“Royal Jordanian Air Force fighter pilot Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh ejected safely over Raqqah, Syria (territory held by ISIS), after his F-16 developed a technical malfunction while on a strike mission against the terrorists.”

This was the news we got on December 24, 2014, while stepping out for a routine training mission.

As fighter pilots, we knew Muath’s safe ejection from an uncontrollable fighter jet could not be cherished, for Muath had to eject behind enemy lines. And, this wasn’t a conventional enemy.

We knew his fate instantly.

Terrorists have no code of conduct or rules to fight — they will go to any extreme. The most feared happened on February 3, 2015 when the ISIS released a video of Muath caged, in an orange jump suit which was soaked in gasoline, while one militant lit a torch and then lit a line of fuel in the sand leading towards the cage.

That day, we lost another brother defending his motherland.

Soldiers do not fear death, they embrace it; they embrace it the day they take oath. Muath proved to what extent a soldier, a fighter pilot can go to in defending his/her country.

Hailing from Al Karak, a small town some 140 miles South of Amman, Jordan, Muath wasn’t just a Jordanian, he was a brother in arms to us — a symbol of courage and resilience.