Learning to lift

Photo By Sgt. Jesse Smith | A Soldier with Company C, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division pulls the dummy patient into a UH-60 Black Hawk from a hoist Dec. 18 in South Korea. The patient was then properly placed to receive medical treatment.  

PYEONGTAEK, 41, SOUTH KOREA

12.22.2014

Story by Sgt. Jesse Smith 

2nd Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – The first medevac mission in Korea was flown on Jan. 3, 1951. In the first month of the Korean War, the Army evacuated over 500 injured Soldiers and by the end, over 21,000 wounded Soldiers were transported by helicopter. Over 60 years later, two to three medevac missions are still completed every week in South Korea said Sgt. Travis Mayo. He is part of the only rotary-winged unit on the peninsula that performs medical evacuations.

Dec. 18 was a cold day that did not have a cloud in the sky. Three Republic of Korea officers waited eagerly in an office in the Super Hangar here. They were bundled up in there cold weather gear. A loud alarm went off and the officers were rushed to another office where they were briefed on the procedures of receiving a nine-line medevac request, a way for wounded Soldiers to get air lifted to medical services. The officers were then escorted to a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on the flight line, strapped in, given safety instructions and the aircraft lifted off.

The three ROK officers observed a medevac crew from the Company C, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division perform hoist training.

One of the Soldiers that was observed was Mayo, a flight paramedic with Company C, 3-2nd GSAB. Mayo said that this was the first time having someone from the ROK observe this training and that it is very intense and difficult.

“I enjoy putting my skills to the test,” Mayo said. “Hoist is probably the most difficult training that we do.”

Once in the helicopter, Mayo and the rest of the medevac crew prepared the rescue seat. A heavy hook-like seat is used to hoist Mayo and any patient to and from the helicopter while in mid-air. When they arrived to the training site, the crew placed the rescue seat on the hoist while the pilots maneuvered the helicopter into the best position, Mayo said.

Mayo was lowered to the ground and secured the dummy patient to the seat before it was hoisted up. Once the patient was properly placed in the aircraft, the seat was lowered back down and Mayo was hoisted back up.

As the aircraft flew back to the flight line, the ROK officers watched as Mayo performed medical treatment on the patient. Mayo said he practiced using an electrocardiogram and defibrillator on the dummy.

“That lets us track the patient’s vital signs,” Mayo said. “That also lets us monitor how much oxygen the patient has in his system.”

When the exercise was complete, the ROK officers jumped off of the aircraft and the crew ran through the scenario again as the officers watched from the ground to gain a different perspective.

One of the ROK officers included Navy Lt. Yoo Seon Mi, a medical planner at the Jinhae Maritime Medical Center.

“We don’t do medevac training yet, but we plan on doing it soon,” Yoo Seon Mi said referring to the ROK Navy.

She said that they were there to observe the functions and capabilities of Company C’s medevacs, because they really need this training. The ROK Navy has a unit near the city of Pyeontaek that they are hoping can do combined medevac training with 2nd CAB units in the future, Yoo Seon Mi said.

“We want to further help develop the U.S. and ROK alliance with this training,” Yoo Seon Mi said.

The medevac saved thousands of Soldiers lives during the Korean War. It is crucial that the ROK learns and can perform this critical mission from a helicopter, Yoo Seon Mi said.

• Date Taken: 12.22.2014
• Date Posted: 12.21.2014 21:56
• Story ID: 150882
• Location: PYEONGTAEK, 41, KR