Pick of the litter

Photo By Staff Sgt. Andrea Merritt | As flight medics of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, were giving Soldiers of the 1st Sustainment Brigade a class on safety during a medical evacuation, they received a request for a MEDEVAC so that had to cut class short. The unit, which is based out of Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga., provides medical evacuation services to areas between Baghdad and Kalsu, Iraq. They never know when they are going to receive a call, but when they do, they are ready to answer.  

TAJI, IRAQ

03.15.2008

Story by Sgt. Andrea Merritt 

1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade

By Spc. Andrea Merritt
1st Sustainment Brigade PAO

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — Flight medics of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, put the skies on hold to team up with the 1st Sustainment Brigade and teach 62 of its Soldiers about safety during a medical evacuation.

"It's important to have this training because a lot of the Army training that we have is based around the nine-line MEDEVAC," said 1st Lt. Alex Wild, a Loveland, Colo., native and medical plans operations officer with Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 143rd Field Artillery, a California National Guard unit.

"They never go through what happens after you submit the nine-line. There's a lot more to it afterwards," said Wild, who planned the training.

The flight medics taught two 30-minuted classes with about 30 Soldiers each. While on the flight line, 1st SB medical personnel, combat lifesavers, radio transmission officers, training noncommissioned officers and transportation Soldiers learned to load and unload patients onto an aircraft using a litter.

"The class gives people who are not used to being around aircraft a better understanding of safety around the aircraft because that's the most important thing," said Staff Sgt. Paul McQuown, an Orlando, Fla., native and flight medic with Company C, 2nd Bn., 3rd Avn. Regt.

McQuown has been a medic for more than 16 years and is currently serving a second tour of duty in Iraq. As a flight medic, he has seen a number of injuries occur around the aircraft during a medical evacuation and, at times, they have been fatal.

During the first class, the heaviest Soldiers were picked to be casualties. Everyone took turns putting them on and taking them off the aircraft.

"That's reality. The way to be a more proficient Soldier or fighter is to have the best realistic training that you can," McQuown said. "The reality is it's hard to put people in that bird."

Some of the Soldiers struggled during the cold-load training, – where the blades of the aircraft aren't spinning – but they completed the task.

"The training did meet my needs. It was very well done. I was kind of hoping for more examples or stories, some experience from the MEDEVAC medics to the ground medical personnel," said Wild.

"It's not that they're better medics, they're just more experienced medics," Wild said. "They've seen a lot more triage than ground medics, and they see higher risk patients more often than a combat medic does."

The flight medics of Company C, 2nd Bn., 3rd Avn. Regt., which is based out of Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga., provides medical evacuation services to areas between Baghdad and Kalsu, Iraq.

They head out on an aircraft within seven minutes of receiving a call for a MEDEVAC. They never know when a call is going to come, but when it does, they are ready to answer.

As the flight medics were conducting training with the first class, a call came in and they had to cut class short.

"It's never a dull moment," said McQuown. "We try to give (the class) to whoever we come in contact with ... we have no problem giving a class on the MEDEVAC because all that's going to do is make everybody work as a cohesive unit and have a fine-tuned machine instead of controlled chaos."

At the end of the day, Wild was satisfied with the training he planned for the Soldiers.

"Decision makers needed to know this asset was here and that they have this support. This unit is here for them and to support their operations," Wild said. "Also, the Soldiers know if they get wounded, this medical asset is there to get them to an echelon-three clinic as quickly as possible."

"I think it helped everybody. I hope it helped out those who mostly go outside the wire because that's who we did this for," Wild concluded.

• Date Taken: 03.15.2008
• Date Posted: 03.17.2008 11:25
• Story ID: 17426
• Location: TAJI, IQ