KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Two airmen with the 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron say their first deployment to Afghanistan made them a little wiser and humbler in their business of saving lives.

As aircrew for HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, Airman 1st Class Garrett Clark, an aerial gunner, and 1st Lt. Matt Forbes, a co-pilot, provided medical evacuation support for the Army during a three-month deployment.

The airmen, along with 23 others in their squadron, returned from Bagram Air Base on Monday.

Their flight was one of two within the squadron to deploy to Afghanistan during a six-month period. The first flight returned in October.

The 33rd Rescue Squadron is stationed here, but when deployed to a combat zone, it becomes an expeditionary squadron, Kadena officials said.

The deployment rotation for the squadron is ongoing, officials said.

Their mission alone guarantees job satisfaction, said Forbes, 25, from Hampton, N.H.

During the six months, the squadron saved 48 lives and assisted in transporting 17 injured people safely to Bagram, where most were later airlifted to hospitals outside the country.

"I think it’s one of the great parts of the job," Forbes said. "Every day you’re out there to save someone’s life."

The helicopters are like ambulances in the sky. Pararescue jumpers tend to the injured, and the aircrew flies the patients to safety and treatment.

Clark said that on one flight, the crew transported a man who had lost part of his face after a blast from an improvised explosive device.

On another flight, Forbes recalled, the crew transported an Afghan man who had lost his eye in a mortar explosion.

"We see the patients," said Clark, 21, of Seattle. "We see the blood, IVs put in, oxygen. It’s humbling."

Squadron commander Lt. Col. Mike Trumpfheller said he was proud of his crews.

"The airmen from the 33rd selflessly put themselves in harm’s way to save people’s lives," Trumpfheller said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. "If you want to know how successful they were on the deployment, just ask the 48 people they rescued and their families."

Clark and Forbes said conversations with fellow crewmembers who were previously downrange had prepared them for a busy deployment.

"I was ready for it. I’d already been in training for a year and a half, and it was time to put that training to use," Clark said.

But, for the most part, the deployment was "pretty tame," Forbes said.

Frigid winter conditions decreased enemy threats, although the country’s mountainous terrain and altitudes still made flying tricky at times, Forbes said.

"But I developed better skills all around as a pilot and gunner," he said.

Both said the deployment was not as stressful as the daily grind at Kadena Air Base. There is less multi-tasking and more focus on just one mission, Clark said.

"It was a more relaxing environment," he said. "You don’t have the desk work and all the administrative tasks."

As for returning, both are looking forward to some relaxation.

For Forbes, it’s enjoying lunch and dinner at Coco’s, a popular Okinawa curry spot.

"It will be nice to finally have a day off," Forbes said.

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