6 takeaways from our interview with the Air Force officer shot down in Iran

In April, five weeks into a costly and unpopular war, an American fighter jet was shot down over Iran, leaving two aviators stranded behind enemy lines.

The officers on board — a pilot and a weapons systems officer, who we are referring to by their mission call signs Alpha and Bravo for security reasons — ejected from their F-15E jet, call sign Dude 44, after it was hit by an Iranian missile.

The crewmates were then stranded miles apart in a mountainous desert region with Iranian bounties on their heads.

What unfolded is considered to be one of the largest and most complex rescue operations in U.S. military history.