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Behind each courageous Airman is a team - determined, driven, and committed to succeed

"We've got a motto for a reason: these things we do that others may live."

Technical Sergeant James Davis said somewhat casually, just days after risking his life to save two Army helicopter pilots from an unforgiving valley in Afghanistan.

Along with his crew, Sergeant Davis makes up an elite group of Airmen who serve as Combat Search and Rescue Aircrews – the professionals who go in with helicopters, hoists, and guns, putting their lives on the line to save others in hostile situations. He deployed to Afghanistan as an HH-60 Pave Hawk flight engineer, manning a 50-caliber machine gun and operating the hoist on the helicopter.

On April 23, 2011, Sergeant Davis would be part of a harrowing rescue mission that would test the courage, endurance and limits of all involved.

The situation began prior to daybreak, when Bagram Airfield's operations center received a report of a Fallen Angel – a term signifying a downed aircraft. Within 10 minutes, Pedro 83 and 84, two HH-60 Pave Hawk aircraft, were airborne and en route to the site. Once on-scene they linked up with other aircraft in the area: USAF F-15E Strike Eagle fighters, US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters, and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters.

The Apaches used a laser to point out the location of one of the pilots. "At this time, we had thought that the pilots were collocated, and that they'd egressed (escaped) together from the aircraft," said Captain Louis Nolting, the Pedro 84 co-pilot.

But they hadn't. One of the pilots had climbed several hundred feet up a mountainous ridgeline above the crash; the other was reported to still be at the site – unconscious.

Pedro 83 dropped its pararescuemen (PJ) team down to the pilot on the ridgeline and Pedro 84 inserted its team near the wreckage to help the other. The steep terrain forced the Pedro 84 PJ team down a harrowing 180-foot hoist-assisted descent to get to the site. Unfortunately, upon arrival, they discovered the second pilot had died from his wounds.

After recovering the pilots, the PJ teams prepared for immediate extraction. But a difficult situation was about to get worse.

Overhead, Sergeant Davis, onboard Pedro 84, retrieved the hoist cable and was moving back into position when the rescue team began to take fire.

"Not more than two seconds after forward momentum was executed ... pop shots," said Staff Sergeant William Gonzalez, Pedro 84 gunner. "The first thing we start doing is checking to see where it's coming from and checking everybody out. And, maybe five seconds later the (flight engineer) says, 'I'm hit.'".

A round had come right through the side of the helicopter hitting Sergeant Davis in the leg. "They asked, 'Are you all right, Jim?' and I said, 'No I'm bleeding pretty good here,'" Sergeant Davis remembered.

"I looked back, and the first thing I saw was a pool of blood by his seat," Sergeant Gonzalez said. "I went over to assess his situation. He was still conscious. He was still breathing. I put his tourniquet right above the wound. [Then] I went over to the PJ's medical kit and grabbed some gauze, and I wrapped it around the leg to absorb as much blood as I could.".

Sergeant Davis needed medical attention and fast. Pedro 84 had no choice; they had to return to base. With Pedro 83 and the other aircraft remaining at the crash site, they headed back at maximum speed, leaving their PJ team of Staff Sergeant Zachary Kline and Staff Sergeant Bill Cenna on the ground with the fallen pilot.

Technical Sergeant Heath Culbertson awoke to frantic knocking on his door. He was in crew rest status, sleeping at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

"They said, 'Get up, we need you in the TOC (Terminal Operations Center) now,'" Sergeant Culbertson said. "I asked, 'What's going on?' and they said, 'Davis has been shot.'"

He sprang to action, but the reality of the situation did not hit him until he got to the aircraft. "As soon as I got underneath the rotor, I saw the blood," he remembered. "It was pretty surreal. I'd seen blood before in the cabin, but never from any of our own guys. That was pretty shocking to me."

The crew swap took less than four minutes. Sergeant Culbertson and the rest of the Pedro 84 crew raced back to the crash site.

Back on the ridge above the crash site, the second PJ team, Major Jesse Peterson and Technical Sergeants Chris Uriate and Shane Hargis, treated the injured pilot and prepared for extraction. Major Peterson, the team commander, coordinated with Pedro 83 for pick-up and passed information about the situation on the ground. The pilot was stable, but the clock was ticking and enemy fighters swarmed just below the ridgeline. Overhead, Pedro 83 swept the area, searching for the enemy.

"As we came around, I saw rounds come up so I returned fire," said Senior Airman Justin Tite, Pedro 83's door gunner. "There were no other trees on the slope except this one huge tree right in the middle between the two teams, and that's where they were hiding."

The two PJ teams' positions were split by the enemy in the middle. There would be no link-up before extraction.

As enemy fire intensified, Pedro 83's pilot, Captain Joshua Hallada, decided they needed to get the PJ team and the pilot off the ground as soon as possible. "We set ourselves up to come in for a hover. Being that it [the helicopter] was a little lighter now, we brought it 20-feet over our team and the survivor," he said.

Quickly they lowered the hoist, but as the PJs and the flight engineer worked to get the survivor into the aircraft, enemy fire errupted.

A hot landing zone was getting hotter.

"The team started to hook up the survivor and that's when the pilot started to call rounds off the one o'clock," said Senior Airman Michael Price, the Pedro 83 flight engineer. Airman Price had a tough decision to make.

"I sheared the cable to stop from dragging them through the rocks," he said.

Airman Price used the guillotine-type device built into the hoist to cut the cable. It was a tough call to make, but his actions prevented further injury to the Airmen below.

Down below, Sergeant Hargis, a PJ team member, was strapped into the hoist with the surviving pilot. "I gave them the signal to bring up the cable, and I noticed a little more slack coming out. I thought maybe he didn't see me so I gave him the signal again and the next thing I know, the cable's sheared," he said.