Retired Marine, Fenwick HS president explains rigorous training to survive after being shot down

The daring rescue of two U.S. aviators shot down over Iran is drawing renewed attention on the rigorous training U.S. pilots rely on, amid rising tensions.

President Trump on Monday drew a new line in the sand, warning Iran’s next move could escalate the confict.

Tuesday evening is the deadline for Iranian officials to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, or as the president says: he will order the entire nation leveled, starting with bridges and power plants.

The latest threat of annihilation comes as U.S. officials praise the daring – and successful – rescue missions of two American aviators who were shot down and had to eject from their warplane last Friday. NBC 5 Investigates has talked with a retired suburban Marine pilot who knows all about the will to survive.

The president and his top military leaders admit they were “risky rescues,” deploying hundreds of special operators, aviators and soldiers to retrieve the two airmen who had to eject over Iran last Friday. At the heart of the rescue mission was America’s unusual pledge to those in uniform: you’ll never be left behind – a promise that retired suburban Chicago Marine Col. Otto Rutt preached and practiced in his 25-year flying career in the Corps.

Rutt went from behind the controls of a supersonic F-18 Hornet in South Carolina to behind the president’s desk at Fenwick High School in west suburban Oak Park. From one place to the other, Rutt has been in command.

But when a U.S. warplane goes down, it touches him no matter where he is.

“You feel a tie to those people, every one of them, whether they’re in logistics, making sure your planes are ready to go, maintenance, everybody is, everybody’s with you,” said Col. Rutt. “Even back here in the States, you’re thinking about them. One of the things that we learn, we’re trained about, is the expansion of time. The idea that time slows down very quickly. One hour is an eternity,” Rutt said.

Army Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the most important contributor to a successful operation is “the spirit of attack inside the heart of that downed aviator.”

“Their will to survive, their will to evade, their will to recover, is everything,” Caine said at a White House briefing on the downing and rescue of the two aviators.

In an interview with NBC 5 on Monday, Rutt said that in all military rescue missions, “time is of the essence.The sooner you can get to that down-to-air crew, the better.”

“Things aren’t going to necessarily improve with age and intelligence, but there are tremendous risks involved,” he said. “As we’re discussing, the idea that you’re bringing more people into a more dangerous situation because everybody’s looking for that downed air crew, and you’re going to need to plan.”

According to the 25-year Marine combat pilot, there is even more intense ejection survival training now than when he was a young aviator.

Some elements remain the same.

“There’s a number of things that you do even before you hit the ground. After you leave the airplane and, on the descent, down, you’re already going through your procedures. And by the time you get to the ground, you know exactly what you’re going to do,” he said. “You’re going to look for cover and concealment. You’re going to want to take with you what you can. You’re going to want to hide whatever you can if you’ve got time. So, again, it is a very fluid and quick situation.”

Perhaps that is similar to each day at Fenwick College Prep in Oak Park, where in 2024 Rutt became the first lay president of the Catholic high school in its near century-long history.

“Our students are just the best,” Rutt said. “They’re like young Marines in the sense that their esprit de corps is off the page. So I find a lot of parallels, and I enjoy every day coming here.”

Rutt is also a Fenwick alumnus, who has advanced degrees in business and economics from Harvard University and the University of Chicago.

But much of his real-world experience is from the Marine Corps, where he served two overseas tours, flew combat missions in the Persian Gulf and western Iraq and later oversaw training and readiness for several Marine units.

He was never shot down nor did he have to eject – but said he was trained to handle it – just like the two rescued aviators in Iran.