An Air Force colonel identified only by his mission call sign “Bravo” described “free-falling” into Iran with a damaged parachute after his F-15E was hit by a shoulder-fired missile in April — the lead segment of CBS’s 60 Minutes season premiere on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.

The Defense Department has not publicly named him. Correspondent Norah O’Donnell said the program agreed to use the call sign because of security threats from the Iranian regime. Bravo was the weapons systems officer in the two-seat F-15E whose mission call sign was Dude 44; the pilot, “Alpha,” declined to be interviewed.

Bravo said the missile strike felt like being “hit by a freight train.” He credited Alpha with getting them out: “I will be thankful to my dying day for my pilot and crewmate, Alpha, for saving our lives and ejecting us.” After ejecting, he looked up and saw the parachute damaged by the hit — “the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.” He said he prayed, “Lord, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.”

“Free-falling is a good way to put it,” Bravo told O’Donnell. “I wasn’t focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose.” Military debriefers estimated he hit the desert between 70 and 100 mph, breaking his back, arm, and shoulder. He called surviving a “modern-day miracle.”

Despite the injuries, Bravo climbed a roughly 7,000-foot ridgeline to hide from Iranian forces — “Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV,” he said, per BBC. Alpha landed about five miles away and was rescued within about six hours. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described that pickup as “a gun fight all the way in and all the way out.” Bravo was recovered after roughly 48 to 50 hours behind enemy lines without food or water; he said he told pararescue operators, “Let’s go.”

CBS, citing U.S. Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper, said more than 90 U.S. service members were on the ground inside Iran during the rescue — the first American ground operation inside Iran in 46 years, Cooper said. Aircraft that bogged down in desert sand, including aircraft CBS valued at about $100 million each plus Little Bird helicopters, were destroyed so Iran could not recover the technology. The $30 million F-15E, CBS noted, was downed by a MANPADS that can cost around $100,000.

The shootdown came about five weeks into the U.S.–Israel war with Iran, now in its seventh month and a midterm liability as energy prices stay elevated. The rescue tape is also a reminder that modern airpower still dies to cheap shoulder-fired missiles — and that getting two Americans out can cost more hardware than the jet that went down.

Sources