Approximately 20 members of the 48th Rescue Squadron from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base deployed August 29, 2017, to southeast Texas, for Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts.
The Airmen arrived in Easterwood Airfield, College Station, Texas, to provide boat-based rescue support in addition to current efforts in southeast Texas.
“Our four, three-man boat teams, are currently in Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, to provide their special skills of swiftwater and technical rescue,” said Maj. Scott Diehl, 48th Rescue Squadron director of operations, in a statement released by the USAF. “When we forward deployed this morning we were some of the first rescue forces to arrive to what is currently ground zero for Hurricane Harvey flooding and rain.”
In addition to combat rescue officers and pararescuemen, the 48th RQS also supplied a survival, evasion, resistance, and escape specialist, an aircrew flight equipment specialist, an intelligence analyst, a squadron aviation resource manager, an independent duty medical technician and a communication airman, according to the USAF.