Pararescue

A pararescue legend hangs it up: HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. –Over the course of his thirty-year career, he was decorated nine times for actions that saved dozens –if not hundreds– on and off the battlefield. He was a major command pararescueman of the year, an Air Force Pitsenbarger Award recipient valor under fire, and AF pararescue […]

One of the Pararescuemen describes his skill set as being a “mixture of being a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue diver, mixed with a mountain rescue specialist.”

83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron hard at work.

In this week’s SOFREP News Roundup, a murder-suicide in the USAF, a famous SEAL gets slapped with a DUI, and a gratuitous naked-dude story.

This documentary explores USAF Special Tactics combat rescue as told by some of the men who helped start the program.

When he was in the helicopter, we gave him some drugs that should have wiped his memory. When the time came to make the decision, I didn’t even hesitate.

Everyone knows it sucks to be the medic. Especially the medics themselves. You have to carry more shit, go to a bunch more schools, be kinda smart, and then, when the shit hits the fan, you’re dragging dudes behind cover instead of dealing death. For years, in the combat medicine world, it has been SOP […]

My old pipeline friend Nick Gibson is joining up with the USAF’s Seven Summits team to summit Mount Everest next spring. As soon as I was able to contain my insane jealousy, I thought I’d better get in touch with him to see what it was all about. My fondest memories of Nick, a former […]

Staff Sergeant Kyle Klapperich , a pararescueman, deployed in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM as the primary rescue specialist and sole medic attached to a combined U.S. Navy SEAL and Afghan Commando Team. On the night of September 7, 2011, Sergeant Klapperich inserted with a combined helo-assault force into a known insurgent stronghold which was […]

It’s no secret that the SOF community is huge on physical fitness.  The training pipelines are brutal, the daily PT regimens are physically taxing. (Never go on a “fun” run with a PJ… it inevitably turns into a freaking marathon.) All that body armor, weapons and ammo  does weigh a few pounds, after all. Inside this […]

This is it. You’ve made it though the US Air Force’s MEPS, you took the oath, and went off to basic training. You weren’t one of those types who just thought you’d sort out a job when you got there, oh no. You always knew what you wanted. You wanted to be with the best, […]