308th Rescue Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 2005–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Role | Search and Rescue |
Motto(s) | "These Things We Do, That Others May Live." [1] |
Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
Insignia | |
308th Rescue Squadron emblem (approved 12 May 2005) [2] |
The 308th Rescue Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command combat search and rescue unit located at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The squadron is assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida.
The peacetime mission of the 308th is to train and maintain rescue capability for Department of Defense personnel, humanitarian and disaster relief activities. The 308th's wartime mission is to provide combat rescue capabilities to recover downed aircrew members and isolated personnel. They can provide this capability under the harshest of circumstances to include, day/night, inclement weather and all terrain rescue conditions. [2]
The squadron consists of Combat Rescue Officers and enlisted Pararescuemen, the latter known as PJs. While many CROs and PJs enter the 920th from the active duty Air Force, others are accessed directly into the Air Force Reserve. CRO and PJ Candidates must pass a physical assessment test which has about 15% success rate. An average of eighty people Air Force-wide enter the 2-year CRO / PJ training program each year. [3] The CRO / PJ team, along with enlisted Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) experts, is collectively known as GUARDIAN ANGEL. [4]
The 308th was responsible for recovery of astronauts landed in US spacecraft off American shore. For that mission, the squadron will have 3 teams ready.
During ascent for Starliner, Dragon, and Orion, the 308th Rescue Squadron will have two teams stationed along the east coast of the United States, one at Patrick Space Force Base (just South of the Cape) and the other in Charleston, South Carolina. The Patrick team, Rescue 1, will be responsible for on-pad aborts that place a capsule in the water or for aborts in the first couple minutes of flight that place the capsule within a 200 nautical mile zone from the Cape. After that distance is exceeded, the Charleston crew (Rescue 2) would be responsible for rescue of a launch-aborting crew vehicle anywhere else across the Atlantic.The third team, stationed in Hawai’i, (also part of Rescue 2) would be responsible for any after-launch immediate landing need or off-nominal Station return contingency that places a Starliner or Dragon in the Pacific. If an off-nominal from orbit return occurred with splashdown in the Atlantic, an emergency ocean return within 200 nautical miles of Cape Canaveral would fall to Rescue 1. Any other Atlantic splashdown would fall to Rescue 2 from Charleston because they have more powerful aircraft that could reach Starliner or Dragon or Orion quicker than the Patrick support craft.
Rescue 1 carries a requirement to have a crew en route back to land within 6 hours of splashdown. Rescue 2 carries a requirement to have the hatch on a capsule opened within 24 hours of splashdown and a crew evacuated (via helicopter or ship) from the sea landing area within 72 hours of hatch open. [5]
The 308th trained for combat search and rescue (CSAR) capability from its inception. The 308th was activated in the Reserves on 12 February 2005. Since 2005, personnel from the 308th RQS have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During August 2017, the squadron was deployed to Texas after Hurricane Harvey devastated the "Lone Star State". The pararescuemen from the 308th were credited in saving dozens of lives from flooded areas in the state. [6]
On March 15, 2018, 308th RQS Pararescuemen, Master Sgt. William Posch and Staff Sgt. Carl Enis were among seven Airmen killed when their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq. [7]
On June 14, 2019, 308th RQS Pararescueman Tech. Sgt. Nick Torres received two bronze star medals for providing critical first aid to injured friendly forces whilst under enemy fire during two separate deployments to Afghanistan. [8]
The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate services in the U.S. armed forces.
Pararescuemen are United States Air Force special operators who conduct personnel recovery and combat search and rescue operations as well as other missions for the U.S. military and its allies. Highly trained special operators, PJs are generally assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC).
The United States Air Force Combat Rescue School, was an organization of the United States Air Force.
The 125th Special Tactics Squadron is a special operations force unit serving as part of the 142nd Wing of the United States Air National Guard. They are based at the Portland Air National Guard Base in Portland, Oregon.
The 939th Air Refueling Wing is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve unit. It was last active with the Fourth Air Force, based at the Portland Air Reserve Station, Oregon. It was inactivated on 30 June 2008.
The 920th Rescue Wing is part of the Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the United States Air Force. The wing is assigned to the Tenth Air Force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC).
The 130th Rescue Squadron is a unit of the California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing located at Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, California. The 130th is equipped with the HC-130J Combat King II. If activated to federal service, the 130 RQS is gained within the United States Air Force by the Air Combat Command (ACC).
The 131st Rescue Squadron is a unit of the California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing located at Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, California.
The 39th Rescue Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command unit of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. Until December 2019, it operated the Lockheed HC-130P/N Combat King aircraft conducting search and rescue and combat search and rescue/personnel recovery missions. The squadron is currently transitioning to the Lockheed Martin HC-130J Combat King II aircraft, which will provide significant increases in the squadron's capabilities. An Air Force Reserve Command unit, the 39th Rescue Squadron is operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC) upon mobilization.
The 48th Rescue Squadron is part of the 563d Rescue Group at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. PJs/CROs fly on HH-60 Pave Hawk and HC-130 aircraft to conduct combat rescue and search and rescue missions.
The 66th Rescue Squadron is an inactive squadron of the United States Air Force that was last stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, where it operated HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters conducting search and rescue and combat search and rescue missions. At the time of its inactivation in 2023, it was a geographically separated unit of the 563rd Rescue Group, 355th Wing, at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.
The 301st Rescue Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command unit, part of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The squadron operates the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, conducting both peacetime and combat search and rescue missions. As a reserve unit, it is operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC).
Combat Rescue Officer (CRO) is a Special Warfare Officer career field in the United States Air Force. Its Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) is 19ZXC and it was created to strengthen USAF Special Warfare personnel recovery capabilities by providing commissioned officer leadership that possessed an operational skillset paralleling that of the enlisted pararescuemen (PJ). The CRO specialty includes direct combatant command and control of Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations. They plan, manage and execute the six tasks of CSAR: prepare, report, locate, support, recover, and reintegrate isolated personnel and materiel. CROs conduct strategic, operational and tactical level planning, provide battle staff expertise, manage theater personnel recovery operations and conduct combat special operations.
The 304th Rescue Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command combat search and rescue unit located at Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon. The squadron is a geographically separated unit assigned to the 943d Rescue Group at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida.
The 305th Rescue Squadron is part of the 943rd Rescue Group at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, a subordinate of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. It operates Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk and HH-60W Jolly Green II aircraft conducting peacetime and combat search and rescue missions.
Ramón Colón-López is a retired senior non-commissioned officer of the United States Air Force and a former pararescueman, and served as the 4th Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman (SEAC) from December 13, 2019 to November 3, 2023. In his role as SEAC, Colón-López was the most senior enlisted member of the United States military. In 2007 he was the only Hispanic American among the first six airmen to be awarded the newly created Air Force Combat Action Medal. He served as the Senior Enlisted Leader of United States Africa Command from September 2016 to November 2019.
The 943rd Rescue Group is a reserve component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Tenth Air Force under the Air Force Reserve Command and is based in Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. When mobilized, Air Combat Command directs group assets into theater to support wartime tasking and other operations, like humanitarian relief. United States Northern Command may gain group assets directly to support disaster relief, search and rescue tasking in the aftermath of catastrophic events like hurricane, tornado, wildfire, flooding and earthquake, when they occur in the US, or its territories.
301st may refer to:
The United States Air Force Combat Diver Course—administratively known as the 350th Battlefield Airmen Training Squadron, Det 2—is held at the Navy Diving Salvage and Training Center, Naval Support Activity Panama City and trains Pararescuemen, Combat Rescue Officers, Combat Controllers, and Special Tactics Officers to conduct and participate in special operations diving missions.
Homestead Air Reserve Base, previously known as Homestead Air Force Base is located in Miami–Dade County, Florida to the northeast of the city of Homestead. It is home to the 482nd Fighter Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command's Tenth Air Force, as well as the headquarters of Special Operations Command South.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency