PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – A group of roughly 30 Reserve pilots, aircrew members and support personnel from the 920th Rescue Wings HC-130P/N Hercules squadron here returned safely last night from a two-month deployment to the Horn of Africa (HOA).

The deployed reservists, who were based at Camp Lemonier, a combined, joint base at Djibouti, Africa, provided combat search and rescue support to the HOA region, which is comprised of four countries-Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.

A variant of the Hercules, the HC-130 P/N has the ability to refuel other aircraft in flight, which greatly increases the range of Air Force combat rescue helicopters.

The Air Force Reserves 920th Rescue Wing performs combat search and rescue as its primary mission, but is also responsible for civil search and rescue, humanitarian relief and support of all NASA shuttle and rocket launches. To date, the unit has saved more than 2,000 lives.