The last few days have shown the greatness of the United States.

We take it for granted that all cultures are more or less the same. But nothing could be further from the truth. When two F-15E pilots went down in Iran, the US activated its highly-trained and super-professional pilot recovery units. Wouldn’t all countries try to get their pilots back? Wouldn’t they all risk further potential casualties to get back their downed airmen? The answer is no. Some might want to but don’t have the ability, while others would simply chalk up the lost fliers as dead or POWs. Not the US.

Israel also has a well-known pilot rescue unit, 669. They are very active in getting wounded soldiers out of Lebanon and are trained to get behind enemy lines and move out downed pilots under any and all conditions. There were reports last June that they had a base closer to Iran for any need to get out missing Israeli pilots; I don’t know if the story is true or not. We had our own experience with 669 when one of our boys fell off a ridge during a night class trip. One of their King Stallion helicopters (“Yasur” in Hebrew) was dispatched to pick up the injured boy. A doctor came down quickly and stabilized him. Every time the helicopter tried to come down to effect an EVAC, huge plumes of sand would go up. In the end, they had to move our boy a kilometer from his position in order to get him to the hospital. When he arrived, we first spoke to him. He didn’t answer any question I put to him. I thought that he might have a brain trauma. Then one of the doctors at Soroka Hospital told me that she would remove the earplugs he wore on the helicopter and then he began to make sense.

Both Israel and the US know that undertaking risky extractions may lead to more loss of life, such as the death of Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, who led the daring rescue of three hostages from the depths of Gaza. That is not the........

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