00:00Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I know before I start, I know many of you want
00:05specific details in these briefings. We will share what we can, but I will retain what I must
00:12in the event that we have to go do this again sometime. And I cannot stress the importance,
00:18as the President said, around operational security. The Secretary and I will do a more
00:23detailed briefing tomorrow morning, and we look forward to sharing the details that we can.
00:28On Thursday, 2 April at 10.10 p.m. Eastern Time, 4.40 in the morning, local Iran time,
00:35the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, which handles the Central Command area of responsibility,
00:40declared an isolated personnel recovery event for a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle,
00:46call sign Dude 4-4, which was down in hostile Iranian territory. The pilot and weapons system
00:53officer had both safely ejected and were isolated behind enemy lines. Following confirmation of
01:00active rescue beacons and on the direction of the Secretary and by order of the President,
01:05a rescue operation was launched with the stated purpose of bringing both Americans home safely.
01:11As the Secretary said several hours later on the morning, after positively locating the front-seater,
01:17call sign Dude 4-4 Alpha, and aware of an aggressive ongoing search by the enemy,
01:24a U.S. Central Command plan was approved by the Secretary and the President.
01:29Shortly thereafter, a U.S. Air Force Combat Search and Rescue Task Force, comprised of A-10 Warthogs
01:37in their Sandy role, and I'll describe what that is in a minute. HC-130 Combat King 2s,
01:44HH-60 Jolly Green 2 helicopters, and Air Force Special Warfare Airmen, a package comprised of
01:51combat rescue officers and para-rescuement operators, audaciously penetrated enemy territory
01:58in broad daylight to find, fix, and recover Dude 4-4 Alpha from behind enemy lines.
02:06This was an incredibly dangerous mission, an incredibly dangerous undertaking, but a filled
02:15promise made to every American warfighter that you will not be left behind. We will always come
02:23find you, and we will always bring you home. Over the next hours, the Search and Rescue Task Force
02:30crossed the beach, entered into Iranian airspace, protected by a fighter strike package, and moved
02:37into the objective area, all under fire. En route, as some of you have seen on social media, the
02:44helicopters took gas off the C-130s and pressed onward and forward up into the objective area.
02:50While this was ongoing, and out in front of them, the Sandy flight of A-10s, and other remotely piloted
02:57aircraft drones and other tactical aircraft were violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a
03:04close-in gunfight to keep them away from the front seater and allow the pickup force to get into the
03:11objective area. During this engagement, one of the Sandy aircraft, the one primarily responsible for
03:18communicating with the downed pilot, was hit by enemy fire. This pilot continued to fight, continued the mission,
03:26and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not
03:33landable. This was one of our A-10 Sandy aircraft. The pilot then made the decision to eject over
03:40friendly territory and was quickly and safely recovered and is doing fine. After picking up Dude 4-4 Alpha,
03:49the HH-60 Jolly Green fight was engaged by every single person in Iran who had a small arms weapon,
03:58and one of the aircraft, the trailing aircraft, took several hits. The crew sustained minor injury and they
04:04are going to be fine. A note for those of you that do not know what a Sandy does. Named
04:12after the flight
04:12call sign that did this very mission in Vietnam flying A-1 Sky Raiders and A-7 Corsairs. A Sandy
04:20has one
04:21mission. Get to the survivor, bring the rescue force forward, and put themselves between that survivor
04:30on the ground and the enemy. They are committed to this. This is what they live for and this is
04:37what
04:37they've trained for over many, many years. The A-10 force and the rescue force did fantastic, did a
04:46fantastic job rescuing Dude 4-4 Alpha. He was recovered Friday afternoon. As I said, and the nation needs to
04:55know this, this was an incredibly brave and courageous mission and a testament to the courage, skill,
05:03and tenacity of the joint force and our leaders. And especially a daylight option, having the guts to
05:11try means so much to so many. Meanwhile, the backseater, as the President and the Secretary have said,
05:19had continued to work and survive. Through the hours of daylight Dude 4-4 Bravo, the backseater, evaded.
05:28Using every means available, the efforts of the United States military, the Central Intelligence Agency,
05:35and others were attempting to find and locate with precision Dude 4-4 Bravo, the backseater.
05:42A note on the backseater and the frontseater. The single most important contributor to a successful
05:52rescue operation is the spirit of attack inside the heart of that downed aviator. Their will to survive,
06:00their will to evade, their will to recover is everything. In this case, the backseater's absolute
06:07commitment to surviving made much of our efforts possible. On Saturday, 4 April, after establishing
06:15positive communications with the backseater, we learned, as the President said, that he was injured
06:21and actively evading enemy forces. And thanks to our interagency partners, we were able to get eyes on
06:28his location and positively ID him. Throughout this entire time, the enemy force continued to search for
06:35Dude 4-4 Bravo and the joint force continued to strike them over and over and over again. Fighting off
06:43marginal weather in Iran and the enemy search for a second time on Saturday, at the recommendation
06:50of the CENTCOM commander and at the approval of the secretary and the president, we launched a rescue
06:55task force to recover Dude 4-4 Bravo. Again, this came to the president and the secretary for approval,
07:02this time with a much larger force package based on the time that the enemy had to prepare to find
07:094-4 Bravo.
07:11Again, this force was protected by A-10 warthogs using the Sandy call sign. And this force had one
07:18single mission, do everything they can to bring an American home. This meant having a plan, being prepared
07:27to execute that plan, and more importantly, being prepared for multiple simultaneous contingencies.
07:35And because of this forces professionalism, grit and determination, fight off two enemies at the same
07:43time, the enemy searching for 4-4 Bravo and contingencies, which anyone who has done these types of missions
07:51that we run into every single time. The force fought off both of those enemies incredibly well.
07:59During the period of darkness on Saturday and as the secretary said, into Easter Sunday and into the
08:06daylight, the force fought its way in and rescued Dude 4-4 Bravo. They were protected overhead by an air
08:15armada including tactical drones, strike aircraft and others. The force fought through multiple simultaneous
08:23contingencies, something no other nation, no other military can do. And safely returned Dude 4-4 Bravo,
08:33the backseater home, and all other Americans home as well. At midnight 12 local Eastern time,
08:43Easter Sunday, more than 50 hours after the start of this operation, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center declared Dude
08:534-4 Bravo, both the front and backseater return to friendly territory. The courage demonstrated by both the
09:02pilot and the weapons system officer while isolated and them invading the enemy cannot be overstated. Their grit and
09:10warfighting tenacity is a direct result of the absolute trust they have in our rescue forces,
09:16their training, and their will to survive and return. They always knew that we would be ordered to go get
09:24them and they always knew that we would be coming to get them. These two operations reflect our nation's
09:31most sacred obligation to our military service members. We leave no one behind, bless you. It also
09:38perfectly captures the first truth of our special operations forces, that people are more important
09:46than hardware. That is the standard we live by and the rescue forces that execute these missions operate
09:54under a clear motto, these things we do that others may live. Their actions were a direct embodiment of that
10:04commitment to others, and I could not be more proud of each and every one of them today.
10:12As the Secretary said to our enemies, this operation serves as a clear reminder of the capability and
10:20will of America's Joint Force. The United States of America will recover our warfighters anywhere in the
10:26world, under any conditions, when we want to. We will always bring overwhelming skill and firepower.
10:33To every member of the joint force, our interagency partners, the leadership at CENTCOM, and our leaders
10:40at the department and above, thank you. I'm proud of each and every one of you and thankful to our
10:46deployed
10:46forces and their families. And lastly, and most importantly, to Dude44, welcome home. Job well done. Thank you.
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