Scott O'Grady

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Scott F. O'Grady
born October 12, 1965
Scott O'Grady (center) at a press conference after the Mrkonjić Grad incident.
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
Allegiance	USAF
Years of service	1989-2001
Rank	Captain
Unit	555th Fighter Squadron
Other work	author, speaker

Scott F. O'Grady (born October 12, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former United States Air Force captain who gained prominence after ejecting over Bosnia when his F-16C 89-2032/AV was hit by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 on June 2, 1995 while patrolling the no-fly zone.

The incident occurred near Mrkonjić Grad in Serb keeped territory. He evaded capture and was rescued six days later, on 8 June, by United States Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based on the USS Kearsarge.

Their mission, known as a TRAP (Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel), was something they all had trained for and conducted many times as training exercises prior to the actual mission. Their parent unit, the 24th MEU-SOC, was actually the "standby" unit that was slated to go only after the primary unit in Italy waived off the mission and insisted on another day of prep.

The movie Behind Enemy Lines is loosely based on his story. He sued the movie company in 2002 for making the film without his permission.

O'Grady penned two books along with Michael French and Jeff Coplon detailing his experiences of being shot down over Bosnia and his eventual rescue — Return with Honor and Basher Five-Two.

O'Grady is a former cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and a 1989 AFROTC graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Three years after he was rescued, O'Grady left active duty in the U.S. Air Force. Today, he is a pilot in the Air Force Reserve. He is also currently working on a Master's degree at Dallas Theological Seminary.

[edit] Bibliography

O'Grady, Captain Scott (with Jeff Coplon). Return with Honor, New York: Doubleday, 1995. (ISBN 0385483309)
O'Grady, Scott (with Michael French). Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'Grady, New York: Doubleday, 1997. (ISBN 0-385-32300-X)
Kelly, Mary Pat. "Good to Go": The Rescue of Capt. Scott O'Grady, USAF, from Bosnia, Naval Institute Press, 1996. (ISBN 1-55750-459-8)