SHAW AIR FORCE BASE — Despite looming budget cuts that have grounded a total of 17 combat squadrons, the Air Force has deployed its newest weapon in Afghanistan: A musical ensemble called "Hypersonic." Screened from a total force of more than 500,000, just eight Airmen earned the right to be inducted into what may be the Air Force’s most elite unit — the AFCENT Band.

“You think becoming a PJ or a Combat Controller is hard?” said Tech. Sgt. John Shuga' Reynolds, who washed out on zero day of the grueling selection course. “There are hundreds of PJs, probably thousands of Combat Controllers; there are only eight members of the AFCENT Band. You do the math.”

Reynolds went on to explain that he washed out following an intense “scale session” where he was made to play his saxophone underwater while tying knots onto a cable run across the bottom of the pool. “I met the wizard. That’s all I have to say about that.”