MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- Combat rescue officer, or CROs, are Air
Force search, rescue, and retrieval experts. They're skilled in recovery
strategy, and leading pararescue - PJ - teams into combat environments to
extract personnel or sensitive equipment.
Dispatching rescue teams is the Air Force Reserve's 304th Rescue
Squadron's mission. But there's an issue - the Portland-based unit has a CRO
shortage, preventing them from optimally achieving it.
"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?" said Lt. Col. David Jeske, 446th Airlift Wing chief
of Inspections here. "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 AF inspection standards, but 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, the main goal. But other
times, they serve as humanitarians assisting calamity victims, including
Hurricane Katrina, injured mountain hikers, and snow storms.
Candidates
who are up to the challenge and motivated to save lives have to qualify as an
Air Force Reserve officer, if they aren't already, and 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,
the "Lone Ranger" attitude gets thrown to the wolves.
"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," he said.
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 maximize everyone's ability by integrating those
abilities into the team," he said.
Jeske articulated 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."
So they
train - as a team - to refine their skills to make sure they deliver the finest
care to whomever they're recovering, whether it's a service member, or a
disaster victim. It's somebody who desperately needs them.
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 AFB, Florida.
Motivated leaders interested
in helping the 304th RQS save lives, should get in touch with Master Sgt. Yvette
Larson, Air Force Reserve officer recruiter at (253) 330-7489 or
yvette.larson@us.af.mil for additional information.