Air Force rescue teams enhance Army medical evacuation mission

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

08.26.2008

Courtesy Story

Central Command Air Forces News Team

By Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore
AFCENT News Team

KANDAHAR AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- Likened to a Swiss Army knife due to their versatility on the battlefield, Airmen of the 305th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron here with their HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters have been carrying out their mission with life-saving success. Since March, rescue crews have performed medical evacuations for more than 300 coalition forces and Afghan nationals.

"Once a notification arrives, the crews and maintainers sprint out there, we get the aircraft ready to take-off ... inside of 10 minutes," said 1st Lt. Brough McDonald, a Pave Hawk pilot. "When we arrive on scene, we start the assessing the tactical situation, the medical situation and determine what we can do to get in there."

The 305th ERQS is deployed here to provide the Army assistance with their medical evacuation mission, bring enhanced aerial capabilities to the table.

The HH-60 is a phenomenal platform with air-refueling capabilities, night-vision censors and full color weather radar for flying in adverse weather conditions, the lieutenant said. "These systems allow us to fly in certain weather conditions that the Army can't."

The pilot, deployed from the 305th Rescue Squadron in Tucson, Ariz., is confident in the aircraft's capabilities.

"We can employ this platform aggressively to accomplish the assigned mission," McDonald said. "Whatever the ground commander wants from us we can do -- if they want us to come in super-scary or if they want us to sneak in -- this team can do that. We are really like a Swiss Army knife."

The lieutenant, an Air Force Reservist with more than 160 combat missions under his belt, said he believes the Pave Hawk's diverse capabilities is not what makes it a standout weapon system but the people inside it.

A typical crew in this role is includes two pilots, a gunner, a flight engineer and pararescuemen, also known as PJs.

"The flight engineer manages the whole [aircraft] and is probably one of the most critical team members," McDonald said. "When I'm picking up a survivor on a hoist, I can't see him at all; everything I do is based on what the flight engineer is telling me. When we are in the zone, hovering taking small arms fire with PJs and a would-be survivor on the line, he is the one, whether he is a senior airman or a chief master sergeant, who is making decisions - that is an incredible amount of responsibility."

This group of PJs is deployed in their first Guardian Weapon System role . The weapon system is a scalable forced designed to meet the Department of Defense's personnel recover needs for not only coalition military forces but all U.S. contractors and civilians serving oversea. Like, the HH-60 crew, the PJs place a great importance on they training they have received.

There is a lot of work that goes into training PJs and combat rescue officers because it is a very demanding job, said Capt. Matt Smtih, a CRO. "As we go through training together, it forges a strong bond, a strong feeling of brotherhood. There is something about misery that brings people together."

The helicopter crews and PJ teams depend on each other's capabilities to complete a successful mission.

Without the helicopter's capabilities, extracting a survivor from the battlefield would be difficult. Likewise, without the PJs in the back of the helicopter to provide medical care, most survivors would not make it back home, the captain said.

Not only have the crews aboard the Pave Hawks learned to work together, they also work with Army helicopter crews here.

"We fly a lot of dissimilar formations here," Lieutenant McDonald said. "We deployed as a package to pick up a survivor, so it is either us flying with an Army UH-60 or AH-64. Working with different systems has caused some challenges, but the benefit is to the survivor."

Despite the increased capabilities that the HH-60 brings to the mission, the terrain here is hard on the aircraft.

"The terrain presents its own challenges because of the high altitude. Plus it is real hot, so we don't arrive in the zone with the power advantages we would if we were at sea level or in a colder environment. Dust is also a huge factor," Lieutenant McDonald said.

Even with harsh conditions, 305th ERQS Airmen are always ready for a call to action, and the motto "These things we do so that other's may live" sums up the completion of a successful battlefield rescue.

"When everything comes together and you bring someone home, it is a good feeling," Captain Smith said. "You can take stock after a mission, and say 'we made a difference.'"

• Date Taken: 08.26.2008
• Date Posted: 08.26.2008 07:38
• Story ID: 22880
• Location: KANDAHAR, AF