Inside Combat Rescue

[C-21.Pilot]

here is something I found "interesting"....

NatGeo is making a *valid* point not to highlight last names. However, just finished all 4 episodes on OnDemand and in each episode, I was able to get the full names. Name patches, incoming mail, etc....

Other question -- the bald Medical Technician -- what is his role in the TOC?

All in all, much respect to those who fight that fight so that other may live. I think it's very well put together and I love the helmet mounted cam's with very little editing of scenes.

[uhhello]

here is something I found "interesting"....

NatGeo is making a *valid* point not to highlight last names. However, just finished all 4 episodes on OnDemand and in each episode, I was able to get the full names. Name patches, incoming mail, etc....

Other question -- the bald Medical Technician -- what is his role in the TOC?

All in all, much respect to those who fight that fight so that other may live. I think it's very well put together and I love the helmet mounted cam's with very little editing of scenes.

Have not seen the IDMT in the TOC more than a couple of times over a 4 month deployment. Me thinks the cameras had a big influence in his appearances.

[C-21.Pilot]

Copy - if I may ask, what is his IDMT role in the entire rescue scenario? Is he a SME able to answer pertinent questions possibly outside the scope of the PJ's expertise? Or, is he more of a flight surgeon/nurse type for the rescue folks themselves?

[Champ Kind]

Not a rescue guy, but in my experience, IDMT in deployed flying sqdrn=dispenser of ambien.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Champ Kind

[slackline]

Have not seen the IDMT in the TOC more than a couple of times over a 4 month deployment. Me thinks the cameras had a big influence in his appearances.

Big fat "2" on that one!

ETA that IDMT's are for deployed members, not "advice" for the J's. there's a sizable difference in training that leaves the IDMT's behind a bit.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Edited March 17, 2013 by slackline

[Azimuth]

Not a rescue guy, but in my experience, IDMT in deployed flying sqdrn=dispenser of ambien.

Or the one that types up 1042's.

[C-21.Pilot]

Copy - from the episodes, he talks like he is much more in the fight than he actually is.

Kinda like a FSS troop I guess....

[busdriver]

As I understand it there are some other aspects with regard to the narcotics that the GA squadron stocks that require medical oversight. We end up deploying with a Doc and IDMT typically but not always.

[Lockjaw]

I haven't seen or heard of any RWQ guys going through Rucker in the last 2.5 years.

Not the end of the world for those looking to to ANG/AFRC though. FW applicants definitely still have a shot of being selected on a board. Only difference is now you get sent through the "full" Rucker course and then off to 60 Qual.

[Victory103]

Good watch, but seems they are just showing that AF assets as the only show in town for the mission. I get the focus of the show, many casual watchers may not know that there are many other units in-country with the same mission. I'm sure my flight medics would love to have all the gear in the back, I would like the guns and the maxi faceshields (we are not allowed to fly doors off).

Great to see the TOC action can be chaos as it is on our end as well, inflight mission changes, way off patient reports/MIST. My ? is who is the det commander, the ERQS Co or the lead CRO?

[Torch]

or who/what is this "battle captain" they keep referring to adjacent to the Det Co?

[brock]

Good watch, but seems they are just showing that AF assets as the only show in town for the mission. I get the focus of the show, many casual watchers may not know that there are many other units in-country with the same mission. I'm sure my flight medics would love to have all the gear in the back, I would like the guns and the maxi faceshields (we are not allowed to fly doors off).

Great to see the TOC action can be chaos as it is on our end as well, inflight mission changes, way off patient reports/MIST. My ? is who is the det commander, the ERQS Co or the lead CRO?

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.

[Spoo]

Simply put, the Air Force does a great job of marketing itself.

Said you and nobody else.

[brock]

Said you and nobody else.

Ok, better than the Army.

[KState_Poke22]

Good watch, but seems they are just showing that AF assets as the only show in town for the mission. I get the focus of the show, many casual watchers may not know that there are many other units in-country with the same mission. I'm sure my flight medics would love to have all the gear in the back, I would like the guns and the maxi faceshields (we are not allowed to fly doors off).

Great to see the TOC action can be chaos as it is on our end as well, inflight mission changes, way off patient reports/MIST. My ? is who is the det commander, the ERQS Co or the lead CRO?

Well of course they just show the AF assets. They're imbedded with an AF unit and the point of the show is to chronicle what that unit of PJs went through on that deployment. It would be a different story if the show was about MEDEVAC/CASEVAC in OEF as a whole, but it's not.

[Fuzz]

Simply put, the Air Force does a great job of marketing itself.

Said you and nobody else.

[F-15E WSO]

[brock]

Well of course they just show the AF assets. They're imbedded with an AF unit and the point of the show is to chronicle what that unit of PJs went through on that deployment. It would be a different story if the show was about MEDEVAC/CASEVAC in OEF as a whole, but it's not.

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".

[busdriver]

brock, one of the PJs' Mom works at NatGeo there wasn't any courting that I'm aware.

I never look back either, I only wish there was a bit more limelight for the enlisted crew dogs and maintainers. That said, unless they get into a gun fight there probably isn't a lot of "good" footage for gunners, and late night engine changes to preserve the alert is never going to be Hollywood.

Really cool to hear the Army is making all of your flight medics EMT-P!

Victory: The PJs and the Aircrew are now in separate squadrons even deployed, so at KAF you technically have two det/cc's. That said, you'll always have rank issues when dealing with a hosting base, so the Major you saw in the series was the de-facto MFWIC.

[slackline]

Pedro has a very small footprint in OEF. Current Army medevac assets exceed Pedro around eight or nine to one.

Exactly! Maybe things have changed, but why don't you look into the amount of missions they are doing. 8 or 9 to 1, should mean that Army is doing 8 or 9 times the missions. Truth is, it's not even close to that. For a tiny footprint, they are shouldering an awfully big portion of the load. Granted it is less now with Dustoff's new birds with FLIR, etc, but crappy weather, hot LZ meant USAF got sent vs USA. This isn't to start a pissing match, they're just the facts.

Plus, flying around at no lower than 200' like the Army does just isn't as exciting.

[Day Man]

probably a stupid question: why did they take the ANA (or ANP) KIA back to base?

[Duff_Man]

We treat ANA, ANP, GIRoA, and Afghan civilians the same as Americans with respect to medevac. Every time a civilian got in a car wreck or blown up by a suicide bomber we'd bring them back to the FOB, fly in a bird from KAF, and medevac them to the first-world trauma center. If the casualty was a woman, we'd send a related male escort with them, otherwise the locals would kill her when she got back because they thought she was raped by Americans.

Also, I saw the clip where all the ANA guys tried to climb on the bird, were being thrown off, and the narrator said that this might cause green-on-blue. In all but one case, the only green on blue violence I ever heard of was because the Taliban kidnapped some ANA guy's family and told him that if he didn't kill Americans they'd execute his entire extended family. Outside of the bigger bases, the ANA actually shoulder a huge load and an even bigger share of the casualties. They always got killed being stupid though, picking up UXOs, not taking cover, rolling their Ranger pickups on highway 1, etc. We worked really closely with them, very often, and had very few negative experiences, aside from them doing dangerous, stupid shit.

[brock]

Exactly! Maybe things have changed, but why don't you look into the amount of missions they are doing. 8 or 9 to 1, should mean that Army is doing 8 or 9 times the missions. Truth is, it's not even close to that. For a tiny footprint, they are shouldering an awfully big portion of the load. Granted it is less now with Dustoff's new birds with FLIR, etc, but crappy weather, hot LZ meant USAF got sent vs USA. This isn't to start a pissing match, they're just the facts.

Plus, flying around at no lower than 200' like the Army does just isn't as exciting.

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.

[busdriver]

From what I saw in my last deployment to Afghanistan in RC east, the Army would pass things to the AF not so much based on "too risky" but rather Dustoff would require an Apache, the Pedros would go without. If Dustoff took that particular alert, they would have to tie down an Apache as well, versus a two ship of armed Pedros could sit the same alert and free up that Apache. In other words it had fuck all to do with Dustoff vs Pedro, but rather keeping Apaches employed vs sitting alert.

[Lockjaw]

Had a mish where the Army Aviation leadership thought the weather "too risky" for their guys to fly...so it got passed to us. We flew to a FOB where there were Army HH-60s sitting on the ground, loaded the pt up, and then flew to the Role 3. To be honest, the WX wasn't great...but wasn't close to "bad" either. I felt bad for the Army guys; knew I'd be PO'd if the same thing happened in reverse. Turns out, I knew a guy in that exact Army unit and the morning after, they were told that we had "stolen" the mission from them...but I guess their leadership didn't share the mIRC chat history with their guys. Totally different story that we saw firsthand in the ROC.