A Vietnam War-era attack pilot and a major in the United States Air Force (USAF), he flew 212 combat missions and was shot down near the end of the war.

Two fellow American soldiers went in to the burning wreckage and pulled Brian, and surviving in hostile territory with extensive wounds for more than a day.

The rescue mission did not start immediately because his precise location was unknown, there were enemy soldiers nearby, and heavy jungle cover overhead.

Although the original plan was to extract Shul quietly without the enemy noticing, the operation quickly turned into an openly hostile mission.

After a tour as an A-10 instructor pilot at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, he went on to instruct at the USAF's Fighter Lead-In School as the Chief of Air-to-Ground Academics.

[citation needed] Shul also made an Air Force safety video titled "Sierra Hotel" (with the title referring to the phonetic alphabet code for the military aviator slang expletive "Shit Hot") where he described his crash ordeal in explicit detail in order to motivate other USAF pilots to be more safety conscious and teaching them how to better survive such incidents.

[citation needed] After 20 years and 5000 hours in fighter jets, Shul retired from the Air Force in 1990 and went on to pursue his writing and photographic interests.

In 1997, Shul released his fifth book, Eagle Eyes : Action Photography from the Cutting Edge,[6] which is a collection of his in-flight photos.

[citation needed] In his talks, Shul told the story of the SR-71 being the end of a ground speed check over radio one-upmanship with the smug pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet.

[citation needed] Brian Shul collapsed right after giving his famous SR-71 presentation for an audience in Reno, NV on May 20th, 2023.