"...But what few know is what Major Brian Shul (USAF, Ret.) endured before qualifying to fly the fastest reconnaissance jet in history. He almost burned to death after his T-28 Trojan was shot down over Vietnam in 1973 — his 211th combat mission, this one providing close air support for the CIA’s Air America operations. He expected to die that day on enemy ground, recalling: “[I was] completely blind, as my helmet visor had melted. I did everything by feel.” But miraculously, a day after he was downed, Air Force Special Operations Command Pararescue teams located him for rescue and then air-evacuated him first to Thailand and then to Okinawa.
Shul says today: “Don’t confuse me with anyone famous, important, or heroic. What I am is the luckiest man you’ll ever see.”
After hanging on for two months, nobody expecting him to survive, he was transferred to the Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he underwent 15 major operations over the next year. At one point enduring agonizing and constant pain, he recalls wanting to give up: “I quit, and I wanted to die. Please God, I can’t do this anymore. Let’s end it.”...
