Category: Ethics

Pararescuemen walk line between fierce warrior, caring savior

Laura Rauch

Stars and Stripes, 29 October 2012

While their core function is combat rescue and the personnel recovery of downed aircraft, Air Force pararescue teams also fly throughout Afghanistan augmenting the Army medevac mission.

Though medevac and pararescue overlap in terms of pulling the wounded from the battlefield, they are distinctively different. While medevac adheres to the Geneva Conventions by flying in unarmed helicopters marked with red crosses, pararescue flies in unmarked birds equipped with two .50 caliber machine guns. And they carry the guardian angels.

“We are a weapons system, we are armed,” Senior Airman and Pararescueman Jason Sweet said. “We’re shooters, divers, jumpers, technical rescue specialists. We’re ready to rescue anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

While the inception of Air Force combat rescue began in 1947, its legacy has been forged in every conflict since Korea.

The helicopters fly in pairs, one designated as the trail aircraft, and one as lead. Each is capable of landing in the hot zone or providing covering fire from above.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  Peace Jumpers capable of calling in precision parachute drops are a variation of this idea.  They too would have guardian angels, but the focus would be on protection from proven rapid delivery of what is needed on the ground in the moment.

Came across these references — John F. Lehman, the 600-ship SecNav under Reagan, is one of Romney's advisors.

2012-11-02  Both Obama and Romney Proposals Don't Meet Navy Requirements (USNI Proceedings)

2012-10-22  When It Comes To The U.S. Navy, Numbers Matter (John Lehman at MittRomney.com)

A strong Navy is not a drain on our economy, it is its foundation.

2012-10-22 How Big Should The U.S. Navy Be? (NPR)

2012-10-07  Mitt Romney’s Big Plans for the U.S. Navy (DefenseNews)

Among the new details he revealed: Plans to create an 11th carrier air wing, one for each aircraft carrier. F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter production would continue beyond 2014. The amphibious fleet would be built up to the Marine Corps’ requirement of 39 ships. An entirely new, battle-group-deployable frigate would be procured, along with a ballistic missile defense ship.  The campaign has pledged to build more submarines and destroyers, and production of the littoral combat ship (LCS) would continue.

. . . . . . . .

First, we’d continue the littoral combat ship, and we’d begin a battle group-deployable frigate program that would replace the FFG 7s [frigates]. And we would increase the numbers per year of the destroyers, and we would go for a missile defense ship that is optimized using an existing hull form, for the new Air Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), which really won’t fit in the existing Arleigh Burke class.

We would also include getting up to the accepted requirement for Marine amphibious lift, so there’d be an increase in amphibious ships. The exact mix as between the different types, whether we go all for the LSD [landing ship dock replacement] versus the LHA+ [new assault ship] or some other mix, that hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. But there will be an increase in amphibs.

Continue reading “DefDog: The 350-Ship Navy (if Mitt Romney Wins)”