United States Air Force Pararescue

United States Air Force Pararescue

Pararescuemen (AFSC 1T2X1) are United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) operatives tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. Also known as "PJs" (Pararescue Jumpers), these special operations units are also used to support NASA missions and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings. They are attached to other SOF teams from all branches to conduct other operations as appropriate. Of the 22 enlisted Air Force Cross recipients, 12 are Pararescuemen. They wear the maroon beret as a symbol of their elite status, and to symbolize the blood shed by past PJs, as well as the blood current PJs are willing to shed to save lives. Part of the little-known Air Force Special Tactics community and long an enlisted preserve, the Pararescue service began commissioning Combat Rescue Officers early in the 21st century.

Read more about United States Air Force Pararescue:  Pararescue Training and Structure, Notable Pararescuemen, Movies, Current Units, Former Unit

Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, air and/or force:

    What the United States does best is to understand itself. What it does worst is understand others.
    Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)

    The veto is a President’s Constitutional right, given to him by the drafters of the Constitution because they wanted it as a check against irresponsible Congressional action. The veto forces Congress to take another look at legislation that has been passed. I think this is a responsible tool for a president of the United States, and I have sought to use it responsibly.
    Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)

    If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who, in foreign ports, display the flag or wear the colors of this Government against insult, brutality, and death, inflicted in resentment of the acts of their Government, and not for any fault of their own.
    Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)

    People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
    Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
    The air is full of children, statues, roofs
    And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
    Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
    The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)