Watch How Air Force PJs Make a Daring High-Altitude Rescue on Mount Rainier

A joint U.S. Army and Air Force Reserve rescue mission in Washington state becomes a delicate, hazardous attempt at 14,000 feet. Specially prepared CH-47 Chinooks, optimized for mountain operations, carry pararescuemen to the peaks and slopes of Mount Rainier. Their mission is to pull out anyone who might be lost or stuck on some of the highest points in the Cascade Mountain Range. The only place they can train for rescues on Mount Rainier is on Mount Rainier.

Naveed Jamali, a veteran and former spy, hosts Newsweek's ongoing web series, "Unconventional," taking a behind-the-scenes look at some of the U.S. military's most interesting and least-recognized missions. In December 2024, he and his crew got to look at what it takes to make a mountaintop rescue as they joined the men and women of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

It begins with a familiarization flight (or "famflight"), an Army Reserve Chinook sortie that will fly Air Force pararescue jumpers to a designated location for a kind of pregame practice. After both refamiliarize themselves with their procedures, they will attempt a run-through of a mountain rescue mission.

Their CH-47F, chosen for its ability to hover at high altitude, has been specially configured for the mountainous terrain with skis. There's also specialized equipment for the jumpers, because if they're stuck on the mountain after dark, they'll have to stay there overnight. The risk profile of a regular "snatch" rescue -- where a jumper drops in via a hoist and picks up their target as the helicopter hovers overhead – changes dramatically on a mountain.

"It has a lot of risk to it; that's why we [pararescue] have this mission," a PJ team leader in the 304th Rescue Squadron known only as Ross told Jamali. "The profile changes because there are more moving parts. You have more gear on, crampons on, and also the mountain has its own risks."

The hoist the pararescuemen will be attempting as a training exercise is on Mount Rainier's Echo Rock Peak, an area more than 7,800 feet above sea level and filled with loose boulders and crumbling rock. It's an area difficult to climb to, but also difficult to fly, even in a specially fitted Chinook. The Army air crews can be delayed by the weather on the mountain, which can be dramatically different from the weather back at the base. Any fast changes in the wind can be deadly, even during a training mission.

Once they make the rescue, the PJs can perform first aid aboard the helicopter, because all of them are also trained paramedics. Since 2014, the airmen and the Army aircrews of Joint Base Lewis-McChord have made 28 recoveries on Mount Rainier and have deployed to conduct combat search-and-rescue missions in Afghanistan.

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