Book Review
By Maj Travis D. Neal, USAF
None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism By Michael Hirsh Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2004. We do just about everything. We parachute, we scuba dive, land, air, sea. I think we’ve got the best mission, to go out there and save lives. It’s so much harder to save lives. It’s easy to just kill somebody and pull the trigger and that’s it. But to plug that hole and make a difference, that’s the ultimate rush right there for me. – SSgt Kip Wise, Air Force Pararescueman If you are trying to determine the next book you should pick up, whether if for professional development or personal enjoyment, I would highly recommend Michael Hirsh’s None Braver. This book will take you through all of the emotions (I found myself getting angry, laughing out loud, and occasionally tearing up), while providing an understanding of history, leadership, and decision making. The book even offers some insight into the aerodynamics of helicopters and air-to-air refueling. None Braver is one of many books that covers Operation ANACONDA and other early events from the war in Afghanistan. However, it is distinct from the others as one of the first books to do so (printed in 2003), and approaches the topic from the point of view of US Air Force pararescuemen, most commonly known as PJs. Providing a glimpse into the lives of Air Force special operations forces deploying to war, and the occasional controversial perspective regarding senior leadership, this is a book you will find hard to put down. To serve as the backdrop for providing insight into the lives of Air Force PJs and the servicemembers who support them, Hirsh tells some amazing stories from the early days of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. The narrative includes the crash of MH-53 Knife 03; the recovery of Knife 03 by Knife 04, an action which later justified award of the Mackay Trophy; a friendly fire incident when a B-52 dropped a JDAM (joint direct attack munition) on Afghan and American forces, including future Afghan President Hamid Karzai; as well as the crash of MC-130P Combat Shadow, Ditka 03, and the associated recovery efforts. There www.aircommando.org
are also some pretty engaging accounts of PJs innovatively jumping into the vicinity of a known minefield, an MH60G Pave Hawk helicopter almost sliding off the side of a mountain, and pararescuemen performing under fire at Takur Ghar during Operation ANACONDA. Interwoven throughout these stories are details about the personal and daily lives of the PJs. The book’s introduction starts on a lighter note, with the author describing some of his personal experiences while gathering stories from the field, beginning with his trip from Moody AFB, GA, to Jacobabad AB, Pakistan. As someone who has deployed in the past, I appreciated the humor and respect given to issues such as bag-drags, bipolar aircraft temperatures, one-minute combat showers in Cadillac units, aircrew wearing Santa hats during Christmas, not-so-smooth copilot landings, and “leaders” who aren’t quite as important as they think they are. The introduction is followed by a somber and humbling prologue from the perspective of Maj Vincent Savino, a combat rescue officer and commander of the 38th Rescue Squadron’s pararescuemen, as he informs the spouse of one of his PJs that her husband will not be returning from the war. Maj Savino describes briefing his men and their wives before they left to ensure their affairs were in order, and meeting with the wives of the PJs to reassure them that “they’ll be fine. We’ll take care of the guys.” Now, he was driving to the home of one of those wives. The prologue concludes with Maj Savino’s wing commander knocking on the door with a somber reminder of the Pararescue credo… “That Others May Live.” Less than 15 pages into the book, readers have already been introduced to the range of emotions and literary tones they will experience in the rest of the book. One of the recurring themes in the book is the issue the author has with incompetent and risk-averse leadership, perhaps a consequence of earning his Combat Infantryman’s Badge as a combat correspondent with the 25th Infantry Division assaulting the Cu Chi tunnel complex in 1966. Hirsh’s disdain for poor senior leadership is further revealed as he describes “Colonel Hot Lips,” a name affectionately given because Hirsh was not allowed to use real names and because she reminded him of Maj “Hot Lips” Houlihan from the TV show M.A.S.H. As Hirsh describes his interactions with the colonel, from her authoritarian demeanor towards a younger female lieutenant, to her self-serving motto of “you don’t get anything here unless I say so,” the reader Vol 9, Issue 1 │ AIR COMMANDO JOURNAL │ 47
