I read a summary at Wikipedia to refresh my memory.
It took me 5 minutes just to get the names of all the officers and military units straight in my mind.
I had forgotten the plan included “hiding” 8 helicopters and about 100 men for 24 hours at the Desert Two base outside Tehran!
Meanwhile, at the Desert One Base, we had to detain a bus load of Iranians who were using a road that went right through the landing zone!
Yeah, like nobody is going to come looking for those folks when the sun comes up?
And, we had planes and choppers flying all over Iranian airspace.
How could we possibly keep this plan a secret?
The extraction plan was almost as nutty as the insertion.
From Desert Two we had to drive to the embassy in downtown Tehran, seize the embassy from a hostile force, locate the hostages, then move them across the street to a soccer stadium where rescue helicopters would land and pick them up.
So, home free after the stadium?
Nope.
While all this is going on, Army Rangers are supposed to seize an Iranian Air Force Base near Tehran.
The choppers from the stadium are supposed to fly to the seized Air Force Base where C-141’s would land, pick up everybody, then fly them to safety.
Imagine if you were a hostage and someone explained this plan to you before it happened.
I would say, “No thank you.”
Either I would killed, or dozens of soldiers would die trying to rescue me, or both.
It almost sounds like a hollywood script completely devoid of reality. If you believe the movie Argo they must have thought hey it worked once so why not.