The Medic of the Modern Battlefield
Air Force pararescuemen have cutting edge tech and no fear of heights.
By Jay Bennett
Jan 19, 2017
281
U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Melanie Holochwost
Soldiers don't have the luxury of deciding the best place to get wounded. It could happen in the midst of a firefight in a dense city, or out in the middle of the desert. Combat medics might need to get to a mountain valley or plunge into the ocean. But wherever they are going, they always need to get there fast. That's why pararescumen, or PJs, take the most direct route: straight down from the sky.
"If there is any valor and humanity in warfare, it's in pararescue," an Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) PJ recently told me at Hurlburt Field, an auxiliary field of Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida panhandle. There are roughly 325 pararescumen in service, 180 with Air Combat Command, and 145 with AFSOC, the Air Force's special operations component, akin to the Navy SEALs. In fact, when a Navy SEAL takes a hit, it might be an AFSOC PJ who leaps from the sky to provide aid.
One active-duty PJ gave me a look at some of the most impressive and unusual gear put to use by modern airborne medics. Of all the life-saving equiptment, the flashiest must be the $85,000 anatomical dummy. The mannequin talks, breathes, bleeds, and cries out in pain, all while a series of sensors allow it to be controlled via an app. While one PJ-in-training tends to the dummy, another can monitor its vitals on a tablet.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a24806/air-force-pararescuemen-medic-of-the-modern-battlefield/
