US Air Force unit that spearheaded the mission to rescue downed airman

Members of the US Air Force Pararescue, April 5, 2026; illustrative.

(photo credit: US AIR FORCE)

When the first reports came on Friday of the downing of an American F-15 fighter jet over Iran with two pilots – the US military tasked the impossible mission of retrieving a pilot and navigator from behind enemy lines with the US Air Force Pararescue, commonly known as the “PJs.”

The PJs serve as the Pentagon’s ultimate insurance policy. Operating under the motto “So That Others May Live,” these elite specialists are trained to go where no one else can, often under heavy fire and in the most inhospitable environments on earth.

“It’s one of the elite and really not very well known elements of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC),” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior intelligence service officer with the CIA. “This is, of course, the most elite forces in the US, and they are trained in doing the impossible, which often is going behind the lines to recover downed aviators or downed US military or intelligence community personnel.”

The concept of a dedicated pararescue force traces its roots back to the end of World War II. After numerous Allied aircraft were lost in the dense jungles of Southeast Asia, the US military realized it needed a specialized force of “paramedic-commandos” capable of rescuing personnel from cliffs, snow, jungle, and sea.

The concept of a dedicated pararescue force traces its roots back to the end of World War II. Becoming a PJ is widely considered one of the most grueling undertakings in the military.

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