Seeking combat rescue officers
The US Air Force Reserve 304th Rescue Squadron has a shortage of combat rescue officers.
Image: Air Force Reserve pararescuemen from the 304th Rescue Squadron conduct a rescue training exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, California (Staff Sgt N. Daniel Delgado / USAF)
The US Air Force Reserve’s 446th Airlift Wing has reported that its Portland-based 304th Rescue Squadron (RQS) has a shortage of combat rescue officers (CROs), which it describes as search, rescue, and retrieval experts skilled in recovery strategy and leading pararescue (PJ) teams into combat environments to extract personnel or sensitive equipment (‘think paramedics with guns’).
“The 304th RQS has five positions assigned and they have five vacancies,” said Master Sgt Yvette Larson, Air Force Reserve officer recruiter. These vacancies are part-time traditional Reservist positions.
“Who wouldn't want to save the lives of America's heroes?” asked Lt Col David Jeske, 446th Airlift Wing chief of Inspections. “I think nearly all Combat Rescue Officers go into the career field because it's an exciting way to help others.”
Jeske manages and ensures the wing's compliance in several Air Force inspection standards, said the Wing, adding that he’s a seasoned CRO to the core with more than 20 years of skill and expertise. “You get to be the last (and) best chance a serviceman has at seeing their family again, going home, or serving again,” Jeske said. “With each mission, you have the opportunity to dramatically and positively affect families, communities, and someone's life.”
CROs are first and foremost military officers with recovery operations in combat as the main goal, said the Wing. But at other times, they serve as humanitarians assisting victims of natural disasters or injured mountain hikers, for example.
Candidates who are up to the challenge and motivated to save lives have to first qualify as an Air Force Reserve officer and then complete a CRO-specific fitness assessment before they can be accepted into the training pipeline. Combat rescue officers continuously train to sustain their abilities across a wide variety of skillsets, including combat marksmanship and precision parachuting.
Jeske said in order to successfully become a CRO, any ‘Lone Ranger’ attitude has to be dropped: “Either the team wins and you win, or the team loses and you lose. The sooner you learn this, the better off you and the team will be.” Each team member’s skillsets are only effective when they're applied together. “I’m not doing my job if I don’t try to maximise everyone’s ability by integrating those abilities into the team,” he said.
Jeske described the combat-rescue community as small, but supportive: “You get to know each other; you fly together, eat together, and bleed together – and you definitely only succeed together. That brings people together because you learn to rely on each other, trust your life to each other. This makes you really close-knit.”
The 304th RQS is a stand-alone unit at Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon, but it’s part of the 943rd Rescue Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.
For additional information and to see if you qualify, get in touch with Master Sgt Yvette Larson, Air Force Reserve officer recruiter at [email protected].