Originally published: New York : New American Library, ©2003.

Includes index.

"The first journalist to be embedded with an Air Force combat unit in the War on Terrorism, Michael Hirsh flew from Moody Air Force Base with the 71st Rescue Squadron to their expeditionary headquarters at a secret location in Central Asia. His unparalleled access to the PJs, as well as to the courageous men and women who fly them where they have to go, often under enemy fire, allowed him to uncover incredible stories of courage in the War on Terrorism being fought in Afghanistan. Among them: the drama of a plane crash at ten thousand feet in the Hindu Kush mountains, where PJs climb with hundred-pound packs through chest-deep snow to rescue the crew ... the tension of an unprecedented nighttime combat parachute jump into the middle of an Afghan minefield ... and the heartbreak during Operation Anaconda, when seven American fighting men die, including the first PJ killed in combat since Vietnam. Absolutely committed to their calling, these are real American heroes. Their motto as pararescuemen is "These things we do that others may live." Indeed, there are none braver"--Page 4 of cover.