Don’t laugh. Truth is, it’s a pretty good idea.

The U.S. Air Force is turning toward extreme sports enthusiasts to fill a shortage of special operations troops. It might pay big dividends for all of us.

The Air Force needs combat air-traffic controllers to go behind enemy lines to set up airfields and call in airstrikes, as well as trauma specialists to skydive into hostile territory to rescue wounded troops. It currently has good, well-trained people for such harrowing jobs, but it needs more.

The need is for at least 426 combat controllers but there now are only 350. A full complement of para-rescuers is 123 but there are only 90. The goal is to sign up athletes with a taste for taking risks and a flair for the patriotic.

“It’s a good match for us,” said Wayne Norrad who recently was manning a recruiting booth at the Amp’d Mobile Supercross race in Las Vegas. “We’re looking for people who like a little adrenaline rush. Thrill-seekers.”

Every branch of the service is looking for such people and the so-called extreme sports venues where risk is the name of the game is a good place to look.

All military special operations forces are expanding. Since 2002, the U.S. Special Operations Command has added 6,000 people and almost doubled its budget, according to the Pentagon. There are about 17,000 special operations troops in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The need for such people is predicted to grow steadily.

There is incentive, too. Last year, the military structure started offering a $150,000 bonus to special op personnel who re-enlist for six or more years. A lot of the youngsters being contacted about special forces service seem quite receptive, and the military always needs daredevils with fierce competitive spirits.

One of the big advantages of joining units such as these is that there is guaranteed training and assignment. One can hear many tales from the past about armed forces enlistments that were supposed to favor one job skill but diverted the individual to an entirely different venue.

It’s an old military joke: “They signed me up for a certain job, and then they gave me a fur hat and a shot for yellow fever.”

Special ops enlistees are not likely to be faced with such frustration and should get all the thrills they could ever want. And for the good of the country in the process.