Air Force special ops members ‘fight, bleed and laugh’ on nearly 7,000 days of deployments

[rangerrebew]

Air Force special ops members ‘fight, bleed and laugh’ on nearly 7,000 days of deployments

 
By CHAD GARLAND | STARS AND STRIPES Published: September 10, 2020

Note: This article has been corrected.

The U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks launched an Air Force special operations unit into more than 6,900 days, or nearly two decades, of continuous deployments and combat operations in the Middle East, officials said.

Within weeks of the terrorist attacks on the U.S., the 17th Special Tactics Squadron deployed with Army Rangers on raids into southern Afghanistan on Oct. 19, 2001. Since then, the squadron has had no breaks in deployment of its tactical air control party operators and other special tactics airmen to support Ranger battalions downrange, an Air Force statement said.

“We fight, bleed and laugh beside [the Rangers],” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Duhon, a tactical air control party operator quoted in last month’s statement. “We win as a team or fail as a team.”

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/air-force-special-ops-members-fight-bleed-and-laugh-on-nearly-7-000-days-of-deployments-1.644486

[sneakypete]

The USAF Special Operations guys have never received the recognition they deserve.

Think about this little factoid for a minute. One of their prime jobs is going in to rescue shot down pilots and air crews. This usually happens over enemy territory,and the enemy knows where the aircraft went down,and already have troops heading for that site before the USAF guys take off.

Once they get to the site of the crash,it is usually only 1 or 2 Para-Rescue guys that are lowered to the crash site by a winch to try to locate and give immediate first aid to any survivors,and gather the survivors together to be winched back up to the helicopter. Often,they have to do all this while fighting off the enemy pretty much all by themselves.

They then hook up to the winch and are winched back up to the hovering helicopter AFTER EVERYONE ELSE IS ALREADY ABOARD.

I challenge anyone to try to convince me that doesn't take major-league stones.