The Enterprise - White Salmon, Washington

Husum pilot part of rescue squad

Series on National Geographic channel

February 12, 2013

When a soldier is down and time is running out, an elite unit of Air Force rescue warriors will risk their own lives to rescue those injured and clinging to life. In Afghanistan and around the world, Pararescuemen or PJs; their leaders, Combat Rescue officers; and their Pave Hawk helicopter pilots fly into the heat of battle, often facing imminent enemy threats, to save the critically wounded.

One of those pilots is Husum resident Zach Tindall.

Now, for the first time in history, the United States Air Force is allowing cameras to follow these highly skilled airmen, with advanced medical training, to war.

From the network that brought viewers the award-winning documentary Restrepo as well as Inside the Green Berets, the National Geographic Channel joins these guardian angels on the front lines during a four-month deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Inside Combat Rescue, a six-part National Geographic Channel event premiering Monday, Feb. 18, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, takes viewers inside the harrowing world of the brave airmen who put their lives on the line so, as their motto says, "that others may live."

Ready to respond at a moment's notice, PJs and their rescue teammates race against time to save Americans, coalition forces, Afghan allies and even local Afghan families caught in the crossfire within the "golden hour," the critical first hour that's often the difference between life and death.

Created in the 1940s as a unit dedicated to rescuing downed airmen in combat, today the PJs' role has expanded to include saving both military and civilians in both combat situations and natural disasters.