Homecoming

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Family and friends gather at the 308th Rescue Squadron here as the reseve pararescuemen come home from a four-month deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. These PJs were a part of a huge rescue after several avalanches devestated a highly-populated road that ran into Northern Afghanistan. Over 300 local Afghan citizens were assisted during that operation. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Leslie Kraushaar)

Oh, baby!

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Capt. Chad Senior, Air Force Reserve combat rescue officer (CRO), holds his daughter for the first time in two months after returning from supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The reserve pararescuemen from here have been in Afghanistan for four months participating in combat search and rescue. PJs are among the most highly trained emergency trauma specialists in the U.S. military. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Leslie Kraushaar)

Big smiles

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Tech. Sgt. Wes Hufnagel, reserve pararescueman, is welcomed home with big smiles from his three year-old daughter, Lola, as his wife, Sheri, watches. Sgt. Hufnagel was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and spent two months overseas. The reserve PJs are specifically trained in all aspects of combat search and rescue and are able to perform life-saving missions all over the world and in remote locations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Leslie Kraushaar)

Florida's Guardian Angels return from saving lives in Afghanistan

Published May 14, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Leslie Kraushaar
920th Rescue WIng Public Affairs

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- As the sun shone brightly and the Banana River glistened next to 920th Rescue Wing's pararescue squadron here, a small, intimate group of families waited anxiously as the white bus pulled into the parking lot May 5, 2010.

It had been quiet around the guardian angel's squadron the last four months, with personnel who make up the Guardian Angel Weapons System or GAWS and support personnel deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

GAWS is made up of survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialists; pararescumen called PJs and combat rescue officers or CROs to provide a life saving force to the forces.

The deployment, which has been a yearly event for the GAWS, began in January and was completed May.

While deployed, they saved many lives of both service members and Afghani nationals. One particular event took them high up in the mountains of the Helmand Province, more specifically, the Salang Pass, at an elevation of approximately 11,500 feet.

The Guardian Angel Team used their diverse rescue skills to treat and evacuate survivors of multiple avalanches that occurred in this major mountain pass which connects northern Afghanistan to the Kabul province, with further connections to southern Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Wikipedia.

More than 1,500 Afghans were stranded on Salang Pass in frigid weather - raging winds and minus-40 degree air, not to mention mounds of snow.

After 12 flights in a seven-hour period, the guardian angels were able to assist more than 300 people.

Not only were the GAWA able to assist the local citizens but they were also tasked to help fellow Airmen and Soldiers.

"We always have good missions - we're rescue - we're there to help people," said Master Sgt. Mike Maroney, Air Force Reserve PJ here who was deployed with the GAWs team for the last two months.

Although helping others is a calling for PJs, it is nice to be able to come home to loved ones at the end, he said.

While waiting for her dad to get off the bus, Lola Hufnagel, 3, holds a small American flag to give to the pararescueman, Tech. Sgt. Wes Hufnagel.

"We are very happy and excited to have him back," said Ms. Sheri Hufnagel, Sergeant Hufnagel's wife.

Helping others is engrained in the pararescuemen through their training, history and motto, "These things we do, that others may live."