A company of heroes.

• Author: Woodring, Jeannie
• Position: Alaska Air National Guard's 210th Rescue Squadron - Includes related articles

A tough environment makes Alaska prone to disasters. Fortunately, one of the nation's most elite National Guard units - the 210th Rescue Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard - stands by to help out with rescues. Saving lives makes each of these skilled professionals - and every member of the rescue network behind them - a hero.

On a sleepy July evening, the fifth rescue call of the weekend comes in at the Anchorage headquarters of the Alaska Air National Guard's (AKANG) 210th Rescue Squadron.

Relayed from alert personnel at the AKANG's Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), the mission sounds simple: Retrieve a hiker who has fallen into a steep canyon behind Flattop, one of the city's most-climbed mountain peaks.

But rescues never come easy, especially in a rugged, disaster-prone environment like Alaska's. That's a fact of life for members of the 210th. Organized in 1990 to support military flying activities, the Guard unit also stands ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to assist with civilian emergencies.

Backed by state-of-the-art equipment and staffed with highly trained troops, the 210th has performed thousands of rescues, saved more than 240 lives and flown thousands of accident-free hours in the last five years.

Razor-sharp skills, intensified by rigorous training, carry the 210th through hectic summer weekends like this one. The highest percentage of rescues occurs during the summer season, starting with climbers on Mount McKinley in April and ending with the hunting season in September. In August 1994, the 210th made 13 saves in nine days. In the last three days, the unit has responded to four rescues, including three airplane crashes.

Tonight's mission requires the crew to fly its sophisticated HH-60L Pavehawk helicopter through cloud-covered darkness and around towering peaks to pick up the injured hiker and his dog.

Unfazed by the challenges ahead of them, the 210th crew on duty - two copilots, a flight engineer and a pararescueman (nicknamed PJs) - prepares for this evening's rescue in precision-perfect fashion. For military combat situations, the 210th can respond in 45 minutes. For civilian disasters, it can take up to several hours of intense, cooperative effort to make a rescue, depending on weather and location.

"We go out as a single unit and work together," explains Captain Tim O'Brien, who serves as a pilot and aircraft commander for tonight's rescue. "On company missions, we have to do things efficiently."

Efficient teamwork is especially critical on nights like this. "Everything you do in the air increases when you are tired," says Captain Joel Wilcox, the copilot on this trip. "It's amazing the amount of crew coordination that's required."

A briefing takes place before each mission. Tonight, O'Brien outlines the details of the rescue: a steep canyon, cloudy weather obscured by darkness and a hiker with a broken leg, accompanied by a dog. More than 90 percent of this information is supplied by Alaska's rescue network. Tonight's details, given by the Alaska State Troopers and the RCC, help the crew choose its rescue strategy.

After the briefing, the flight engineer painstakingly goes over the equipment needed for the rescue. Depending on the conditions of the disaster, the equipment checklist includes items like a life raft, stretcher, survival suit, winter clothing, medical supplies, scuba gear, flares and weapons.

Tonight, with an injured man trapped in a canyon, the 210th plans to fly the helicopter out and dangle...