For several tense weeks, the world held its breath as 12 boys and their soccer coach fought for survival in a flooded Thai cave. The remarkable success of their rescue was then celebrated in real time, as all 13 emerged safely and were eventually reunited with their families.
Hundreds of foreign reporters traveled to northern Thailand to cover the story. Among the first was United States Air Force Captain Jessica Tait ’10, an alumna of the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership at MBU.
Tait served as the spokesperson for a USAF team assisting in the operation to find and rescue the missing soccer team, on behalf of the US Indo-Pacific Command. Watch her live CNN report on developing rescue plans and the elation felt after the soccer team was first found. “I have chills thinking about that moment,” she said.
