When I was in the Bay Area recently, I did more than wander around San Francisco looking for good enchiladas and spooky places to set my next book. I talked to some real-life pros who will feature in the story: men from the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard.
A character in my upcoming novel The Dirty Secrets Club is a pararescueman with the 129th - a search and rescue expert known as a PJ. And now that I’m writing the sequel (and the character is sticking around), it was time to get some first-hand information from the men who do the real job.
I’d figured that arranging a visit to the 129th - and, specifically, to the 131st Rescue Squadron at Moffett Field in Mountain View - would take more than a phone call to the California National Guard’s Public Affairs office. But I didn’t figure that I (and my daughter Kate, who had a local cell phone number) would end up fielding weeks of phone calls from army and air force officials all over the USA. As one colonel good-naturedly put it, they wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to turn up demanding to see the aliens at Area 51. But then the squadron’s chief master sergeant called from Moffett and said, “I hear you want to talk to some PJs. Good news is, that’s fine. Bad news is, we’ll only be here for another hour and a half.” And it was rush hour.
But I got there in time to get the “nickel tour,” as the sergeant called it. This meant waving to the squadron’s SERE trainer, then screeching across the tarmac in a jeep to one of the huge hangars shown in the photo above, where I got to see all the equipment PJs use for rescues on land, at sea, and underwater. I heard about what combat medics do, and then talked to a couple of PJs who generously stayed late to answer questions about their job from a woman they’d never met before.
This weekend on the blog, I talked about how writing is a job. It is. And on days like the one in Mountain View, it’s a great job - talking to guys who skydive, scuba dive, and drive ATVs and Wave Runners at work, and who plan their ascent of El Capitan for their week off. But talking to the PJs also put my work in perspective. These men put themselves on the line to rescue people. They do it in the worst circumstances, without the slightest expectation of riches or glory. They save lives and they’re unassuming about it.
Guys: thanks. And I’m the one who owes you a beer.
2 responses so far ↓
Dan // February 25, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I remember reading about the hundreds of rescue flights they made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The term ‘heroes’ gets tossed around often these days, but these guys are the real deal - without a doubt.
Snart // February 26, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Isn’t it amazing what fun you can have as a writer? I’ve been in helicopters with traffic reporters, visited places I’d never have gotten to see, met fascinating people and actually sitten and spoken with them…all because I am a writer and was doing research.
Unlike you, however, Meg, I don’t seek out the hunks and the young and dishy…but perhaps my book’s venue should change…maybe Maggie should be on a nuclear submarine, or find herself involved in the Mr. Universe contest!
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