As I was writing a first draft for this week, I just about reached the end of an argument on a decidedly political matter when news broke about the daring rescue of the American F-15A pilot in Iran.
Then a dear friend whose son is a pilot texted to say he was safe. Soon after arriving at church for the glorious Easter service, a friend warmly embraced a young man and said, “I am so glad you are home!” He had just arrived four hours earlier from deployment in the Middle East, where he was a medic. All of a sudden, commenting on base American politics as usual just didn’t seem as important or appropriate by comparison.
Besides being thankful for the successful search and rescue of the downed pilot from the top of a frigid mountaintop in Iran by the Navy SEAL Team 6 rescue team, my thoughts raced to a number of extremely talented people I met in Washington, D.C. Those people played a part in developing our military training process and will never be properly thanked or credited with contributing to Saturday’s amazing and daring successful mission.
What is so special about the Air Force pilot that allowed him to survive in such terrible weather without food or water for 48 hours despite being badly wounded? What is it about the SEAL Team 6 members who put themselves in mortal danger to save the pilot?
This sort of bravery does not come naturally or else everyone would do it, correct? The strategy and method of rescuing this pilot were not just made up at the Pentagon the day before like a backyard quarterback drawing up plays by scratching his finger in the playground dirt.
One of the first people who popped into mind had specialized in establishing advanced tests and protocols to determine the psychological and emotional makeup of new applicants to the American military. The thinking was to limit the number who wouldn’t make it through basic training and wash out — thereby wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and valuable military resources and time. More importantly, applicants could be evaluated in a comprehensive, quantitative manner to determine if they possessed the necessary mental and emotional constitutions to become specialized military officers such as F-15 pilots or SEAL Team 6 members.
Close to 50 years ago, he basically said the days of randomly asking soldiers to step forward to volunteer for a dangerous mission could be replaced by having a perfectly trained force to do precisely what was needed as the world saw Saturday.
There are the thousands of drill sergeants, trainers, instructors, mechanics, engineers and other military personnel who contribute to the training of each pilot and soldier every day without a lot of recognition or accolades from the general public.
When it comes to specific character, mental, emotional or psychological attributes, nothing demands excellence in performance more than being an F-15 pilot or SEAL Team 6 member. The only equality that matters in such life-and-death situations is the ability to perform under extreme pressure and stress. There is no margin for error. The psychological tests established by my friend long ago helped find the men who became the pilot and the soldiers who saved him.
Is there any greater satisfaction in life than being part of a mission so noble and successful?
Can anyone imagine being the stranded pilot waiting, hoping and praying someone would arrive to rescue him before Iranian soldiers found him or he died of exposure? All he wanted was to be rescued in the shortest possible time, and the only way to do it would be with the most highly qualified and trained personnel.
There’s already talk on cable news about how this story might be turned into a major motion picture — which, in and of itself, is an indication of how far we have gotten off the path of doing the right things for the right reasons. Nothing could be worse than to give an impression that any part of this heroic effort could be fictionalized or dramatized for the paying American public.
This rescue operation epitomizes the commitment to excellence by the thousands of civil servants and military personnel over many years, all of whom do it for the following reason: “They understand and believe in the mission, and that the military men and women matter.” They could certainly do other jobs for more pay, but they are not motivated by money. They are motivated by a meaningful mission that cannot be found in any other jobs.
They deserve to be recognized as much as the military officials who ordered the rescue mission to commence.
