I've also seen some people suggesting this actually, and honestly it's starting to look plausible. The rescue narrative gets so much more interesting when you realize the pilot would've had to walk 172 km in a single day to get to the location from crash sight and other pilot. And the video of the jet getting shot down clearly shows they both ejected at the same time.

The two points on that Google Maps screenshot show the crash site of the downed F-15E in central Iran (lower black circle) and the location where the second crew member (weapons systems officer) was supposedly rescued by U.S. special forces (upper red pin near Shahrekord).

Seeming more plausible, and I didn't connect the firings until now. Good point.

I'm thinking they used the rescue as cover to pull off a separate raid, which failed, and there was a sustained firefight at the airfield. It's unusual to have both an HC and MC-130 involved in a rescue operation along with MH-6 helicopters and everything else. That's a big operation compared to a typical rescue package and torching that equipment meant things went south in a hurry.

As a former C-130 loadmaster, I was bummed to see those planes destroyed. Expensive, but also extremely valuable operationally. That's a big loss.