Special Operations Surgical Teams, commonly referred to as SOST, are United States Air Force teams of mobile surgical specialists with advanced medical and tactical training devoted to saving lives, anywhere and anytime. SOST members are dedicated to their craft, their team, their patients, and the mission. Should a special operator fall, SOST will be there to provide the critical care to save lives. This pledge is reflected in the SOST motto: “QUIS ILLOS BELLATORES CUSTODIET,” or “Those Who Care for the Warriors.”

SOST are specialized surgical teams which provide four unique medical capabilities:

• Advanced trauma resuscitation
• Tactical damage control surgery
• Post-op critical care
• Critical care evacuation

They are fully trained and equipped to operate within austere environments utilizing "man-pack mobile" capabilities. These surgical teams are capable to quickly respond and support operations aboard SOF aircraft and/or other opportune air, land or sea platforms. The team members carry specialized equipment and gear designed to support a wide spectrum of operations and mission sets that can occur within various threat environments, remote locations, light conditions, and weather. These teams function far-forward and independent of any established healthcare support systems or facilities. This enables SOST to function as a highly tailorable, mission-modular capability with a smaller footprint than conventional surgical assets. The team members of SOST train to support Special Operations Forces around the world. They are based at the 24th Special Operations Wing within the 720th Special Tactics Group. SOST deploys as a six-member team composed of emergency physician, general surgeon, nurse anesthetist, critical care nurse, surgical technician, and respiratory therapist. The team members of SOST train to support Special Operations Forces around the world. They are based at the 24th Special Operations Wing within the 720th Special Tactics Group.  Originally conceived in late 2001 and operational since February 2003, SOST has been a high demand asset for the Air Force and United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). During the past eleven years, SOST has logged tens of thousands of deployed days while supporting hundreds of special operations forces (SOF) missions and contingency operations around the globe. In addition, team members have deployed on short notice to support combat or humanitarian missions worldwide.

SOST deploys as a six-member team composed of:

• Emergency physician
• General surgeon
• Nurse anesthetist
• Critical care nurse
• Surgical technician
• Respiratory therapist

“Keeping Away Death,” sculpture by Julian Hoke Harris, near Grady Memorial Hospital

Julian Hoke Harris

He was born in Carrollton, Georgia in 1906 the youngest child of Joseph and Margaret Harris. His father owned Harris Hardware on the square in Carrolton. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1928 with a B.S. in architecture. In 1930, he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After the first year of study, he was granted by the Academy a full scholarship for the remaining three years. He graduated in 1934 and returned to Atlanta Georgia. He was licensed by the State of Georgia as an architect and worked briefly for architect Philip Schutze. That same year, he opened his sculpture studio and by the close of his first year was sculpting full-time. He worked as a sculptor based in Atlanta until his death in 1987.  During World War II, Harris served as a Major in the United States Army during the India-Burma Theatre.  At Georgia Tech, he did ten busts of famous engineers and scientists, the bronze gate of the Naval Armory, and the stained glass window in Brittain Dining Hall. He also taught architecture part-time in the College of Architecture for 34 years.  He worked alongside the architectural firm of Tucker & Howell on various projects and sculpted a frieze at Georgia State Prison depicting figures embodying various trades and occupations. Other collaborations with architectural firms in Atlanta include the Morris Plan Bank 1936, razed, zoo buildings 1950s, the Department of Agriculture Building 1954, the Commerce Building 1959, and the DeKalb County Federal Savings and Loan Building 1963 in Conyers, Georgia.  He was elected into the National Academy of Design in 1976 as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1979. While a student at Georgia Tech, he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

The Air Rescue Service was initially established in 1946 under the Air Transport Command, just prior to the U.S. Air Force's designation as a separate service in 1947, and it continued to serve the U.S. Air Force proudly as both ARS and ARRS during the Korean War and Vietnam War, as well as during the Cold War. Rescue's worth was proven time and again: 996 combat saves in Korea and 2,780 in Southeast Asia. The crews, both fixed-wing and helicopter, had but one motto: "These things we do that others may live."

ARRS returned to its former name of ARS in 1989 and was disestablished in 1993, following the disestablishment of Military Airlift Command and the dispersal of legacy USAF search and rescue (SAR) forces among the Air Combat Command (ACC), the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), to include those Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and Air National Guard (ANG) rescue units operationally-gained by these MAJCOMs. The current structure and strength of search and rescue in today's U.S. Air Force is focused primarily on combat search and rescue (CSAR) and Personnel Recovery (PR) and is greatly reduced from the air rescue force structure that served from 1946 through the end of the Vietnam Era.

Combat Rescue Officer (CRO) is a career field in the United States Air Force. Its Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) is 13D and it was created to strengthen USAF personnel recovery capabilities. The CRO specialty includes direct combatant command and control of Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations. They plan, manage and execute the six tasks of CSAR: prepare, report, locate, support, recover, and reintegrate isolated personnel and materiel. CROs conduct strategic, operational and tactical level planning, provide battle staff expertise, manage theater personnel recovery operations and conduct combat operations.

Pararescuemen, also known as PJs (Pararescue Jumpers), are United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) operatives tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. 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 SOF teams from all branches to conduct other operations as appropriate. Of the 22 enlisted Air Force Cross recipients, 12 are Pararescuemen. They wear the maroon beret as a symbol of their elite status, and to symbolize the blood shed by past PJs, as well as the blood current PJs are willing to shed to save lives. Part of the little-known Air Force Special Operations community and long an enlisted preserve, the Pararescue service began commissioning Combat Rescue Officers early in the 21st century.

Saint Hubert was widely venerated in the Middle Ages and partly because of his noble birth several military orders were named after him: the Bavarian,[4] the Bohemian[5] and that of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. Hubertus, along with Quirinus of Neuss, Cornelius and Anthony, was venerated as one of the Four Holy Marshals (Vier Marschälle Gottes) in the Rhineland. The St. Hubertus Orden (Order of Saint Hubert), a chivalric order, was founded in 1444 by Gerhard V of Jülich and Berg. In the Anglican Communion, at least two churches were dedicated to Saint Hubertus within the Church of England.

Hubert is also the patron saint for archers, forest workers, furriers and trappers, hunters and huntsmen as well as hunting as a profession.  He is also the patron saint for mathematicians, machinists, precision instrument makers and smelters along with those stricken with hydrophobia (rabies) and dogs. In a related topic, bloodhounds (which are well known for their scenting ability and commonly acknowledged as ancestors of many different hunting dog breeds) reportedly originated from a cross between the black hounds of St. Hubert and the white hounds of the House of Talbot - both of which arefrom the Ardennes.  Records from the House of Talbot provide further credence to this theory and tradition indicates many bloodhounds in Europe are still known and registered as the "Ohien de St. Hubert."

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