USSOCOM Fact Book - United States Special Operations Command

Pararescuemen, commonly known as PJs,are the only Defense Department specialtyspecifically trained and equipped to conductconventional and unconventional recoveryoperations. A PJ’s primary function is as apersonnel recovery specialist with emergencytrauma medical capabilities in humanitarianand combat environments. They deploy in anyavailable manner, from any available platform,to include air-land-sea tactics, into restrictedenvironments to contact, authenticate, extract,treat, stabilize and evacuate injured personnel, whileacting in an enemy-evading, recovery role. PJs participatein combat search and rescue, peacetime search and rescue,protection of the president of the United States, andconduct other operations at the commander’s direction.Their motto, “That Others May Live,” reaffirms thePararescueman’s commitment to saving lives and selfsacrifice.Special Operations Weathermen are AirForce weather technicians with uniquetraining to operate in hostile or deniedterritory. They gather, assess, and interpretweather and environmental intelligence fromforward deployed locations, working withSpecial Operations Forces. They collectweather, river, snow, ocean, and terrainintelligence, assist mission planning, generateaccurate mission-tailored target and route forecasts insupport of global special operations and train joint forcemembers and coalition partners to take and communicatelimited weather observations. Additionally, SpecialOperations Weathermen conduct special reconnaissance,collect upper air data, organize, establish and maintainweather data reporting networks, determinehost nation meteorological capabilities andtrain foreign national forces. Every SpecialOperations Forces mission is planned usingthe intelligence and coordination of SpecialOperations Weathermen.USSOCOM Fact Book33