Pararescuemen (also known as PJs) are United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) operators tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. USAF Pararescuemen (PJs) are highly trained and specialized individuals who conduct a wide range of critical missions in support of the United States Military, and its allies. Their primary mission is personnel recovery, which includes rescuing and providing medical treatment to injured or stranded personnel in hostile or remote environments, such as behind enemy lines or in the wilderness. They are also trained to conduct combat search and rescue operations, which involves recovering personnel from enemy-controlled territory. These special operations units are also used to support NASA missions and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings. They are attached to other special operations units from all branches to conduct other operations as appropriate. Of the roughly 200 Air Force Cross recipients, only 24 are enlisted rank, of which 12 are Pararescuemen. Part of the Air Force Special Operations community and long an enlisted preserve, the Pararescue service expanded to include Combat Rescue Officers early in the 21st century. History Pre–World War II As early as 1922, there was a recognized need for trained personnel to go to remote sites to rescue airmen. In that year, Army Medical Corps doctor Colonel Albert E. Truby predicted that "airplane ambulances" would be used to take medical personnel to crashes and to return victims to medical facilities for treatment. However, it was another two decades before technology and necessity helped to create what would eventually become Air Force Pararescue. Even so, there were developments in critical technologies. In 1940, two United States Forest Service Smokejumpers, Earl Cooley and Rufus Robinson, showed that parachutists could be placed very accurately onto the ground using the newly invented 'steerable parachute'. These parachutes, and the techniques smokejumpers used with them, were completely different from those used by Army airborne units. It was in that year that Dr. (Captain) Leo P. Martin was trained by the U.S. Forest Service Smokejumper Parachute Training Center in Seeley Lake, Montana as the first 'para-doctor'. World War II During the first months after America's entry into the war, there was very little need for air rescue. As the war progressed, a U.S. strategic bombing campaign was launched, and air rescue began to play a key role. Rescue units