During Operation Unified Assistance , the relief effort after the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami , the squadron 's combat controllers surveyed airfields for the reception of humanitarian relief . 320th STS personnel deployed alongside United States Army Special Forces to the War in Afghanistan . On 28 February 2006 , squadron Master Sergeant David Beals ' team was ambushed during a convoy operation , trapping the entire team in the insurgent kill zone . Beals was credited with saving the lives of the entire team by repulsing the attack with his Humvee 's M240 machine gun and 40 mm grenades from his M203 grenade launcher , and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with " V " device . On 26 September 2008 , squadron personnel cooperated with the 1st Special Operations Squadron and 31st Rescue Squadron to rescue two crewmen injured in a crane accident aboard container ship '' Occam 's Razor '' . A joint team of pararescuemen and combat controllers landed on the vessel from an MC-130H Combat Talon II and evacuated the men to a hospital on Guam . Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , in Operation Tomodachi , the relief effort , pararescuemen from the 320th flew numerous search and rescue missions
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
320th Special Tactics Squadron