Staying In The Fight (NQM 010)
“It is my duty as a Pararescueman to save lives and to aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, that others may live.” - USAF Pararescue Creed.
The United States Air Force (USAF) Pararescue career field is arguably one of the least known yet most valuable assets in the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Pararescue Jumpers (PJs) and Combat Rescue Officers (CROs) are the only United States Department of Defense elite combat forces specifically organized, trained, equipped, and postured to conduct full spectrum personnel recovery to include both conventional and unconventional combat and peace-time rescue operations. They are trained to insert with Special Operations and conventional forces alike, to conduct rescue and recovery operations.
Compared to other hallmarks of USSOCOM like the US Navy Seals, there are not that many books or shows documenting the heroic and selfless actions common to the pararescue career field. There are a few notable works out there however, that provide a great look at the sacrifices made by these remarkable patriots. Three must read examples are Guardian Angels by SMSgt (ret) William F Sine, None Braver by Michael Hirsh, and Never Quit by Jimmy Settle.
There is also an excellent 2005 documentary regarding the PJ training pipeline on Amazon Prime called Rescue Warriors. the shows does a great job at portraying the challenges and sacrifices involved in becoming a PJ. Another documentary, released in 2013 by National Geographic called Inside Combat Rescue, provides an additional look into the front-line duties of the Pararescue career field. Definitely a must see if you want to gain a greater appreciation and insight of life down-range.
The combat rescue career field is full of inspirational figures, past and present, who will give you a new perspective of what it means to be resilient and what it means to stay in the fight. Take SSgt August O’Neill, who after getting shot through the knee in Afghanistan and losing his leg above the knee in the process, continues to fight hard every single day to return to the profession he loves so much.
I recently came across a Hazard Ground Podcast episode, hosted by sports talk show host and US Army veteran Mark Zinno, that featured a retired PJ whose’s story I hadn’t come across yet. CMSgt (ret) Robert Disney is a 21-year PJ veteran, rising through to the highest enlisted rank in one of DoD’s most elite career fields.
Fighting through endless amounts of adversity, the sheer amount of life lessons he can teach you are as impressive as his resume. He does an excellent job recalling and communicating some of these lessons on Episode 45 of the Hazard Ground Podcast. C
MSgt Disney is an excellent example of why we need to learn from people like him, who have sacrificed so much for this great nation, so that those sacrifices will never have been made in vain. He never quits. After taking a AK-47 round through the face, he kept his weapon trained on the enemy. After receiving multiple injuries that for most would be career ending, he kept coming back to serve. He attained what all of us should be striving for after a long and hard fought career, complete peace and happiness. A few excerpts below.
Hazard Ground Episode 45: Robert Disney (Air Force Pararescue - PJ)
On maintaining discipline after getting shot in the face: “The helicopter is in one of its lowest energy states when it lands. Slow, low to the ground, and it was just like shooting fish in a barrel. As I raised my weapon to my cheek to prepare to return fire and exit the helicopter, there was this feeling. I ended up taking an AK-47 bullet to the face. The bullet smashed into my right cheek, probably travelled along the barrel of my own weapon, smashed into my right cheek just one and a half inches below and to the right of my right eye. It cut a path diagonally down through my face. It snapped my ear canal and through my neck, coming out the back of my neck coming out just a quarter inch from my spine.
I pulled my right hand up to my face and looked to the guy to the right of me saying, “I got shot!” He, with his weapon raised, is screaming at me “shoot back!” The bullet hit me so hard, and with the massive blood resulting from a severed jugular vein, I started to pass out. But I stayed in the game. I sat there, raised my weapon, and jammed the butt of my rifle in my exposed cheekbone, and maintained that position holding my weapon out the back of the helo for some 30 odd seconds.”
On recounting his first helicopter crash: “Thankfully I moved out of the door and to the center of the aircraft and braced myself. Just as the backend of the helo hit a berm that surrounded the base. When it hit that, it literally shut the door as it passed backwards over the first berm. Had I not gotten out of the door, I would have most certainly been split in half by that door shutting like that.”
On witnessing a second helicopter crash, in the back of a C-130: “The C-130 called out we were going to take a left hand turn in the aerial refueling track. The helicopters chose to stay on, and halfway through the turn, the helicopter to the left disconnected from the aircraft and moved out to the left and slightly below the wingtip. If you can picture this, being far left of the wingtip and slightly below it, but the airplane (with a large wingspan at 400ft AGL) is in a steep left bank. The HH-60, being 200-300ft below the C-130, impacted a small widow maker of a hill, and exploded. There was a bright orange flash, so incredibly bright on this very dark night. I start hearing this “oh my god”, coming over the comm. It was this sound of absolute complete loss, sorrow, despair, coming from the load master who was in that open door watching that helicopter as it crashed.”
On the injuries he sustained during his career, and on coming back and staying in the fight: “In 2003, on my first parachute jump back after the gunshot wound, I broke my right arm on landing. In 2004, during a static line jump, I knocked out one of my teeth and had a bridge put it. In 2005, I tore both biceps and on landing was unable to hold up my weapon. In 2006. I had a bilateral hernia surgery, one month later I deployed for 7 weeks. In 2008. During helicopter ops at red flag, I fell off rope ladder (15ft) and fell flat on back. This gave me a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) so severe it changed my personality. Later in 2008, while fast roping out of a helicopter I broke my right leg. In 2009, after gaining significant weight, I was diagnosed with a dys-functioning thyroid and my testicles stopped producing testosterone. I was subsequently put on a lot of drugs. In 2010 I had an otoplasty to have my ear repaired along with further facial reconstruction. In 2012, I tore my rotator cuff on a parachute jump. In 2014, I tore both my calf muscles. In 2016 I had a triple nerve ablation caused by a degenerate disc, and an umbilical hernia surgery. Finally, later in 2016, I did a sleep study after years of difficult sleep. I was diagnosed with “waking primary central apnea”, where the brain stops sending signals to breathe while awake. This was deemed most likely due to the TBI suffered in the helicopter rope accident in 2008. This led to a medical evaluation board and subsequent medical retirement from the military.”
On finding happiness in life: “I’ve seen combat, I have saved lives. I have been injured and have recovered. I have seen the highest highs and the lowest lows, and everything in between. And I can honestly tell you, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I am the happiest I have ever been.”
