Salute!
Well, AR et al, one reason we who flew those missions, besides getting our friend back, was it was a "pure" fight. Us vs them, with no politics. Our ROE was also a pleasure - the ROE was simply "we could engage anything, anybody if in our opinion it interferred with getting our friend out."
Our std procedure was only the SAR folks and big cheese knew the status of the survivor, and sometimes the big guy didn't know untl we told him. The SAR folks knew if we had radio contact with the survivor. The press did not. I gotta tellya it would be almost impossible to rescue the survivor without a radiohe/she was. Only if he/she was well clear of enemy forces and in favorable terrain. Not to say that mirror flashes or crude signals don't help. But we all carried two voice radios and had an electronic beeper on the parachute riser. Extra batteries in g-suit. One USAF Chief of Staff can tell you all about that.
Gums sends...
Last edited by gums; 5th April 2026 at 00:48.