Scott O'Grady

Scott O'Grady
Scott O'Grady
	O'Grady in 1995
Birth name	Scott Francis O'Grady
Nickname(s)	"Basher 52"
Born	October 12, 1965 (age 58); New York City, New York, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1989–2001
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Bosnian War Banja Luka incident; ;
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 a 2K12 Kub (NATO designation SA-6 "Gainful") mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile territory. US Marines from heavy-helicopter squadron HMH-464 and the 24 MEU(SOC) on AC number 21 eventually rescued O'Grady after nearly a week of his evading the Bosnian Serbs. He was previously involved 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,^[1] but he later suspended his campaign because of uncertainties over the Texas redistricting fight.^[2] In November 2020, President Donald Trump stated an official intention to nominate O'Grady as the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.^[3]^[4] The nomination was submitted to the Senate for confirmation on November 30, 2020.^[5] Before and during the nomination, O'Grady had spread numerous debunked conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 United States presidential election, and calls by Michael Flynn for Trump to institute martial law.^[6]

^ "Shapiro not seeking reelection; O'Grady announces". Austin American Statesman statesman.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
^ O'Grady suspends bid for Collin County seat in Texas Senate. Trail Blazers Blog for the Dallas Morning News. January 30, 2012.
^ "US hero of Bosnia war named to the Pentagon". Yahoo!. November 18, 2020.
^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. November 17, 2020 – via National Archives.
^ "PN2363 — Scott Francis O'Grady — Department of Defense". U.S. Congress. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference KFile-4Dec2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[statesman1-1] "Shapiro not seeking reelection; O'Grady announces". Austin American Statesman statesman.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.

[2] O'Grady suspends bid for Collin County seat in Texas Senate. Trail Blazers Blog for the Dallas Morning News. January 30, 2012.

[3] "US hero of Bosnia war named to the Pentagon". Yahoo!. November 18, 2020.

[4] "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. November 17, 2020 – via National Archives.

[5] "PN2363 — Scott Francis O'Grady — Department of Defense". U.S. Congress. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

[KFile-4Dec2020-6] Cite error: The named reference KFile-4Dec2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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