When the first reports came on Friday of the downing of an American F-15 fighter jet over Iran with two pilots – the US military tasked the impossible mission of retrieving a pilot and navigator from behind enemy lines with the US Air Force Pararescue, commonly known as the “PJs.”
The PJs serve as the Pentagon’s ultimate insurance policy. Operating under the motto “So That Others May Live,” these elite specialists are trained to go where no one else can, often under heavy fire and in the most inhospitable environments on earth.
“It’s one of the elite and really not very well known elements of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC),” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior intelligence service officer with the CIA. “This is, of course, the most elite forces in the US, and they are trained in doing the impossible, which often is going behind the lines to recover downed aviators or downed US military or intelligence community personnel.”
The concept of a dedicated pararescue force traces its roots back to the end of World War II. After numerous Allied aircraft were lost in the dense jungles of Southeast Asia, the US military realized it needed a specialized force of “paramedic-commandos” capable of rescuing personnel from cliffs, snow, jungle, and sea.
These days, every member of the unit is a certified paramedic, capable of providing life-saving medical care in the heat of battle.
Over 12,000 combat rescue missions completed
“A key part of the PJs’ mission is that if they’re going after a missing US serviceman or woman, they can actually provide medical care as well,” Polymeropoulos noted, highlighting the extensive medical training that separates the PJs from other special operations units.
Becoming a PJ is widely considered one of the most grueling undertakings in the military. The training pipeline lasts nearly two years and includes a brutal curriculum: mountain climbing, combat diving to depths of 40 meters, free-fall parachuting, and an intensive paramedic certification.
Perhaps most daunting is the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training, which prepares candidates to survive in the wild and endure the psychological and physical rigors of enemy captivity.
“The washout rate will be very high,” Polymeropoulos explained. “They need to have the right qualifications. It wouldn’t be just their physical stamina, it would also be how they think on their feet – the mental aspect of it.”
The current operation in Iran represents the “Tier One” mission for which the PJs are designed: a “denied area” operation.
“Their mission is to conduct rescues behind enemy lines, under fire, in austere circumstances with almost no backup whatsoever,” said Jonathan Hackett, a retired US Marine Corps special operations capabilities specialist. “The Pararescuemen are specialized in doing exactly this kind of denied-area operation, which means they’re in an area where they’re under constant repulsion the entire time they’re trying to find that American.”
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the PJs have conducted over 12,000 combat rescue missions across the Middle East. Their reach, however, extends beyond the battlefield. The unit is also responsible for the contingency rescue of NASA astronauts in the event of a spacecraft malfunction or a water landing.
Operating in Iranian territory presents a unique set of challenges, including sophisticated air defenses and the constant threat of capture.
Yet, for the PJs, the mission is singular. As one unit member put it: “Everything that we do, all the training that we do, it really just culminates in getting to rescue that one individual who needs our help.”