In 1947, little was known about an elite team of military excellants. This team would do what no other special forces team would do. They were designed to rescue trapped, injured, surrounded and prisoners' of war. They were from the branch of the military that no one realized, had ground troops fighting in the fields. They were a part of the United States Air Force and were named according to their main objective, they are the Para Jumpers (aka PJs).
October 10th, 1974, at the age of 17, I enlisted in the United States Air Force. , with 4 years Air Force JROTC, After all my testings (I scores a 99% overall), I signed my contracts. I couldn't help notice that I signed a 4th contract, while everyone else signed 3. Not thinking much about it )I thought it was because I was 17 and going in as an Airman, not and Airman Basic, oh, but how wrong I was. Because of my high scores and physical conditioning (4th degree black belt in chung fu) I was place in the most elite fighting force that the US military has. I was to become a PJ or die trying! It was the toughest training that you could imagine and it wasn't just flying in and pulling someone out. We trained for land, sea and air rescues.
30 years later, I retired as the commander of the 2100 (21st) PJ Squadron, with the best completed missions record. We have a moto, "Everyone comes home, NO MATTER WHAT!" I loved all of my men and women that served with and under me. I never asked them to do something I hadn't done myself. I commanded from the field, fighting right along side my troops. The ate the best.
Col. Ricky Price (Ret) USAF
Baytown, TX
