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Sailors Take To The Skies To Save Lives
(October 15, 2010) | 
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Members of the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment at the Basra International Airport recover mock patients injured from a simulated improvised explosive device Sept. 29, 2010. The drill was part of a proficiency exercise for the unit, which maintains a 24-hour alert status for medical evacuation at the U.S. Army base in Basra. |
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BASRA, Iraq (Oct. 17, 2010) – The mid-afternoon
desert heat pierced the body armor of a downed
soldier in the middle of nowhere, injured from
an improvised explosive device attack when the
chopping blades of a helicopter close in,
providing a sense of hope.
“This is a drill,” the tactical operations
officer on battle watch duty repeated over
loudspeakers announcing a simulated nine-line
medical evacuation request.
Sailors deployed from Guam and Fallon, Nev.,
assigned to the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance
Detachment-North in southern Iraq provide
around-the-clock medical evacuation coverage in
southern Iraq and parts of Kuwait.
“As long as we maintain an alert status, it
allows for other units to go out,” said Lt.
Chris Robinson, a native of Denver serving as
the operations officer for 2515th NAAD-North.
“If any sort of casualty happens, we're going to
be there to take them to safety.”
“Our primary mission is to save lives,” said
Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Kelly, a native
of Salcha, Alaska, serving as a hospital
corpsman with the 2515th NAAD-North. “It could
be the matter between life or death.”
“If somebody gets an injury here that can't be
treated locally,” Kelly said. “We have to get
them where they need to go and the best route of
doing that is through MEDEVAC. That would be the
fastest and the most efficient way.” |
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These sailors appear almost modest to their heroic operations and attribute
their confidence to the training and ground support they receive.
“If we have to go into a hot landing zone, we'll do our best to have ground
forces suppress any enemies in the area,” Robinson said. “We do our best to make
it a clandestine maneuver into a hot LZ and get out quickly. We feel safe
because of our training and the intelligence we receive when we go out.”
“The patient is really the only thing that matters,” Kelly said, “so getting to
our patients as fast as we can, getting them off the ground, and to where they
need to go is our only concern.”
Kelly said he could not remember ever losing a patient while assigned to the
2515-th NAAD-North, but every patient remains in his thoughts.
“I can't tell you of any time the 2515th has lost a patient,” Kelly said, “but
you never forget any of the patients. Any time you get a call, you are always
pumped and you are always heading out the door. Every last one of them sticks
with you.”
Although MEDEVAC coverage is their primary mission, the training and experience
of these Sailors extend farther and include joint function missions.
“We're all trained in search and rescue,” Robinson said. “Our sister squadron
2515th NAAD-South in Kuwait does most of the off-shore rescues and MEDEVACs from
different ship platforms.”
“Out of the 15,000 corpsmen in the Navy, there are less than a hundred who do
this job, flying MEDEVACs and search and rescue,” Kelly said. “We're augmented
by the U.S. Air Force. We integrate very well with their pararescuemen, who are
very knowledgeable and have definitely been helpful to the mission.”
“Everyone here is a hero,” Robinson said. “From even the most junior enlisted to
our officer in charge, everybody is extremely professional and takes their job
very seriously. It's a very rewarding job being able to pick up someone that has
been injured, come back home, get them back on the battlefield, back to work.”
“Most importantly get those folks back to their family.” | |
Article and photo by Army Spc. Raymond Quintanilla
305th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Copyright 2010
Provided
through DVIDS
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