Inside Combat Rescue

It's their most dangerous mission yet; the PJs take on enemy fire while rescuing two American soldiers from an active battle zone in the heart of Kandahar City. Surrounded by gunshots and explosions, pilots fly in fast and low to evade Taliban gunners and possible rocket launchers. Once on the ground, rescuers race against time to reach the injured men and evacuate them to the nearest hospital before they bleed out.

With heartfelt goodbyes, the men of the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., leave their loved ones behind, bound for a war zone half a world away - Afghanistan. A 22-year-old rookie is put to the test when a soldier is gravely injured with a gunshot wound to the chest, and clinging to life. Back at base, an expecting father on his third deployment awaits word from his wife of the gender of their first child - but just as the news comes in, he gets pulled away on a rescue mission.

They call it the golden hour, the critical window of time in which PJs strive to complete a rescue and offer the injured their best chance of survival. The PJs can't land in an area littered with enemy mines until a full sweep of the zone confirms that it's safe to land and this setback jeopardizes the life of an Afghan soldier with a severed leg. On another call, frustration mounts when defensive jamming techniques block radio communications, complicating the rescue of several U.S. soldiers.

The team medevacs two Afghan allies who have been shot in a firefight. When one of the guns on their chopper breaks in midair, the men must change their tactics to land safely. With the threat of improvised explosive devices at the landing zone slowing down the process, the men are feeling the pressure to get their allies back to safety. Back at base, each man must deal with the stressors of the job in his own way.

Go inside an elite Air Force paracrescue unit as they deploy to Afghanistan. One PJ, Chris, is eager to prove himself and save lives. When an Afghan civilian is injured in an improvised explosive device blast, the men of the 38th Rescue Squadron must treat and transport him to the hospital within the hour to save his life. Since the men must constantly stay on top of current medical knowledge, each Monday they review and practice their skills so when they need to use them, they are ready.

With only weeks left in their deployment, the PJs look toward home. Matt longs to see his wife who is due to give birth to their daughter soon after his deployment is over. The unit's longest serving PJ, Duane, as always, promised his wife that he would come back to his family. But when the Taliban detonates a motorcycle bomb near Kandahar city, the PJs are reminded that they are a long way from home.