JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - About 25 pararescue and support personnel with the Alaska Air National Guard's 176th Wing are using their time while deployed to the Horn of Africa to sharpen their skills and train with partner nations.
The Guard members are deployed to Djibouti in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as part of Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, attached to the 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron.
"Our primary mission here is to provide a personnel-recovery force for the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa," said Capt. Christian Braunlich, director of operations with the 212th Rescue Squadron, Alaska Air National Guard.
Aside from having a Guardian Angel team on 24/7 alert for medical evacuation and search and rescue missions, their secondary mission includes training with African partner nations to improve their forces' capabilities, Braunlich said.
Guardian Angel teams are highly trained medical personnel made up of a pararescuemen and combat rescue officers who specialize in conducting high-risk rescue missions. They work closely with survive, evade, resist and escape (SERE) specialists who train aircrew and high-risk-of-isolation personnel to return with honor from any type of survival situation.
The training in the Horn of Africa with partner nations includes airborne operations over both land and water and rescue craft and dive operations that are logistically difficult to accomplish in Alaska because of the difference in weather and terrain, explained Braunlich.
"We've also been involved in some military-to-military [training] engagements," he said. "A few of our pararescuemen have provided tactical combat casualty care training for the Ugandan military, our SERE specialist have provided training for a variety of American forces, and we're sending a combat rescue officer, a pararescueman and a SERE specialist to Ethiopia to provide personnel recovery and SERE training for American forces there."
Despite not yet being tasked to respond to or participate in rescue and recovery or combat operations, Braunlich said that the mission there is an important one.
"There's still a significant terrorist presence here threatening to further destabilize the region," he said. "One of the organizations has stated publicly its desire to work with other fellow extremist groups in targeting Americans and America. The support we're providing to friendly African forces helps both to protect us and to improve conditions in a region plagued by instability."
Training with partner nations in the Horn of Africa has been a positive experience, said Braunlich.
"It's always interesting to see how other nations' militaries work, and I probably would never have found myself in Uganda if I weren't deployed here," he said. "Working with all of these units has been great. Any time you start operating with organizations you don't work with regularly, there will be a familiarization period, but as a team, we've been leaning forward to prepare for operational missions and take advantage of every opportunity to achieve quality training."