Plan, manage and command personnel-recovery operations; lead and develop rescue forces supporting full-spectrum personnel recovery.
Officer accession requirements; see official career page
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Combat rescue officers lead pararescue teams on missions to recover isolated, injured, or captured personnel in hostile or remote places. Days include physical training with the team, medical and tactical refresher work, and the planning that turns a recovery request into an executable operation. You coordinate with helicopter crews, fixed wing support, intelligence, and medical staff so the team arrives with exactly what it needs. On alert or deployed, the call can come at any hour and the planning window is sometimes measured in minutes. Back at the unit you manage readiness, equipment accountability, training programs, and the careers of the airmen working for you.
You learn personnel recovery planning end to end, from intelligence and route selection through medical handling and the handoff to a surgical facility. The training pipeline covers parachuting, diving, survival, weapons, and tactical medicine, built alongside the operators you will eventually lead. Joint coordination becomes a genuine skill, because a recovery pulls aircraft and agencies together quickly under poor conditions. Entry requires a four year degree, a commission through an academy, ROTC, or officer training program, and a selective assessment process. Leading a highly trained team teaches you to manage experts and to make the final call when they disagree.
The job builds decisiveness, since waiting for perfect information costs the person you are trying to reach. You develop physical and mental durability through a pipeline designed specifically to find where your limits are. Working constantly with medics grows a calm, practical approach to injury and crisis that does not wear off afterward. Leading operators requires humility, because your credibility comes from performance rather than from the rank on your chest. Most rescue officers carry out a settled confidence earned by handling genuinely bad days and knowing how they responded.
Nobody advertises for a combat rescue officer in the civilian world, so the transition runs on demonstrated judgment and leadership rather than a job title. Fire service and emergency medical leadership, search and rescue organizations, and hospital emergency management are natural fits, and veterans preference helps in public safety hiring. Federal agencies with tactical and rescue missions recruit from this community, as do defense contractors who need instructors and training developers. Remote site medical support for energy and mining operations, corporate crisis response, and maritime security also draw from this background. Graduate school on the GI Bill is common, with the officer record carrying most of the weight in interviews.
No suitable exact-MOS or related career-field video has been verified for this page yet. No unrelated video or search-results page is substituted.
$77,814–$144,392
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
Possibilities for serving Airmen, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Earned through qualifying rifle or pistol competition performance—not routine weapons qualification or time in service.
A cross-specialty competition opportunity, including support Airmen. Entry depends on the particular authorized match and its eligibility rules; earning a badge requires the qualifying result and official award. Confirm entry, prior-award restrictions and uniform wear with the match organizer and current Air Force guidance.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Air Force 19ZXC Combat Rescue Officer, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe Air Force's 16 May 2022 Enlisted Force Structure describes junior enlisted Airmen, NCOs, and senior NCOs, with increasing technical and leadership responsibilities. It is an enlisted development reference, not evidence of this AFSC's maximum rank, a commissioning route, or current specialty-specific selection requirements.
Air Force Enlisted Force Structure (16 May 2022)Service-level application reference—not a verified next step for this listing
The Air Force restored warrant careers. The reviewed FY26 announcement names 17W communications/IT and 17Y cyber specialties and accepts qualified applicants from any AFSC, as well as qualified civilians and prior-service applicants. It describes a closed 2025 Regular Air Force board; Guard/Reserve use separate memoranda. Current application windows, individual eligibility, and higher warrant-grade progression remain unverified.
Air Force FY26 warrant selection announcement (historical cycle)Specialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Plan, manage and command personnel-recovery operations; lead and develop rescue forces supporting full-spectrum personnel recovery.
Combat rescue officers lead pararescue teams on missions to recover isolated, injured, or captured personnel in hostile or remote places. Days include physical training with the team, medical and tactical refresher work, and the planning that turns a recovery request into an executable operation. You coordinate with helicopter crews, fixed wing support, intelligence, and medical staff so the team arrives with exactly what it needs. On alert or deployed, the call can come at any hour and the planning window is sometimes measured in minutes. Back at the unit you manage readiness, equipment accountability, training programs, and the careers of the airmen working for you.
You learn personnel recovery planning end to end, from intelligence and route selection through medical handling and the handoff to a surgical facility. The training pipeline covers parachuting, diving, survival, weapons, and tactical medicine, built alongside the operators you will eventually lead. Joint coordination becomes a genuine skill, because a recovery pulls aircraft and agencies together quickly under poor conditions. Entry requires a four year degree, a commission through an academy, ROTC, or officer training program, and a selective assessment process. Leading a highly trained team teaches you to manage experts and to make the final call when they disagree.
Nobody advertises for a combat rescue officer in the civilian world, so the transition runs on demonstrated judgment and leadership rather than a job title. Fire service and emergency medical leadership, search and rescue organizations, and hospital emergency management are natural fits, and veterans preference helps in public safety hiring. Federal agencies with tactical and rescue missions recruit from this community, as do defense contractors who need instructors and training developers. Remote site medical support for energy and mining operations, corporate crisis response, and maritime security also draw from this background. Graduate school on the GI Bill is common, with the officer record carrying most of the weight in interviews.
Officer accession requirements; see official career page. This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
A civilian can pursue this specialty through an officer accession path, subject to eligibility and assignment. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Department of the Air Force Officer Classification Directory, 30 April 2026 · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Advertised — Air Force, as of 2026-09-28Deployment likelihood: Higher*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.