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Flight medics train up for Counterdrug mission

Courtesy Photo | Members of the California National Guard Counterdrug Task Force and law enforcement...... read more read more

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, CA, UNITED STATES

07.26.2011

Courtesy Story

California Counterdrug Task Force

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. - California Army National Guard medics were recently tasked to work with flight crews from the California National Guard Counterdrug Task Force (CDTF) during an operation that supported 25 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in targeting illegal marijuana grow sites in the Mendocino National Forest in July.

Soldiers and Airmen from CDTF supported these agencies in their efforts to eradicate illicit marijuana and reclaim the public lands affected by infrastructure used to grow the plants, which causes significant environmental damage. Counterdrug personnel provided aviation assets, criminal analysis, network support, reclamation efforts, and emergency medical teams.

During the planning phase of Operation Full Court Press, CDTF identified the need to have an embedded medical team with the ability to swiftly insert into restricted and potentially hazardous environments to provide emergency medical care to the injured in any tactical mission. These medics were prepared to authenticate, extract, treat, stabilize and evacuate the injured, while acting in a threat-evading, recovery role.

The three medics who participated in Full Court Press received enhanced medical training through the Flight Medical Aidman’s course from the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine at Fort Rucker, Ala. The course consists of 86 academic hours of multiple medical subjects, 19 academic hours of aero medical subjects and 44 academic hours of aviation subjects.

With this specialized training, they were able to embed with Counterdrug teams on California Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and California Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk Rescue Helicopters.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time Army medics have functioned as a part of an Air Force flight crew- at least in California,” said California Air National Guard Maj. Brian Finnerty, an HH-60G helicopter pilot assigned to CDTF Team Hawk. “They were able to log flight and training time on Air National Guard helicopters after NGB approved the inter-fly mission.”

California Army National Guard Sgt. Andrew Neil, a flight medic recently hired to the CDTF Ground Tactical Team, has already proven to be a great asset to the Counterdrug mission with his 11-years experience as a Combat Medic.

“Having medics on the flight with us, not only for their expertise in the case of emergency, but as another set of eyes and hands in the back [of the helicopter] is extremely reassuring during missions like these,” Finnerty said. “With large operations like Full Court Press, conducting multiple missions in a day and working with a large amount people in and out of the helicopter, it’s easier to have another person on our crew ensuring everyone’s safety and compliance.”

Finnerty also emphasized the importance of building rapport between Army and Air personnel from the California National Guard because, while deployed overseas they are often integrated into a single crew.

“Working with Counterdrug is a great opportunity to become proficient working in the aircraft,” Sgt. Neil said. “Any additional time performing my job, outside of a traditional Guardsman status, is a great chance to improve my skills and more adequately support the mission.”