Photo By Master Sgt. Daniel Griego | Air and medical assets of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade came together for extended...... read more read more
FORT BLISS, Texas - Slated for imminent deployment to Afghanistan, C Company conducted almost 12 straight hours of scenarios during its annual training held at Camp McGregor, New Mexico, June 20, 2012.
“We’re integrating two units at this time,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew Vance, the lead flight medic with C Company, 2-149 GSAB.
Although the deployment will only affect C Company, select soldiers from their sister unit, B Company, 1-108 Aviation, will transfer in order to support all the disparate mission requirements.
B Company, normally an Air Assault unit, will provide the pilots and aviation assets to augment the medical personnel from C Company.
“Their configuration is usually two pilots and two crew chiefs,” said Maj. Angel Perez, commander for C Company, “where the MEDEVAC platform is usually two pilots, one crew chief and one flight medic. MEDEVAC is essentially tailored for that flight medic.”
With all the pieces in place, the soldiers took to their task of performing high-speed extraction of casualties, simulating tactical environments and situations.
“Once we get that call from the medical readiness officer,” said Vance, “we have 15 minutes to respond and have our wheels off the ground and en route to that unit.”
Coordination is key when minutes can mean the difference between life and death.
“We want a faster response time, better crew coordination between the two crews and better communication,” said Vance.
As skilled experts in their fields, these aviation units have been in high demand for years, serving their state and country in various capacities for the last decade.
“The great thing about this piece is that we’re all very familiar with each other,” said Perez. “We’ve all deployed on a couple of occasions together.”
With this phase of training complete, the deploying C Company looks toward their next challenge as they continue to integrate and prepare for what lies ahead on the road to mobilization.
“The biggest effort is doing collective training,” said Perez. “That’s the key part of this.”
| Date Taken: | 06.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2012 21:50 |
| Story ID: | 90480 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 136 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Texas aviators train for medical evacuation mission, by MSG Daniel Griego, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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