Jackson Jambalaya

The F-15 weapons system officer, separated from his crewmate by blowing winds, was somewhere deep inside enemy territory, armed with a handgun, an encrypted communication device and a location beacon. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries when he ejected from the jet and began treating his bleeding wounds.

At the Pentagon, the colonel was designated "DUSTWUN" — military speak for Duty Status — Whereabouts Unknown....

CIA operatives launched a deception campaign, spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found the airman and were moving him on the ground, out of the country.

The officer had scaled an inhospitable ridgeline cliff face and worked his way up the mountain, attempting to evade the enemy. He was about three-quarters of the way up but his communication signal was weak, so he sought higher ground.

When he could, the weapons officer sent a message: "God is good."

The message was initially decoded as "God is great," which is similar to a Muslim phrase, raising concerns that the American had been captured by Iranian forces. Trump officials eventually verified the message was consistent with what the airman might say and were relieved to learn it wasn't a hostage situation.

As they approached go time, several things happened.

KF: Celebrate the rescue with a cigar

U.S. Central Command and the Joint Special Operations Command received some messages from the missing officer. One was a four-digit number.

"We said, 'What is he talking about?" an official said.

They soon realized it was police code for an officer in distress or urgent assistance needed....

U.S. intelligence had learned the Iranians had dogs sniff the F-15E's ejection seats that were on the ground. This alarmed the president's team, but it turned out the dogs weren't effective at tracking the scent....

To scatter militants in several directions, they worked to dupe them into thinking the weapons systems officer was on the move — heading toward the border with Afghanistan, or north to the Caspian Sea, or on a route south, out of Iran.

The Pentagon planned at least four strategies for rescuing the officer — scenarios using rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft.

Hegseth chose a fixed-wing option, using two MC-130 transport planes. U.S. intelligence indicated the Iranians thought that they would be coming via helicopter. Weather was also a factor – low cloud ceiling complicated a rotary-wing rescue. Planners studied two landing zones – one 17 miles from the stranded officer and one 10 miles from him. They chose the closer one, on farmland.

The Pentagon had surged more than 150 planes to the effort, including 64 fighter jets, four bombers, 48 refuelers, 13 rescue aircraft and 26 intelligence and jamming aircraft.

Some of the air assets were used as decoys to confuse Iranian defense forces about the colonel's location.

The Pentagon knew the colonel's general geographical location at all times, but didn't have the exact spot until CIA Director John Ratcliffe told officials they could see, from miles away, something moving in the vast wilderness.

"And they kept the camera on him for 45 minutes. He wasn't moving. And they said, 'No, probably wrong,'" Mr. Trump said.

Then the officer stood up....  Rest of gripping article.

 Kingfish note: Meanwhile the Frenchies and the rest of their European friends could not believe we would sacrifice so much to find one soldier.