartel drones. For the operation, Mexico’s Army revealed that they had deployed 800 troops in the western part of the border.
This week, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Mexico’s Secretary of the Army, revealed that his forces had not intercepted or shot down any cartel drones nor made any arrests during the operation. In his statement, Trevilla Trejo revealed that they have not seen an increase in drone usage on the northern Mexican border. He claimed that the drones used by cartels are commercially available drones and are primarily used by human smugglers for surveillance purposes in order to monitor the presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents along the border.
The military leader revealed that in the coming days his staff is expected to meet with U.S. law enforcement forces in order to update the operation. According to Trevilla Trejo, U.S. forces have been more successful in knocking down drones, with more than 300 drones intercepted so far this year.
[ChristianNewsWire] Press Release:
A coalition of Jews, former Moslems and Christians is launching "Infidel Awareness Month," a national observance running from September 11 to October 7, the anniversaries of the 9/11 attacks and the October 7 massacre that claimed thousands of innocent lives.
Each day, Infidel Awareness Month will remember the victims, examine the history and ideology behind the attacks, and ask a simple question: Why are we still afraid to name the threat?
"Infidel Awareness Month is about remembering, understanding and speaking plainly," said founder and historian Richard Landes. "We cannot defend a free society if we are afraid to name the ideology that has repeatedly declared us its enemy. No to supremacist Islam. Yes to Moslems who live as our equal neighbors."
At the center of the initiative is one word: "infidel." It is a word many Americans never knew was meant for them. To a supremacist reading of Islam, it means everyone outside the faith, including Christians, Jews, secular people and even the Moslems who reject it.
"Twenty-five years ago, as a boy in Amman, I cheered when the towers fell. Today I am a proud infidel," said Danny Burmawi, founder and CEO of the Ideological Defense Institute which is partnering with Infidel Awareness Month. "The Month is about confronting the threat of an ideology that demands submission and seeks to impose Sharia law across society. We will not hide behind euphemisms. But this is not a war on Moslems — Moslems are this ideology’s first victims, and some of its bravest opponents are those, like me, who left it."
The Month is not a campaign against Moslems. It is a campaign against a supremacist, intolerant ideology that seeks to dominate rather than integrate, that is hateful rather than accepting of different faiths and points of view. Moslems who embrace diversity and who want to live as equal citizens and patriotic, peaceful neighbors are welcome and should never be the object of bigotry.
THE "27 DAYS OF TRUTH"
The observance opens with three days of context and closes the day after the October 7 anniversary; at its heart are 27 Days of Truth, one for each theme.
The program is built around three ideas:
• A Record. Remember the victims. Name them. Tell their stories.
• A Reckoning. Ask how euphemisms, censorship and fear of offense made it harder to speak honestly about jihadist ideology.
• A Warning. Recognize that the ideology did not disappear with the late Osama bin Laden ...... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...... or the fall of ISIS’s territorial caliphate.
The full program, daily schedule and additional information are available at InfidelAwareness.com.
ABOUT THE COALITION
Infidel Awareness Month is an independent coalition effort founded by the historian Richard Landes, joined by former Moslems, scholars, philosophers, and filmmakers. It is supported by private philanthropy. Learn more at www.InfidelAwareness.com.
🚨 IRAN’S AXIS OF TERROR CRACKS ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST
Iran’s regional proxy network has suffered a major setback: Hezbollah’s leadership and arsenal have been devastated, Tehran lost its Syrian foothold, Iraqi militias face U.S. pressure to disarm, and Hamas is now facing open… pic.twitter.com/cELbTRraWE
🚨 IRAN’S AXIS OF TERROR CRACKS ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST
Iran’s regional proxy network has suffered a major setback: Hezbollah’s leadership and arsenal have been devastated, Tehran lost its Syrian foothold, Iraqi militias face U.S. pressure to disarm, and Hamas is now facing open criticism from Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
PIJ official Walid al-Qatati branded Hamas’s Oct. 7 decision an “ill-considered adventure” and a “grave strategic failure.”
But Tehran is adapting. The Houthis are growing more confident, pro-Iranian cells are attempting to rebuild in Syria, and Hezbollah remains armed and subordinate to Iran.
Posted by: badanov ||
09/14/2026 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Somali pirates
...... who is now sometimes referred to as 
