Guardian Angel: Life and Death Adventures with Pararescue, the World’s Most Powerful Commando Rescue Force - Softcover

Sine Senior Master Sergeant USAF (Ret.), William F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161200251X ISBN 13: 9781612002514

Publisher: Casemate, 2014

Synopsis

Award Winning Finalist in the 'Non-Fiction: Narrative' category of the 2013 International Book Awards"

Winner Best First Book Award 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards

U.S. Air Force Pararescue is the most skillful and capable rescue force in the world, taking on some of the most dangerous rescue missions imaginable. PJs (short for para-jumpers), are members of an elite unit whose commando skills are so wide-reaching they often seem like something out of science fiction. They routinely tackle perilous operations that are beyond the capabilities of other rescue organizations, and sometimes dare the seemingly impossible.

Since their inception in 1947, PJs have saved more than thirty thousand lives. They can pluck near-frozen climbers off jagged mountaintops as well as recover shot-down jet pilots stranded deep in hostile territory. In the dead of night, the PJs parachute into ominous black waves that loom twenty feet tall to save distressed seamen, and brave the cruelest and most desolate deserts to recover victims. U.S. Air Force pararescuemen have played a prominent role in every armed conflict since the Korean War, rescuing thousands of soldiers from behind enemy lines.

Guardian Angel provides a rare glimpse at a PJ’s mind-blowing adventures. You follow Sgt. Sine’s trek across exotic lands and share his encounters with mysterious cultures. Learn what it takes to lower from a helicopter onto the slippery decks of storm-tossed ships to rescue dying sailors. Feel what it’s like to be caught in the middle of a bomb blast so powerful that it tears high-rise buildings in half, and flattens armored vehicles hundreds of yards away. Soar high above towering jungle trees and experience the danger of swinging on a slim cable below a helicopter while performing a mid-air rescue of a pilot, dangling from his chute a hundred feet above a mountain slope. Go to war in Afghanistan and parachute onto a nocturnal battlefield surrounded by land mines to help a mortally wounded soldier. This is a deadly serious business: when things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong. Aircraft crash into mountainsides, killing all onboard, while some PJs live through horrendous helicopter crashes only to struggle with freezing temperatures, snapped limbs and torn flesh in a desperate fight for survival.

This book presents true stories of uncommon courage told from the perspective of the actual men in the arena. PJ’s belong to an exclusive brotherhood and forge unbreakable bonds of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice. They do these things for their country, to protect their brothers in arms, and to honor their motto: “That Others May Live.”

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Into The Valley
Chapter 2: Pararescue Selection
Chapter 3: England
Chapter 4: Okinawa
Chapter 5: Philippines
Chapter 6: Ethiopia
Chapter 7: Iceland
Chapter 8: Khobar Towers
Chapter 9: Trouble Comes In Threes
Chapter 10: Casualties Of War
Chapter 11: To Boldly Go
Chapter 12: Yemen
Chapter 13: Warrior Down
Chapter 14: Life After Pararescue

About this title

About the Author:

Senior Master Sergeant Bill Sine entered the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1975. He immediately volunteered for pararescue duty and completed the rigorous training in 1976. Sergeant Sine has over twenty-five hundred flying hours and is an accomplished military scuba diver, mountain-rescue instructor, and confined-space and structural collapse technician. He retired from active duty in 2003 after twenty-eight years of distinguished service. Sergeant Sine's decorations include a Distinguished Flying Cross. In 2005 he returned to the PJ community becoming the first civilian PJ instructor in history. He currently serves as the Assitant Director of Operations at the Pararescue and Combat Rescue Officer School, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Review:

“...a fabulous read, filled with heroism, history nd hi-jinks....Reading this book will give you a history of an elite group of servicemen that few have ever heard of...writing style is fluent and dynamic...” (Readers' Favorite)

"Rather than being a history of the Pararescuemen, Bill Sine has written a book which is a collection of extended vignettes about his career in the PJs. Some are very funny and some are (given the nature of their work) sad; all demonstrate that combination of professionalism and calculated risk-taking that seems to be inherent in this trade. Some of the history is given as part of the stories but the focus is the men and the tale....brings his subject to life and most definitely explains why Pararescuemen can be regarded as a highly-specialised, highly-capable force. I recommend this book to anyone who might even be vaguely interested in the subject or who just enjoys stories from lesser-known parts of the military." (Army Rumour Service)

About this edition

• Publisher: Casemate
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 161200251X
• ISBN 13: 9781612002514
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240