Hello WAFs, I am Leslie. My husband and I are stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX. We are here to tell you everything you need to know about becoming a Pararescue man or PJ in the Special Warfare Assessment program and pipeline. Not sure what any of that means or where to start? Good news, my husband is a PJ and currently an instructor for the Assessment and Selection course in San Antonio! He did go through what was called “INDOC” before the pipeline, not an Assessment course. This was about a decade ago, however. Things have changed and may change again for Special Warfare. Just keep this is mind as the heritage of a Pararescue man is important and we want to keep it alive. Now, let me breakdown some of this pipeline for you…
Yay…you just graduated from Basic Training from the United States Air Force, which is eight and a half weeks. You have decided to take a shot at Special Warfare! After graduating, you will be going to Special Warfare Prep where your pipeline begins.
SPECIAL WAREFARE PREP
- Special Warfare Prep is an eight-week phase while in San Antonio that is focused on physical and mental preparation specifically geared towards going into Assessment and Selection.
ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION COURSE
- This phase is in San Antonio and has an unknown timeline since this is when a student can begin to have setbacks. You are going to be tested mentally and physically all while being observed/graded by cadre. There will be team comradery skills grown here, discipline and grit tested. The events cannot really be disclosed but can range from obstacle type courses to mental exercises. You will need to have a passing score which will be determined by the board of cadre and command at the end of all the events. If you pass, you get “selected” to move onto pre dive.
PRE DIVE
- This phase is in San Antonio and is four weeks long. You will go over and be taught proper water skills and procedures. It helps get you ready for dive school. If all goes well here and you receive a passing observation you head onto dive.
DIVE SCHOOL
- This phase takes place in Panama City, FL and is a four-week long course. You will be learning open circuit scuba diving and the principles for diving, dive tables as well as closed circuit diving laws (this is what allows a diver to re-breath without sending bubbles.) If you pass this course, you become certified in combat dive and move onto SERE and Water Survival training.
SERE AND WATER SURVIVAL
- This phase is done in Spokane, Washington and is a 3-week course. This is survival school where you will learn how to evade captors, to survive in POW conditions and situations and learn to survive in dire situations being in the wilderness or habitats surrounding you. Also, you will be taught water survival which is how to escape from a helo (helicopter) trainer under water. If you can pass this then you move onto Static Line Jump school.
STATIC LINE JUMP SCHOOL
- This phase will take place in Fort Benning, Georgia and will be a three-week course. This is the Army Basic Jump school. You will learn the safest way to exit an aircraft while falling to Earth with a non-steerable parachute. Once this is passed you will move onto Military Free Fall.
MILITARY FREE FALL
- This phase takes place in Yuma, Arizona and is four weeks. Here you will learn the basics of jumping out of an aircraft and using body control, situational awareness, fundamentals of steering with a steerable parachute and landing in the desired place with desired rate of speed. Once this is passed you will be heading towards the medical portion of your training…EMT Basic.
EMT BASIC
- Now, with the ever changing schedule, we are not sure where the student could be heading for this. Location will be disclosed once the student gets to this portion of the pipeline and it will be a four-week course. In this phase you will be getting your EMT Basic national registered Paramedic certification. You must pass EMT Basic to move on to EMT Paramedic.
EMT PARAMEDIC
- In this phase, once again the location will be disclosed once the student has reached this point, you will be getting your national registered Paramedic certification. This course is six months. Once you receive these certifications, you are ready to head to Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico for PJU.
All the above was done in San Antonio with the assigned TDYs. Going to and from. (Note that the order of these schools and phases have been changing except the first, three…Prep, A&S and Pre Dive. Regardless, they all get done before heading to New Mexico.) Spouses tend to come to San Antonio or just wait it out until they get their first duty station.
PJU
- PJU at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico is six months long and is the final phase to graduating. Here is where you put all the skills you learned throughout the pipeline together. The students will also combine these learned skills with more in depths phases: medical, ropes, land navigation, weapons, air operations jumping (day/night and land/water jumps), tactical. Once all these skills are learned and perfected, the student will have their final test in FTX. If the student passes FTX…Congratulations. You are a PJ!
FINAL THOUGHTS FOR WAFS
Was that overwhelming? It can be and it will show true discipline and determination once completed. I was married to my husband since the start. He left for Basic Training when we were married for nine months. I watched him go through INDOC and we had our first child while he was in the thick of his pipeline while in New Mexico. Yes, there were ups and downs and all arounds, but all worth it. IT CAN BE DONE! Remember, this career field has changed so it is not the same as when we went through. However, what has not changed is they are busy. Deployments and TDYs are very frequent. Deployments were AT LEAST 1 a year. Its a career field that is constantly doing spin-ups and training missions to stay up-to-date on all their certifications. It also depends on your unit. We were at the 58th RQS (Rescue Squadron) for almost 6 years and it was one of the busiest units for Pararescue. So…that also plays a factor (there is also STS, Special Tactic Stations where PJs get teamed with Rangers, Green Berets, CCT and sometimes SEALs). TDYs can be a lot…so it can be a wild ride.
If this is a career choice you or a loved one want to make, you need to be ready for enduring distance, setbacks, traveling, extremely high highs and incredibly low lows. I say it is worth it because the Pararescue community is extremely close and one of a kind. The spouse support is amazing. I have never been in the dark and have always had unit guidance. The supporting squadrons are usually included and become part of the Special Warfare community which is fun because it opens even more doors to meeting others outside the PJ community. There are not too many duty stations for PJs, so you can end up staying with the same families/men for multiple PCSs. You usually run into a familiar face and it makes the adventure comforting. I have a “family” that is unbreakable because of this wonderful lifestyle. Also, the men are brothers and truly live by the motto, “These things we do, that others may live…” If you think you can handle the responsibility of carrying this important heritage through your training and life…become a PJ and or support your PJ.
MEET LESLIE
