brock

The hospitals are staffed with US and NATO military docs. Some active some reserve. The relationship will very from FOB to FOB. If the hospital is located on the same FOB and close to the unit, the relationship is usually pretty strong. The Army medevac at Bagram is located within a sand wedge of the hospital so our medics had a great relationship with the Docs and nurses. When Pedro would come into our ramp , they'd drop off the patient and usually be back out to the aircraft within ten minutes. Then they repo to the other side of the airfield.

I read that Pedro had closed the doors in the location they filmed. That leaves only two locations. I know one is Pedro only( no Dustoff). I think you have to insert the drama with the general public. Having flown over 250 mission in the east, I can only think of about 10 that were seat cushions sucking worthy. Not sure what type of ICS the G model has, but in the our HH-60 we have private so you can't hear what the guys in the back are doing. When things were really going south our guys would just tell we need to get home fast.

My data might be dated, but in 09 our guard unit owned RC South and East for a better part of the year. Then 82nd CAB came in and took over the south. I was in the East at Bagram. Had three pedro units rotate through while we were there. I can say that our ratio of missions to Pedro exceeded 8 or 9 to one. WX, low illum and Hot LZ's were not a determing factor for us. things with the active Army are probably a little different. The altittudes flown by us is based off of threat. Not how cool it looks.

This is what I ment about marketing themselves. Pedro has a very small footprint in OEF. Current Army medevac assets exceed Pedro around eight or nine to one. I'm sure there aren't to many Army PAO types out there who are courting Nat/Geo or any other media. I'm sure the Air Force had a hand in getting this the show off the ground. I'm sure they had very little say in Powers Booth being a fighter pilot in "Red Dawn".

Ok, better than the Army.

Simply put, the Air Force does a great job of marketing itself. I'm sure NAT/GEO has a pretty good editing team as well. Having flown dustoff in both big RC's our pedro counterparts flew a pretty small portion of the missions. Not sure if that has changed. Pedro's participation in the mission has put some pressure on the Army to possibly change the way we do things in medevac. And I'm talking more than removing red crosses and making all 68W( flight medics) EMT-P, which is already happening. Regardless of who's flying the mission, these guys are doing some pretty amazing stuff. I made it a point to never look back. A little Vicks under the nose does wonders as well. Unfortunately the guys in the back, be it medic, PJ, gunner, Crew Cheif or Flight Engineer don't have that choice. And I know that what they see weighs heavy on all of them. I'm happy to see someone from the community getting their well desrved props.

The MH-60M doesn't have the 701D engines. It uses the YT706 which produces a lot more shaft horse power. I haven't seen a problem with the 701D either but they just aren't strong enough for the operating weight of a MH/HH model. When I say HH I mean the AF SAR version. The Army HH guys would probably prefer something with a a little more power.

What is the general feeling in the community? It seems like the 101 or 92 would be a good fit. Of course that is in a perfect world. If the Air Force goes all in with some version of the Mike model they need to look at what the 160th is using for a piower plant. The HH-60M's the regualr Army has are starting to see some power issues.

Well this has turned into a big thread jack. All I'm saying is if it doesn't concern you _____ ( fill in the blank), then stay in your lane. Read the shoe clerk thread on this sight. Better yet, read Quad A from a few months ago. In the NCO section there is a rant on how my ( aviators) standards in the aircraft will somehow suffer if my uniform isn't worn to standard. I guess at over 5000 hours TT and 1000 plus combat time I've just gotten real lucky. Certain communities in the Army don't participate on the " rat turd pole vaulting team", they have bigger fish to fry. The rest of the army, Aviation in particualr could learn a few things from them. I toed the party line during my 15 years on active duty. I got out two days before I was to pin on W-4. I figured I'd rather buy time back and work for the federal government and not have to deal with that crap fulltime. Rant/thread jack complete. Good on the Air Force bubbas for getting something they asked for in certain communities.

TQ, Not to get into a pissing contest but my point is this: the Air Force has it's own TFDU. They should then have guidlines to how it is worn. As an Army aviator you should be well aware of some SGM, usually of the aviation variety getting into your s%#t about how you wear your A2CU. As you now there was no real quidlines for it until ALARACT 177/2010 came out. About 4 years after the fact. My point being some SGM or anyone with a few days in the Army should be able to tell the difference between and Air Force and Army bubba, be it the leather name tag on the uniform, the flag on the left side or if that isn't enough the US Air Force over the left pocket.

Uhhello, Pretty typical of an army Segeant Major. That is their lot in life. Are you guys wearing our version or the Drifire version with leather name tags?

I'm curious as to what Army guys give two shizats about this? Is it fellow aviators or some ground guys? In the Army the aviators worst enemy is the Sargent Major. They want our A2CU to look as much like the ground uniform as possible. So morale patches and other such acutraments are frowned apon. The active duty unit my guard medevac was attached to hated how we wore our uniforms. My advice to you guys is put as much stuff on the Multi Cam flight suit as possible and tell the big Sarge to beat feet when he gets into your kitchen. By the way, are you guys wearing the Drifire version? Seems like a superior product to the Army A2CU.

Some time around May 2nd maybe?

The bottom line with both of these communities is that they will do whatever it takes to get you. Their respective services should do the same for them. I'd like to see the Army empower the flight crews a little more and get rid of the cross. Better training is on the way but that has been an uphill battle. Although I'm not that familar with RQS community, I do know they recieve some pretty top notch training. I fly with a few former PJ's and I know their pipline is no joke. What the Air Force needs to do next is get them some new aircraft. Just becuase they aren't going cross FLOT to get a downed aircrew doesn't mean it won't happen.

I know seems like a stretch, but why not just give the program back to the Army. I know that Congress had mentioned that the MC-12 go to the Army for TF ODIN. Why not let the Air Force keep that mission and the airframes and give up the C-27 to The Army. Send Guard guys down to Georgia and have the Air Force train them up as IP's, FE's or Loadmasters.