Local first responders trained alongside National Guard Pararescue Jumpers, practicing coordinated rescues from air and water. Twenty-year-old Stony Brook firefighter Timothy Holsberg found himself standing in the Long Island Sound, the water up to his neck. The “they” were Air National Guard Pararescue Jumpers, who moments later descended from two Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters hovering overhead to locate and rescue simulated victims as part of a water rescue exercise. Training for the unexpected The drills simulated a large-scale water rescue requiring coordination between air and marine rescue teams. (Credit: Town of Smithtown, courtesy)Pararescue Jumpers from the 106th Rescue Wing deployed from the Army Black Hawk helicopters into the Long Island Sound to locate victims before relaying GPS coordinates to waiting rescue boats.