RescueRandy

Here's to the helo-bubbas.

We get the same requests to haul ass and trash, be it at home-station, in Iraq or Afghanistan. We've done the odd Emergency Aerial Movement Request (EAMR) to deliver food/water/ammo and we've also be asked to do CCA; but the reality is that it's not our mission, plain and simple. Unfortunately, the buck has to stop somewhere and, for the Pedros, it's the CFACC. If the CFACC directs that the Pedros will haul, then the Pedros will haul but the CFACC has to weigh the risks and rewards. 99.69% of the time, the alert takes priority and the answer for those requests is an emphatic "no." If Dustoff loses the Red Cross and rolls more like the Pedros, then their leadership (be it the Bde Cdr or the Med Geeks) need to also be willing to make those decisions. Right now, the only thing the red crosses are doing is limiting their flexibility in a war where the enemy couldn't care less about the Geneva Conventions.

Now that sounds painful... if there was any doubt about doing correspondence sooner rather than later, said doubt is gone. Now all I have to do is wrap up hacking the mish and get back within 500 miles of a testing center so I can stop doing my job and start drinking the Kool-Aid.

Our records from the Kandahar AO a la last summer: Fastest time from crew rest to airborne: 7 minutes. Fastest time from 9-line to pickup: 2 minutes (we were already airborne). Fastest save (from 9-line to drop-off at med facility): 9 minutes. This is what happens after 200+ CASEVAC missions in a four-month rotation on a 1:1 (or less) dwell. One of our flight engineers just pinned on his Air Medal, 29th Oak Leaf Cluster. For those playing the home game, that's 600 combat missions. We stopped counting support sorties in Afghanistan like FCFs (which are numerous in a helo) and what few training sorties we get because we just didn't think it was fair. Anyway, admittedly, I'm still impressed by what our brothers do every day. Unfortunately, they are despite big blue's influence on the way we do business; not because of that influence. SCRIMP is 100% correct in his assessment of the situation for our rescue fleet. It happens to everybody, and regardless of who it is... they still have to live with being shoe clerks. F@#$% 'em. You mean like Pedro 66? Just sayin'.... True. These guys keep us flying every day so that Combat Rescue can SAVE LIVES, and unless the chief is asking, it's not always by the T.O. While scholars maintain this to be proven fact, in then end, it's not about having balls, or a conspicuous lack thereof. These things we do... so that an American (or Brit, or Canadian, or Aussie, you name it) soldier can go home to his family... alive.

No kidding... another $7.4B for the F$@!*&# Raptor (which has already cost how much?) and now we have have to cancel potentially legit programs like the Spartan and (heaven forbid) new rescue birds (a la CSAR-X). In the spirit of full disclosure, I realize that there's potential for the HH-60U Operational Loss Replacement program, but I'm not holding my breath with the "sequestering" that's going to be happening. In either case, it's not the "leap forward" in capabilities that CSAR-X purported to provide. Lastly, for the king of all fighters, the Raptors haven't actually done much fighting as I recall. 0 kills thus far, right? Not counting bird strikes, of course... thousands of saves for Jolly/Pedro but no helicopters. Goose egg for the F-22 and $7.4B more. Only in the AF. Yee!

Not the first time they've gotten inside themselves... won't be the last.

You're absolutely right. Any professional (or non-professional) helicopter pilot knows that rotor is life and in order to maintain rotor, except for autorotation, you need power (duh). All helo pilots should know to recompute their power numbers before coming anywhere close to that lake, and if they indeed failed to do so, they deserve to lose their wings. These guys are lucky to be alive, in a landable aircraft, let alone still in the Navy.

A stand-up guy and an outstanding classmate. A toast to him.

Definitely worth the read. A lot of good information for all helo guys out there.

Xerox!

I think those that have referenced this to say that the BETA guys are as good as a middle-of-the-road UPT grad mis-read it. The speaker was saying that the BETA guys are as good as a middle-of-the-road UAV operator that graduated UPT. I hate to be the cold-hearted bastard, but (with exceptions) the UAV operators from UPT were not middle-of-the-road when in UPT.

I'm sure this has reverberated through the entire Air Force SOF/CSAR community. I know it has here at DM. Godspeed to our brothers.

Definitely good! However, the fact that the CV-22 is the only aircraft that Schaffer mentioned as a replacement for the 60 is atrocious. The CV-22 was built to eternally and repeatedly execute operation Eagle Claw, not pull survivors out of hot LZs. Apparently CAPE hasn't seen the smoldering holes left behind after an infill/exfill by that thing. More space in the back, better ability to maintain an OGE hover at high altitude... not counter-rotating egg-beaters on a "hovering" airplane! Is that so hard to understand!? Busdriver was right... the 47 would have worked just fine. We didn't need to re-invent it. Just continue 85% of the existing assembly line and modify/upgrade as necessary (preferrably with input from the operators). The Army has been sucsessfully using the 47 for high-altitude rescues in Alaska for decades. It seems like a logical choice to me for increasing capability without starting an entirely new R&D process and production line. When are "we" ever going to pull our heads out???

This new article backs up what the COMACC hinted at during a Q&A with us at DM. However, he only mentioned the replacement of combat losses with "the Mike model 60" and did not mention a total re-capitalization of our 60G fleet. I do have to say that 112 new Mikes is an exciting prospect given how beat-up our Gs are. We sure could use a solution to some very real issues with our Gs, even with the 701C engines.

Point well taken. I'll take my foot out of my mouth on that one. However, I do have experience talking with the Army Medevac guys around Rucker and at home, whom I highly respect for both their courage and expertise. When not scratching tooth-and-nail to defend their mission, they will say some of the same things. Even a newly minted UPT pilot can learn a lot from good conversations with both Pavehawk and Blackhawk guys. Sarcasm aside, I'm glad to see that more experienced guys around here can speak to the "finer nuances" that I have neither the experience or skill to pontificate about... I don't know A1C Snuffy, he sounds nice though.

Lets not get into whether or not we need to support the CSAR mission. That could be said for more than one mission that's getting tons of funding... air-to-air, nuclear, etc. CSAR is a completely different animal than MEDEVAC and, despite what the DoD says, requires very dedicated and specialized training for many different types of professionals from Pilots to PJs, maintainers to rescue coordinators and more. Real CSAR is not as easy as a pickup game of basketball that can be thrown together as a patchwork of whoever is available (Desert-One). Air Force CSAR exists so that the men and women who put bombs on target (and unarmed Dustoff guys) can do their job knowing that there are trained professionals out there prepared to go the distance to bring them home if they get shot down. It seems that the American military has been repeating many mistakes from our history, and scrapping dedicated CSAR would be just another one of those mistakes. Just because the AF currently uses the Pave to save lives is other arenas does not mean that they don't train to a higher standard to prepare for the worst-case; a deep in denied territory, marginal weather rescue in 0 illum. Not two weeks ago, I saw an Al-Jazeera video on the news. An Afghani insurgent was taping a Blackhawk in OGE hover, presumably during a MEDEVAC mission, so as to say, "Look! I could shoot him down right now!" I don't know about you, but if I was in that bird, my only protection being that bright red cross on the door, I would want to know somebody has the skills to come get my a$$ out of the mountains before the insurgents find me and cut my head off. $.02

A couple off the top of my head, some exclusive to the rotary-wing world. "Rotorhead" - Helo Pilot FE - Flight Engineer PJ - Pararescueman ETL - Effective Translational Lift LTE - Loss of Tailrotor Effectiveness EP - Emergency Procedure "Auto" - Autorotation GK - General Knowledge Fun fun! I'll have to think of a few more.

SUPT-H Class 09-07: Pretty sweet drop tonight. :) HH-60 - Moody HH-60 - Davis-Monthan (Me!) HH-60 - Nellis HH-60 - Lakenheath UH-1N - Andrews UH-1N - F.E. Warren UH-1N - Malmstrom UH-1N - Yokota WooHoo!

I can't speak to the "relationship" between 23rd FTS staff and the Rucker staff because, well... I'm still just a student. I can speak to life as a student here, on Rucker, among the Army. It's pretty much the same as my (only) AD experience at Vance. You mind your own business and do your thing. Occasionally you run into some guys who want to know what it's like to be in the Air Force. We fly in and amongst the Fort Rucker training areas so we're bouncing into and out-of all the same Remote Training areas that they are. Every now and again there's a time when we're in the cockpit cussing the Army's way of doing things, but I guarantee they're doing the same about the Air Force's. Fort Rucker is very officer heavy (and very very Warrant heavy) just like a UPT base. The only real enlisted presence is at the WOC school and (I think) they have some basic training here. However, overall, the people here are just as warm and welcoming as people at your local AFB. Hope that somewhat answers your question.

Some USAFA cadets are authorized a lighter blue beret. As of Spring 2007, during the school year seniors wear the beret in BDUs with the Prop & Wings insignia on the flash. During the summer, those cadets designated as "cadet cadre" for programs like Basic Cadet Training or Recognition wear the same blue beret but with their cadet rank insignia on the flash. Not sure if the beret policy has changed since then, haven't been back. I won't comment on whether it's or not, but that's the way it is. It's definitely not meant to de-value the wear of an "earned" beret like CCT or PJs have. Regardless, unless you were an AF cadet, AOC or instructor please keep editorial comments to yourself about what they do there. It's no better or worse than what you did, but it's certainly not yours to criticize.

Traded in my '04 Mazda RX-8 for an '08 Honda Ridgeline. I highly recommend the Ridgeline for anybody who wants to haul people and their sh!t at the same time. Wifey drives an '07 Mazdaspeed3. I drive it when I want to satisfy my need for speed.

Congrats to SUPT-H class 09-06! It's gettin' hot down here in the dirty south! Here's what they got. HH-60G - 41RQS, Moody AFB, GA HH-60G - 66RQS, Nellis AFB, NV HH-60G - 33RQS, Kadena AB, Japan HH-60G - 210RQS, Kulis ANGB, AK (I think... for the guard guy) UH-1N - 1HS, Andrews AFB, MD UH-1N - 37HF, F.E. Warren AFB, WY UH-1N - 54HF, Minot AFB, ND *Shack* on the DayTac checkride for 09-07, now it's on to nights, woohoo!

2 on this one. What happens when you've got a senior guy who everybody looks to for guidance on how to get the mission done? Lets even say that he has no commitment to the AF but still wants to serve anyway. Now we have to make him choose between using his vast experience to continue serving our country or going through with an extremely painful and expensive (I've heard $1000 per square inch) procedure. All so he can occasionally show off his chest hair in short sleeve blues. F'ing ridiculous!