Air Force Reserve Rescue calls Cocoa Beach home

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow
  • 920th Rescue Wing
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - --  Not only is Cocoa Beach, Fla., an endless summer sanctuary and home to 11-time world champion surfer, Kelly Slater, but it houses the world's premier Air Force Reserve Rescue unit - the 920th Rescue Wing.

Based here, the wing deploys globally to save lives, but sometimes, like during the annual air show, its Airmen get to showcase their combat-search-and-rescue skills in their own backyard for Cocoa Beach goers.

Click here to see recent air show images: air show photo slide show.

Tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments, pararescue Airmen 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.

Also known as "PJs," these special operators were are also used to support NASA manned spaceflight missions from nearby Kennedy Space Center and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings for the last 50 years since Project Mercury in the 1960s.

Of the 22 enlisted Air Force Cross recipients, 12 are pararescuemen. They wear the maroon beret as a symbol of their elite status, and to symbolize the blood shed by past PJs, as well as the blood current PJs are willing to shed to save lives. 

Currently more than 100 Airmen from the 920th are deployed supporting overseas operations and they are credited with saving more than 500 lives since May of this year.

To learn more about the 920th RQW, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.