40th CAB troops get their feet wet

Photo By Aaron DeCapua | California Army National Guard Soldiers Chief Warrant Officer 2 McKayla Dembowski, Staff Sgt. Ian M. Kummer, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Douglas Martine, Sgt. Angel Ortiz and Sgt. Nathan Wong from the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade watch from their inflatable raft as a U.S. Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 approaches during a personnel recovery exercise in the Arabian Gulf Feb. 2. This exercise tested the ability of American service members to work together to rescue the crew of a crashed aircraft. (Photo by 1st Lt. Aaron Decapua, 40th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs)  

CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT

02.02.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer 

40th Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – U.S. Army Central Soldiers participated in a personnel recovery training exercise with U.S. Navy Sailors of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 in the Arabian Gulf Feb. 2.

The USAV Corinth dropped off five California Army National Guardsmen - four Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment, 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, from Los Alamitos, California, and an additional Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th CAB, based out of Fresno, California - in an inflatable raft. They were successfully hoisted and evacuated by a Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter from Squadron 26, based out of Norfolk, Virginia.

The purpose of the day’s training event: to test Squadron 26’s ability to rescue crew members of a downed aircraft stranded out at sea. The “downed” Soldiers pushed off from the USAV Corinth in an inflatable raft. This raft is standard-issue with the 40th CAB’s helicopters and stocked with emergency supplies necessary for Soldiers to survive after an emergency landing, including water, food, signaling devices and a first aid kit.

The training exercise tested the 40th CAB Soldiers as well. Before anything else could be done, the Soldiers signaled to help with an emergency radio. Now they had to hang tight for a rescue aircraft to arrive.

“Right now, it’s a waiting game until the helicopter shows up,” said Fresno, California, resident Chief Warrant Officer 2 McKayla Dembowski, the 1-140th AVN aviation life support equipment officer. “That’s the part I’m most excited for.”

The raft came equipped with water and food. In the event of a real crash at sea, the survivors would need to carefully ration their supplies in case of a prolonged wait for a rescue.

To further complicate things, one of the Soldiers, Sgt. Angel Ortiz, a flight instructor from Los Alamitos, California, had a simulated leg injury. Ortiz had mentally prepared himself for the worse – the nice weather and calm sea gave him a pleasant surprise.

“I feel great, I was expecting a lot worse than this, a lot more wet and a lot more cold,” Ortiz said. “We prepare for worst-case scenarios, so anything less than worst-case scenarios are ideal for us.”

Less than an hour after the life raft’s launch, the Seahawk from Squadron 26 arrived.

The Arabian Gulf is busy with commercial shipping and aircraft, making it tempting to use the raft’s signaling dye and flares too early. Though the raft is stocked with five containers of dye and a case of flares, using them prematurely can result in the crew being unable to effectively signal when an actual recovery aircraft is attempting to find them. After being sure the helicopter was close enough, the Soldiers fired off a flare and released the dye.

The Seahawk came in as close as possible without flipping the small raft. The rotorwash sprayed all the rafts occupants with a wall of cold air and seawater. Petty Officer 3rd Class Marvin Masa, a rescue diver with Squadron 26, jumped from the Seahawk and swam to the Army raft.

Masa asked who the most seriously injured Soldier was. Ortiz had a simulated leg injury, making him the highest priority person to be rescued. Ortiz rolled into the water before he was hoisted into the Seahawk that hovered overhead. Masa assisted the remaining Soldiers one-by-one until all of them were safely in the helicopter. Without the weight of the rescued troops, the inflatable raft quickly flipped from the Seahawk’s rotor wash. The USAV Corinth later recovered the raft and the remaining gear.

“Overall I was happy with the crew’s performance,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Dalo, pilot in command of the Squadron 26 Seahawk. “They performed their TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures] correctly.”

The day’s work wasn’t over until the 40th CAB Soldiers returned to their deployed area of operations at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, to clean their equipment and debrief the lessons learned from the day’s event.

This is the second personnel recovery exercise conducted by 40th CAB Soldiers since their arrival in theater in December. Dembowski stressed the importance of giving as many Soldiers as possible the opportunity to familiarize themselves with a downed aircraft scenario and all of the considerations involved.

“This is perfect. I think you should train to fight. All angles should be covered,” Dembowski said. “Every time we do this, the more it shortens the process for recovering isolated personnel.”

• Date Taken: 02.02.2016
• Date Posted: 02.13.2016 15:23
• Story ID: 188821
• Location: CAMP BUEHRING, KW
• Hometown: FRESNO, CA, US
• Hometown: LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US
• Hometown: NORFOLK, VA, US