Some think it was a mission to extract nuclear materials, that went wrong when the F15 went down (via shoulder-launched missile).

I think it was the Beeb, last night, that laid out a map of where the 15 went down, and where the Hercs were destroyed. The Hercs were far away from the 15 crash site, and closer to Isfahan, where there is/was a large nuke facility. The analyst also commented that the op involved a huge number of aircraft and personnel to extract one man. Ops like that usually use a small force, to minimize the chances of being noticed. With the two Hercs, they could have had a full rifle company, as if they expected to run in to Iranian troops. "Operation Eagle Claw", the aborted Tehran hostage mission, had about 130 personnel involved, with 8 heloo and 1 Herc. The reported 75 aircraft involved this time would hardly be "stealthy".

The rescued guy was a colonel. Seems a high rank for a lowly weapons officer.

The number of active USAF personnel has been in a downtrend for several years. It may well be possible for a colonel, either a lieutenant colonel, or a "bird" colonel to still be flying, simply because he has been in long enough to be promoted, and there are fewer younger people to take his place.

Steve