> And how does it make any logical sense to send 100+ spec ops guys in two big planes to rescue one (1) guy in a remote mountainous location?

I’m a former Air Force officer, and can attest that this is in fact a long-term standing policy. “Never leave a man behind” exists because if we didn’t have that policy, pilots would be too risk averse to fly the missions aggressively.

Check out the “Notable Missions” section for a few very public examples over the past decades:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_search_and_rescue

Love it! Thanks for the context.