May - The North Star Monthly

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10 MAY 2010 THE NORTH STAR MONTHLY >> Page 1 Afghanistan is one of the most diverse, eclectic, beautiful, and challenging places on Earth. In one valley, a visitor will find himself standing in a parched desert. Just a short climb over a ridge and a lush forest fills the floor of its neighbor. The Kunar River valley itself is reminiscent of a prehistoric time, with its grand opaque blue river, steep rocky slopes, and pockets of dense vegetation scattered from place to place. Overlooking all of this magnificence is the mighty Kond Ghar, a mountain that reaches 14,265 feet into the sky, dominating the view in the Northern Nangarhar and Western Kunar provinces. Jalalabad itself possesses a charm that is all its own. Khalid Hosseini, the author of the book The Kite Runner, said it best when he called Jalalabad the “tourism capitol” of Afghanistan. Despite 30 years of nearly constant conflict and warfare, this city has maintained a unique level of dignity. At night, the city glows with bright lights of all types and colors resembling a modest American city in every way. By day a viewer will witness a true mélange of modern eastern and western designs via ornate decorations of public buildings, numerous shops and bakeries, and even a Victorian-themed dwelling or two. However, not to underestimate the truly eclectic Afghan style, less than a quarter-mile from Jalalabad’s periphery donkey carts clog the highways and farmers still thresh their fields by hand. The city’s inhabitants share this diverse blend of myriad cultures as well. Touches of Arab, Mediterranean, European, Slavic, Mongol, and Hindu traits abound here making the local Afghans appear nearly as diverse as the people one might find in Boston or New York City. In the remote and volatile Korengal Valley for example, the dominating trait is dark red hair among the majority of the locals who are so isolated that they speak a language distinctly different from every other tribe around them. As a result, Jalalabad’s residents rarely ever “meet a stranger.” They are an incredibly warm people and, upon meeting one, he will try to establish a connection to you. It is not atypical to make a planned fiveminute stop at a shop and leave Upon arrival in Afghanistan, the first words spoken to me by my Task Force Commander were “Welcome to Afghanistan, this is not Iraq.” an hour later with no purchases but knowledge of the shopkeeper’s life, his friends’ exploits, and an invitation to come back anytime. Upon arrival in Afghanistan, the first words spoken to me by my Task Force Commander were “Welcome to Afghanistan, this is not Iraq.” At first, I was slightly insulted at such an obvious comment. However, I soon learned that this statement had much deeper meaning than originally presented. Although I served in Iraq wearing the American flag on my right shoulder and U.S. Army on the left side of my chest, that is about where the similarities ended between the two wars. Operations, living conditions, security, and the environment were completely new and different to me. Saying that my team and I had a lot to learn was an understatement. Unlike the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan is a truly international mission that seeks to empower the people. Here, we work for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and literally live and work alongside the Afghans. When we first got off the plane in Bagram, we all had the same view of the Afghans that we did of the Iraqis- a friendly/neutral relationship tainted with slight suspicion. Here though, just about all of us have made at least one local friend or acquaintance. My introduction to the population and the overall climate came not long after we assumed mission in Jalalabad. I landed my helicopter at a remote base one day and was immediately greeted by an Afghan Army commander who, in broken English, told me that he thought that it was amazing that we were willing to help take care of his troops. While I had no ready reply to the commander, this was my first brush with the kind of people that inhabit this country. Six months later, I am still beyond impressed with the general warmth, gratitude, and intellect of the Afghans. While the political-military climate is much different than my last combat tour, fortunately for us the MEDEVAC mission is relatively difficult to change. We don’t have nearly the volume of missions that we did in Iraq. However, the variety and complexity is definitely much greater. At any given time, my crews could launch on anything from a typical base-to-base patient pickup, a hoist rescue, a landing on only a single-wheel, a critical-care patient transfer between hospitals, or even a dust landing similar to missions in Iraq. As a result, we have all learned much and grown as aviators significantly. The life of a MEDEVAC crewmember is not always the most thrilling. The best phrase I was ever told was that MEDE- VAC is “hours of incessant boredom broken apart by minutes of sheer terror.” Fortunately, the Pirates are a lively group and we’ve developed numerous distractions to help pass the time. At any given point, you’ll find Josh playing drums in our band room, Mike and Tyler on the flight line playing “Corn hole” (aka sand bag toss but more organized), Carlos racing his RC car, and several of the other guys playing either poker or spades on the top of the storage containers nearly every night. Meanwhile others are busy taking online college classes or working on the aircraft, or the most dreaded thing of all to an Do you have insulated glass windows that are more than 15 YEARS OLD? You don’t have to go through the expense of replacing your entire window. Mayo’s Glass Service, Inc. can replace just the insulated glass units with new high performance units. This upgrade may DOUBLE the thermal performance of your window and yet cost HALF of what a new window unit would! Come in or call us today and see how we can save you money, increase your comfort and add value to your home! 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aviator — paperwork. “MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC. 1st Up report to the CP!” comes blaring over our radios. It’s 2:30 p.m. and everybody has just finished lunch, gym time, game play, or a combination thereof. The pilot and medic grab their rifles and sprint for the aircraft for start up. The pilot-incommand and medic rush to the operations center to receive the mission. An American patrol was ambushed in the volatile Korengal Valley and a soldier was shot in the chest. He is severely wounded and needs intensive care immediately. But due to the terrain, the patrol is pinned down. A MEDEVAC mission is born. “Tower, this is DUSTOFF 16, urgent MEDEVAC, ready for takeoff.” Moments later, the helicopter leaps into the sky, and is now pushing speeds in excess of 180 miles per hour. Not far behind, an Apache attack weapons team or “AWT” chases the MEDEVAC aircraft like the guardian it is. They fly north into the Kunar Valley and the surrounding mountains, weaving through them all in order to minimize time getting to the Landing Zone or “LZ.” As the aircraft travels farther into the Hindu Kush, the terrain becomes steeper, higher, and more intimidating. Finally the crew breaks out of the mountains and into the Korengal — a pine tree laden valley with steep escarpments and tiny villages scattered throughout. At first glance, a traveler would never realize that this is one of the most dangerous places in the world for outsiders. Less than a minute after entering the valley, the crew prepares for an immediate hoist extraction. “Bulldog 6, this is DUSTOFF 16. We are 1 minute inbound,” the pilot transmits over the radio. A mile away red smoke appears halfway up a steep ridge. The Apaches pass the MEDE- VAC helicopter and swarm above the LZ looking for enemy fighters. As the crew approaches, they see a small grouping of soldiers on a ledge in the middle of tall pine trees with a near vertical slope on all sides. No way to land the aircraft here. The crew readies for the hoist. As the pilots stop the aircraft 100 feet overhead, the crew chief opens the cabin door, secures the flight medic to the hoist and booms him out of the aircraft. With careful and precise language, he guides the pilots over the spot he needs to drop the medic into and quickly lowers him down. In about a minute the medic is on the ground and secured by the soldiers. The medic touches down on the ground and finds a young sergeant with a gunshot wound to the chest. He has a weak pulse and collapsed lung, but he’s alive. He quickly checks over the wounds one more time, prepares the patient for the hoist in a SKED extraction device (a type of litter for hoisting people who cannot support their own weight). All while this is happening, hidden enemy shooters fire sporadically at the LZ (landing zone). Overhead, the MEDEVAC helo orbits awaiting the call from the medic. “DUSTOFF 16, medic and patient ready for hoist.” The aircraft quickly returns to the LZ and the crew chief skillfully threads the hoist cable between the trees to the medic on the ground. The medic hooks the SKED to the hoist and guides the patient through 30-foot trees using a small rope for stability. Moments later the patient is aboard the aircraft and the medic rides up shortly thereafter. Back aboard the aircraft, the medic reassesses the patient only to find he is worsening. “LET’S BOOGIE!!!” The medic yells over the intercom. This is in no way an official term but it gets the message to the pilots to fly as fast as possible. With half their fuel spent, the aircraft is lighter and the pilots accelerate to nearly 200 mph as they fly the helicopter back through the passes to Jalalabad. En route, the medic works incessantly, with the help of the crew chief, to stabilize the patient. He is responding favorably to their care, but it is too soon to tell if he will survive. Just 11 minutes later, the aircraft touches down next to an awaiting ambulance on the flight line. The medic jumps out and motions for several volunteers to come over and help move the patient. The patient is safely offloaded and taken to the hospital where a surgical team will continue to work on him until he is stable. One more mission complete with a successful ending despite overwhelming odds. As the crew parks the aircraft and shuts down, they turn to see their sister crew sprinting to their own aircraft. An Afghan child fell into a cooking fire in the village of Naray and suffered 3rd degree burns on half her body. It’s just another day in the life of a DUSTOFF Team in Afghanistan. We Will Take Your Wounded… Because We Can This article is written with the most sincere thanks and appreciation to the wonderful people, family, and friends in the Northeast Kingdom. We, the “Pirates” of Forward Support MEDEVAC Team 1, would like to thank you for all of your support during this deployment. Our team is by all means a family, and your generosity has made us feel like a part of an even larger community. DUSTOFF!!! The Creamery Restaurant Dinner Tues.-Sat. 5:00-closing Pub Opens at 3:00 (802) 684-3616 Closed Sundays & Mondays Pub & Dinner Menu Available at 3 p.m. May 28th - 31st Simon the Tanner will be hosting our 1st Annual Memorial Day Tent Sale on the green in Island Pond ALL VENDORS WELCOME at this open town event. Call us for more details. Check Out Our SUPER SUNDAY SALES EVERY SUNDAY 10% OFF STOREWIDE simonthetanner.com Your Family Outfitters 2 Main Street • Island Pond, VT • 802.723.4452 Mon.-Wed. 9-5 • Thurs 9-8 • Fri 9-3 • Sat CLOSED • Sun 10-5
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May - The North Star Monthly

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