Monster Mash builds never-quit attitude in Special Ops Airmen

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  A swim competition across a river and a foot race against traffic was just another training day for Air Force Reserve Special Operations Airmen here April 21.

While training is the bread and butter for these pararescuemen and combat rescue officers, an elite personal recovery team charged with combat rescue anywhere in the world, no one ever said it couldn't be fun. A Monster Mash pitted these men against each other in a test which built endurance and camaraderie simultaneously.

The men plunged into the salty Banana River and swam fast against the current, and one another from one side to the other, nearly two-miles. Sting rays and manatee parted the way as the school of finned-men fleshed through the brackish water with their mechanical muscle action kicking and mashing all the way.

Then they threw off their sea legs and hit the pavement running for the final six-mile trek across the base, darting past the flightline where search and rescue aircraft rested, and out the front gate north along State Road A1A through the East Coast's surfing capitol, Cocoa Beach.

The entire support team from 308th Rescue Squadron, to include their spouses, children, even some curious spectators, cheered the men on as the crossed the finish line at a popular lunch spot on the beach.

Long-time pararescueman and Cocoa Beach native, Master Sgt. Chris Seinkner, led the way with a five-car lead finishing first in his hometown with an impressive time of 1 hour, 42 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the 28 men followed suit at various intervals.

Pararescueman Senior Airman Kris Tomes said he looked at the event as a gut check, part of his training and as a team-building exercise. He finished among the top half with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds.

"I haven't done this in a long time," Tomes said catching his breath after the swim. "It's tough but 'never quit' is still in our heads."

An attitude that allows them to live by the pararescue motto, these things we do, that other may live.

They are the only members of the DoD specifically organized, trained and equipped to conduct personnel recovery operations in hostile or denied areas as a primary mission. Their resume includes a handful of vital skills not seen on your average job application: trauma care and weaponry specialists, expert parachutists, professional SCUBA divers and expert mountaineers.

With this skill set, these Airmen are also charged as guardians of the astronauts during NASA manned space missions and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings.

They wear maroon berets as a symbol of their elite status, and to symbolize the blood shed by past and current Guardian Angel Airmen.

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