Always Ready – Behind Enemy Lines: Part I
Bosnia had been at war for more than three years.
What began as the violent breakup of Yugoslavia had descended into ethnic cleansing, artillery bombardments, and atrocities that shocked much of the world. Entire villages had been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had fled their homes. United Nations peacekeepers struggled to contain the violence while NATO aircraft patrolled the skies above the Balkans in an effort to enforce a fragile peace.
Captain Scott O'Grady spent much of the conflict looking down on it from twenty thousand feet.
The twenty-nine-year-old Air Force pilot flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the most capable fighter aircraft in the world. His job was to help enforce the NATO no-fly zone over Bosnia and deter further aggression by Bosnian Serb forces. The missions were important, but they were often uneventful. Most patrols consisted of long hours scanning empty skies, monitoring radio traffic, and waiting for something to happen.
Usually, nothing did.
On the morning of June 2, 1995, O'Grady climbed into his aircraft expecting another routine flight.
The weather was clear. The mission briefing contained nothing unusual. Ground crews completed their final checks as he strapped into the cockpit. Moments later, his F-16 accelerated down the runway and climbed into the sky.
Far below, hidden among the forests and hills of Bosnia, enemy soldiers were waiting.
Bosnian Serb air defense crews had spent days studying NATO flight patterns. They understood they could not defeat NATO aircraft in a conventional fight. Their radar systems were older. Their equipment was limited. If they left their radars active too long, NATO aircraft would quickly identify and destroy them.
Inside a concealed missile position, operators activated their radar for a brief moment and tracked the approaching aircraft. The target appeared on their screens exactly where they expected.
An SA-6 surface-to-air missile launched seconds later.
O'Grady never saw it.
Warning lights suddenly erupted across the cockpit. Alarms screamed from multiple directions. Before he could fully process what was happening, the missile exploded next to the aircraft.
The fighter lurched violently.
O'Grady knew the aircraft was lost. He reached for the ejection handle, and the canopy exploded away from the aircraft. A fraction of a second later, the ejection seat launched him into the sky with tremendous force. The acceleration compressed his spine and temporarily stole his breath.
Then came silence.
His fighter continued toward the earth without him.
Moments later, his parachute opened.
Suspended beneath the canopy, O'Grady looked down at the rugged terrain below. Thick forests covered much of the landscape. Small villages sat between ridgelines and winding roads. Somewhere beneath him were the men who had just shot him down.
They knew an American pilot was descending toward the ground.
The race had already begun.
O'Grady landed hard and immediately gathered his parachute. Bright nylon hanging from a tree would act like a giant signal flare for enemy search teams. He dragged the canopy into thick vegetation and concealed it as best he could before moving away from the crash site.
Military rescue doctrine assumes one thing above all else.
The enemy gets a vote.
Every minute spent near the crash site increased the likelihood of capture. Serbian forces would move quickly. Some would head toward the wreckage. Others would establish blocking positions and search likely escape routes. Their objective was simple: find the pilot before rescue forces could reach him.
O'Grady intended to make that difficult.
As daylight faded, he moved cautiously through the terrain, avoiding roads, trails, and populated areas. He carried limited survival equipment and knew that every decision mattered. A wrong turn, an unnecessary risk, or a moment of carelessness could end the mission before it truly began.
The following days settled into a brutal routine.
During daylight hours, O'Grady remained hidden beneath dense vegetation. He moved as little as possible, conserving energy and reducing the chances of detection. Insects covered his skin. Heat and humidity became constant companions. At times he could hear enemy soldiers searching nearby.
At night, he moved.
The terrain was steep and unfamiliar. Dense vegetation limited visibility. Navigation required patience and discipline. He collected rainwater when he could and supplemented his meager supplies with whatever food he could find.
More than once, Serbian patrols came dangerously close.
One patrol reportedly passed near enough that O'Grady could hear voices and equipment moving through the brush.
He remained motionless.
Capture would not simply mean the end of his evasion.
It would become an international incident.
Television cameras around the world would broadcast images of a captured American pilot. Intelligence officers would question him. Political leaders would face enormous pressure. What had begun as a routine patrol could quickly become a strategic crisis.
For O'Grady, however, the concerns were far more immediate.
He had no guarantee rescue forces knew he was alive. Hours stretched into days.
The temptation to take risks grew stronger with each passing night. Experienced survival instructors often teach that the greatest threat to an isolated person is not hunger, thirst, or exposure. It is poor decision making.
Fear encourages people to move when they should stay hidden. Loneliness encourages unnecessary risks. Fatigue erodes judgment.
O'Grady trusted his training.
On the sixth day, that training paid off. Using his survival radio, O'Grady successfully established contact with friendly forces. The transmission was brief, but it confirmed what NATO commanders desperately hoped to hear.
The missing pilot was alive.
Plans for a recovery mission immediately accelerated.
The rescue force would consist primarily of United States Marines flying CH-53 helicopters supported by attack aircraft and fighter escorts. It would be a dangerous operation. Enemy forces remained active throughout the region, and there was no guarantee they had not already narrowed the search area.
Every additional hour increased the risk that Serbian forces would locate O'Grady first.
As the recovery package crossed into Bosnia, attack aircraft circled overhead while helicopters raced toward the pickup zone. Enemy troops also moved toward the area after detecting increased NATO activity.
Both sides understood what was happening.
Only one side would arrive first.
When the helicopters reached the extraction point, O'Grady emerged from concealment and sprinted toward the landing zone.
The Marines wasted no time.
Crew chiefs pulled the exhausted pilot aboard as the helicopters lifted off and accelerated away from the area.
The rescue had succeeded.
Six days after being shot down, Scott O'Grady was going home.
News of the rescue quickly spread across the United States. Many observers described his survival as miraculous. Certainly luck played a role, but luck alone does not keep a man alive behind enemy lines for six days.
For generations, American servicemembers found themselves separated from friendly forces, trapped behind enemy lines, or held captive by hostile governments. Their experiences revealed a hard truth. Courage mattered. Determination mattered. But neither was enough by itself.
It began in the jungles of Southeast Asia, in prisoner of war camps scattered across Asia and Europe, and in the hard lessons paid for by generations of isolated American servicemembers. Their experiences would eventually give birth to one of the military's most demanding and important training programs.
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.
SERE.
Continue the series → Behind Enemy Lines: Part II — The Origins of SERE
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Author: Col. Byron Owen
Byron Owen is a Reconnaissance Marine with tours as both a platoon commander and commanding officer at the elite 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. He also had the honor of commanding several intelligence and cyber units to include Cyberspace Warfare Task Group 1, and 3d Radio Battalion. He writes about leadership at www.rucksackleadership.com, information warfare at keyterraincyber.com, and is the author of the upcoming book Bury my Heart in Baghdad.
