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Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. (July 7, 2023): Few homecomings are as joyous as those of servicemembers returning to their families after a long deployment. In this photo by Senior Airman Dakota Raub, Combat Rescue Airmen with 920th Rescue Wing return from deployment and are reunited with their family and friends.
The 920th Rescue Squadron is America’s premier combat search and rescue unit with over 2,500 airmen trained and equipped to locate and recover U.S. personnel in military operations. Additional missions include supporting NASA crewed flights by providing rescue support during water landings and they also rescue civilians in distress or lost at sea. The 920th plays a major role during disasters and in American humanitarian relief efforts around the world.
Air Force Pararescue are America’s elite combat forces specifically organized, trained, equipped, and postured to conduct full spectrum Personnel Recovery. These Battlefield Airmen execute the most perilous, demanding, and extreme rescue missions anytime, anywhere across the globe. Whether shot down or isolated behind enemy lines; surrounded, engaged, wounded, or captured by the enemy; Pararescue forces will do whatever is required to deny the enemy a victory and bring our warriors home to fight another day.
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Covenas, Columbia. (July 17, 2023): In this photo by Lance Corporal Samuel Qin, U.S. Marines with Lima Company, 23rd Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Forces Reserve race to assemble and disassemble the Columbia Army’s standard issue weapons while participating in UNITAS LXIV, the longest running multinational maritime exercise that brings together forces from twenty partner nations. Under the guidance of Columbian instructors, the Marines familiarized themselves with various rifles with the blindfold adding an extra challenge.
The U.S. and Columbia have a long history of military cooperation in counterterrorism, drug interdiction, and counterinsurgency matters. The U.S. currently maintains seven existing bases in Colombia including two naval bases at Cartagena and Tolemaida, three air force bases located in Malambo, Palanquero, and Apiay and two more army bases at Larandia and Tolemaida. In addition to rotating military exercises, there are about 200 U.S. personnel stationed at three radar sites around the country to monitor suspected drug flights. The Columbia Army, with over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia and the third largest army in the Americas.
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San Bruno, California. (July 21, 2023): America makes a guarantee to every servicemember sent into harm’s way… you will not be left behind. Another example of fulfilling this promise happened this week with the funeral of Colonel Ernest L. De Soto, an Airman lost during the Vietnam War. In this photo by Senior Airman Alexander Merchak, Airmen from the 60th Air Mobility Wing Honor Guard render full military honors to Colonel De Soto at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California after his remains were accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and returned to his family.
On April 12, 1969, Lt. Col. De Soto was the pilot of a F-4D Phantom II assigned to 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 336th Tactical Fighter Wing. De Soto, his navigator Captain Hall and another aircraft were returning from a cancelled strike mission near Quang Nam Province, Vietnam when both aircraft ascended into heavy cloud cover. The lead aircraft noticed De Soto’s plane was not in sight and immediately began an aerial search without success. De Soto was promoted to Colonel while in a missing status.
A search and rescue airborne mission were deployed and located De Soto’s crash site, there were no signs of the crew; however due to the hostile activity in the area prevented a ground investigation of the site.
In May 1995, a Joint Field Activity team located the crash site in the Giang District, Quang Nam Province and his remains were discovered during a recovery mission in March 2021 and sent to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The DPAA's mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel from past conflicts to their families and the nation.
Read more: AMERICA’S PLEDGE: “LEAVE NO AIRMAN, MARINE, SOLDIER, OR SAILOR BEHIND”
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Camp Al-Quawayrah, Jordan. (July 11, 2023): America’s armed forces are training in the Middle East this month during Maven 23.4, an annual exercise with the country of Jordan. In this photo by Corporal Keegan Bailey, Marines with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines fire a Carl-Gustaf Recoilless Rifle alongside the units of Jordanian Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Rapid Intervention Brigade. This is the fourth joint training with the Jordanian military and involved 450 Marines and Sailors from the U.S. Central Command.
The maneuvers are designed to strengthen partnerships and improve interoperability between forces on weapons and tactics. The highlight of the training was a scenario that simulated a brigade level attack on a village containing terrorist elements. U.S. and Jordanian forces performed isolation and siege operations, combat maneuvers in built-up areas, storming and clearing buildings, and evacuating the injured.
Jordanian armed forces, also known as the “Arab Army,” regularly invite U.S. forces to training events like these to share common military concepts and to conduct regional defense planning. Since the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty in 1994, Jordan’s armed forces have developed into the most professional in the region and have a reputation for being well-trained, organized, and equipped. The U.S. has a long history of cooperation and friendship with Jordan, with which it established diplomatic relations in 1949.
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Tuy Hoa, Viet Nam. (July 5, 2023): In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Austin Ingram, Builder 3rd Class Colby Leche (left) and Equipment Operator Aiden McKenna (right), assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, fabricate rebar during a building project during Pacific Partnership 2023. This annual deployment of forces from the U.S. Pacific Fleet is designed to strengthen relationships and security ties with regional governments. American military personnel provide humanitarian, medical, dental, and engineering assistance to host countries while working with local non-governmental agencies and local military.
These deployments were conceived following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami that killed over 227,000 people in fourteen countries.
The 9.1 magnitude quake was the most powerful ever recorded in Asia generating a tidal wave of over one hundred feet in one of the worst natural disasters in history. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response, with donations totaling more than US$14 billion.
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Aboard the USS John Murtha. (July 14, 2023): In this photo by Corporal Quince D. Bisard, Marine Staff Sergeant Gordon Adams points out targets for Corporal Vince Silva, both members of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit as they practice gunnery while at sea. Officially called a “Deck Shoot,” Marines must maintain their weapons proficiency while being transported to trouble spots around the world.
The Marines are firing the M240B Machine Gun mounted to a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that would go ashore during an amphibious assault. The M240B replaces the M60 machine gun, affectionately called the “Pig” by infantry types, that dates to the Viet Nam War.
The M60 was both loved and hated by American troops. It was highly valued for its reliability, but soldiers hated the weapon for its weight and the difficulty of carrying the weapon in dense jungles. The M60 could be fired from the shoulder or on the hip as dramatized in the Hollywood movie Rambo starring Sylvester Stallone. While firing this way made great film, the reality was that it was near impossible to aim accurately and was much more efficient with a two-person crew. Even worse, the M60 had parts that worked loose in the heat and humidity of the jungle which caused what infantry soldiers called a “runaway gun” in combat.