Scott O'Grady | |
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Scott O'Grady (center) at a press conference after his rescue by U.S. Marines.
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Birth name | Scott Francis O'Grady |
Nickname(s) | "Zulu" |
Born |
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. |
October 12, 1965
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1989–2001 |
Rank | Captain |
Other work | Joint author of Return With Honor, and Basher Five-Two, speaker |
Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina by an SA-6 mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile territory. After nearly a week of evading the Serbs he was eventually rescued by Marines. Previously he took part in the Banja Luka incident where he fired upon six enemy aircraft. The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines is loosely based upon his experiences.
In September 2011, O'Grady announced a run for the 2012 Republican nomination for Texas State Senate District 8, held at the time by the retiring Republican Florence Shapiro, but he later suspended his campaign because of uncertainties over the Texas redistricting fight.
The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after popular pressure, had decided to intervene in the Bosnian War after allegations of war crimes against civilians were made by various media organizations. NATO military involvement primarily involved enforcement of a "No Fly Zone" code named Operation Deny Flight to discourage military aircraft of the Bosnian-Serb Armed Forces from attacking Bosnian civilians and Bosniak and Croat forces. As part of that operation, two F-16s from the 555th Fighter Squadron based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, were patrolling the skies above Bosnia on June 2, 1995.