That others may live - Sgt Jack Brehm

Imagine jumping out of an aeroplane at 40, 000 feet, accelerating through the air until you reach terminal velocity at 127 mph, then deploying your 'chute at a mere 1000 feet in order to minimise your vulnerability to ground fire. . . Imagine jumping from 800 feet, having an instant to pull the release and even then bouncing along the ground like tumbleweed because you're carrying so much of the plane's forward momentum. Or performing the against-all-odds rescue operation described in the best-selling THE PERFECT STORM. Or climbing down a mountain in a blizzard with someone strapped to your back. The PJs, America's most elite military unit are Pararescue Jumpers, originally formed after WWII by the US Air Force/Air National Guard to rescue troops from behind enemy lines (and, in peacetime, civilians in danger around the world). They can recover victims from deserts or at the poles, far out to sea, or just offshore in 150mph winds. They swim in 100 foot seas. They are highly skilled paramedics. They also know how to operate a machine gun from a hellicopter door. In THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE we follow Brehm and his fellow PJs from PJ school in 1978 to the present day. The daring missions are relived in full detail.