Pararescue
The PJ motto is: that others may live. Tasked with pulling off rescues in the most austere conditions, PJs are trained in paramedicine, freefall jumping, mountain rescue, scuba, survival, and more.
While the role was created to save downed pilots in the jungles of Vietnam, our mandate broadened in later conflicts to include rescue of civilians and service members in all combat and disaster settings: a helicopter shot down in an urban center, intense hurricane flooding in coastal cities, crashed planes in Alaska. Becoming a PJ is among the most challenging pipelines in the DoD, requiring a combination of grit, creativity, and intelligence. The skillset is problem-solving in harsh and urgent conditions.
Becoming a PJ was an absolute dream. Pushing your body to the limits with your bros in service of strangers who cannot be rescued by anyone but you ... could be the second greatest privilege known to man. It was only when I started the first greatest privilege known to man, having a child, that I decided to give up the PJ life.
Here’s a mission I did in Alaska. Stranded hiker on a point in the mountains about 30min south of Anchorage. You may be thinking, what in the world was this guy doing there? Well, he was in the Coast Guard, so we have to cut him some slack for not knowing what to do in the mountains ;)