2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment provides sea and land aide to service members

Photo By Spc. Elayseah Woodard-Hinton | Petty Officer 2nd Class Kendra Larson, performs a maintenance check on a MH-60S helicopter.  

CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT

09.21.2008

Story by Spc. Elayseah Woodard-Hinton 

20th Public Affairs Detachment

By Spc. Elayseah Woodard-Hinton
Desert Voice Staff Writer

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - US Army Central's 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment is responsible for providing continuous medical evacuation coverage for southern Iraq, Kuwait and the Northern Perisan Gulf as part of their area of responsibility.

Stationed at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, the Navy unit is completely out of its element; yet they have managed to carry out their mission in the deserts of the Middle East.

"It's your typical life-flight helicopter you might see back in the States, except we do it here in Kuwait and southern Iraq," said Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew Bonnett, a Williamsburg, Va., native.

The 2515th NAAD assumed its mission in 2005 in an effort to help the Army provide pre-emergency hospital care to servicemembers involved in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

"The Navy was asked to source this mission to relieve the burden on the Army's Medevac crews," said Cmdr. Mike Dowling, 2515th NAAD, East Northport, N.Y., native. "The Army has their way of doing business, the Navy has its way of doing business; but we find ways to work together."

The NAAD includes more than 100 people from 10 different commands. The group is comprised of 16 pilots, 16 aircrewmen, 8 search and rescue medical technicians, and more than 50 maintenance and support personnel. The unit works 12-hour shifts, seven days a week on 6-month deployments.

The unit receives calls that range from urgent, priority or routine. In order to respond when needed, they maintain two first-up crews, required to launch within 15 minute, and two second-up crews, which are given a 1-hour launch time, on stand-by.

NAAD members are trained and certified to respond to medical emergencies on both land and sea. They continuously train on various jobs that they are tasked with in the AOR and tasks that they would do at their home station.

"When we're not waiting for calls we're training," said Bonnett. The training is separated by type and category such as tactics, medicine and rescue, added Bonnett.

Some of the training includes international trauma life support; tactical combat casualty care; the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine's Flight Medic Course, out of Fort Rucker, Ala.; and a quarterly search and rescue proficiency flight.

In addition to continuous training, maintenance of the unit's aircraft must always remain up to standard.

The MH-60S helicopters, which are what the group uses to carry out the mission, receive routine maintenance and inspections by the maintenance group.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Joe Jenkins, plane captain, whose primary role is to maintain the helicopters, says it is rare that they have to ground a helicopter for repairs.

"We keep them up pretty good, the only time we have to pull them in is for standard phase inspections," said the Newburn, N.C., native.

Although being stationed with 2515th involves hard work, long hours and working in the desert heat, many of the NAAD personnel welcome the opportunity to serve with their brothers and sisters at arms.

"As Navy folks, they feel that this is closer to really being part of the global war on terrorism instead of being out on the ship," said Dowling. "When you land and they see that we're doing a transport rotation and loading a patient, there's immediate gratification for doing something meaningful. Everybody gets this is a meaningful mission and they're willing to go do it."

• Date Taken: 09.21.2008
• Date Posted: 10.07.2008 04:32
• Story ID: 24603
• Location: CAMP BUEHRING, KW