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Air Force pararescuemen, from the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, secure an area after being lowered from an HH-60 Pave Hawk during a mission in Afghanistan. Nov 2012.U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder.

The airman killed in a helicopter crash on Okinawa was a decorated para-rescue veteran whose effort to recover a wounded soldier was captured in one of the most iconic combat photos to come from the war in Afghanistan, the Air Force said Saturday. Tech. Sgt. Mark A. Smith, a flight engineer with the 33rd Rescue Squadron who had deployed twice to Afghanistan, died in the Aug. 5 crash of his HH 60G Pave Hawk helicopter while on a training mission at the Central Training Area on the Marine base at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, the Air Force said.

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga., March 7, 2011 – When many people hear the odds are against them, they simply give up. But Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Disney does just the opposite and says, "Challenge accepted." Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Disney plays his guitar at his home, Feb. 24, 2011. A pararescue jumper, Disney began performing at local venues during his first assignment to Moody Air Force Base, Ga., from 1998 to 2004. He is the 347th Rescue Group standards and evaluations superintendent. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jamal D. Sutter  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

4/22/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Coalition military members in Iraq have plenty of equipment, tactics and techniques at their disposal in the event of a worst-case scenario in the field. However, if those safeguards fail, a team of operators from the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron is standing by, ready to help. "Our primary mission is personnel recovery," said Maj. Kevin Lehnerd, a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter pilot from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., assigned to the squadron. "Our role provides pilots and people on the ground a sense of security when they are accomplishing their missions." If...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2008 – Air Force pararescue jumpers recover servicemembers from any compromising situation in which they may find themselves. Their motto is “That others may live.” A troop-support group that assists the children of fallen Air Force personnel has adopted that motto. “Our main effort is to augment post-secondary educational funding for children who lost a parent in a [U.S. Air Force} search-and-rescue operational or training mission,” said Laura Lerdall, communications coordinator for That Others May Live Foundation. “Other missions of the foundation include providing assistance in a home purchase or the start-up of a business to...

2/27/2007 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNEWS) -- "That others may live" is the motto for the Air Force's pararescueman. Pararescue jumpers, or PJs, make up an elite corps of pararescuemen responsible for combat search and rescue missions. This team of highly trained pararescuemen performed a combat search and rescue training mission Feb. 24 in support of the air assets for the Combined Forces Air Component commander. "Our goal is to get everyone on my team and everyone we're trying to rescue back home safe and alive," said Staff Sgt. Jon McKenzie, a pararescueman assigned to the 64th Expeditionary Rescue...

<p>SAN ANTONIO -- Air Force recruiters will soon be dropping by at Columbia, Harvard and other schools hitherto off limits to the military, to the apparent distress of some administrators. University heads who banned on-campus recruitment on the grounds that the military services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy was discriminatory have begun to reassess this principled position. But let the dean of Columbia law school explain.</p>