As part of the 119th Fighter Squadron, Captain Sawaguchi flew close-support missions for the JSF's elite 15th Special Operations Battalion across western Europe and the Baltic. During one such mission over Kaliningrad, Sawaguchi and her wingman were both shot down by Russian missiles, and survived for more than three days in enemy territory before being rescued by a team from her battalion. One of the top ground-attack pilots in the JSF, Sawaguchi's flight was one of the first to be assigned the advanced F-24 Kodiak ground attack plane, armed with the GAU-24 multibarrel railgun.