They are still out there in AF world. I had a neighbor who was in whatever unit does the security grunt type work at missile silos and nuke storage. Flat out good when I saw him shoot. Very switched on.
And then a PJ. Just an absolute beast. Turned into a cop in a western state. Some doped up psycho with a knife soaked up 25 or 30 beanbag shotgun rounds. They released a dog on him next. He grabbed the police dog and was strangling it. They sent in the former PJ. I kid you not, took him down RIGHT NOW, empty handed with extreme prejudice. PJs are some truly unsung SF.
I would almost feel bad for some poor enemy sap who came upon him tending a down pilot and thought the “medic” was easy prey.
Immediately after being sworn in, our group was introduced to an NCO that was asking if anyone would be interested in two career paths, other than whatever they’d signed on for...para-rescue, or EOD. I guess they wanted at least that level of commitment, to weed out some folks. I saw very few red berets, usually in airports.