Iraq roadside rescue
I hope this isn't too boring...I just thought I'd share one of my Iraq experiences.
August 16th 2003 and it was a pretty nice day, all things considering…being it was almost right at noon, it was pretty hot but the wind was down so at least the dust wasn’t blowing. I had been in northwestern Iraq for about 6 months so I was half way through my tour as the NCOIC of an Army Reserve Fire Fighting detachment. My troops were a good bunch, close knit and fun loving but serious about the job we were deployed to do. The crash rescue business had been a little slow lately…good for the pilots, but rather boring for us.
Most days about this time I would have been out on a security mission in the local area but this day there were no missions going out so I had decided to walk over to our TOC, about a kilometer away from out station on the airfield. Usually I would drive a HMMWV over to the TOC to check the daily intel and see what was the latest poop about the local area but for some reason I was feeling froggy and decided to walk over instead. All went well at the TOC and after a few minutes there I started to head back. As I got close to the old Iraqi crash station we called home I could see several of my troops out back as if looking for someone. Come to find out they were waiting for me to get back.
Once in the station my commander gave me the run down. An LMTV (tactical cargo truck) had been hit by an IED on the road between Ar Ramadi and Hit. A soldier was trapped inside the torn up wreckage and the medevac crew could not get him out. Time was running out as the area was getting hostile and the Soldier was bleeding out and they were doing all they could to get fluids in him. The medevac helicopter was inbound to our station, about 5 minutes out. They wanted our extrication equipment (Jaws of Life) and two troops to operate them. The ball was in my court now as this was familiar territory.
I had flown air rescue for almost three years while stationed as Fort Rucker, Alabama assigned to FlatIron Air Ambulance Detachment. FlatIron has the dual mission of flying both medevac and crash rescue missions to support the Army flight school. I had flown to 14 fatality crashes, many other aircraft “incidents”, and numerous car accidents so I had a little experience dealing with the mess often associated with this kind of incident.
I told the commander I was taking the mission as I was familiar with this kind of situation. My number two would be SSG “Jay” ****. Not only was Jay one of my best friends and an experienced fire fighter but he was also a Ranger qualified former 2nd Ranger Bn. Sniper team leader. We had a kind of unique bond, a bond where few words are exchanged while on a mission but you know what the other is thinking and where a glance and nod communicates volumes. I gave direction to my other troops to move the Jaws to the flight line while Jay and I got geared up.
We got to the flight line as the aircraft was landing and loaded up our rescue equipment amidst a swirling of dust. We strapped in and the aircraft launched back into the sky. I put on a headset and got a good run down on what to expect. The Soldier was badly injured, both legs broken and pinned under the crushed front interior of the LMTV. Apparently after the IED had detonated the vehicle had continued on out of control and rear ended a PLS truck thus causing most of the damage. The medics were keeping him stabilized and the area was currently secure but was receiving sporadic small arms fire and a large crowd of not so happy Iraqi’s was starting to gather. The medic implied that we needed to work fast once we got on the ground. I relayed this info to Jay as the aircraft flew nap of earth.
The ride was only about 20 minutes and as the aircraft made a circle above the site I could see several hundred Iraqi’s moving about within several hundred meters of the injured Soldier’s wrecked vehicle. As I moved to remove my headset I recall hearing the pilot tell me “God speed…keep your head down”. We landed about 200 feet away from where we need to move our equipment too…go figure I thought, our equipment wasn’t very light. The crew chief and medic both helped Jay and I carry our equipment towards to the trapped Soldier and I honestly can not ever recall that equipment ever feeling as heavy as it did. By the time we had completed our short run my legs felt like rubber and my mouth as if it were full of cotton. I was nervous….really, really nervous, my hands were shaking, I couldn’t swallow, I had never felt like this before even though I had done similar mission like this dozens of times before…the difference being there were no bad guys surrounding us before. I took a slug of water and took a second to look at the situation…gathering my thoughts and focusing on what needed to be done. Amidst the background noise I can remember hearing the helicopter take off and the sound being replace by the sound of close in shooting and I thought to myself, “yep…we better hurry”.
The rescue itself went pretty well. First thing we did was cut the roof off of the truck making access easier for the medics. We then we’re able to get a good look at what a precarious position the Soldier was in. He was alert but in considerable pain. Both legs were broken at the femur and the left had a compound fracture of the tib/fib…we could only guess as to lower injuries of the right leg. The Soldier had numerous open wounds about his body both from shrapnel and from the post IED crash. The medics went to work treating the newly exposed injuries and Jay and I went to work getting this troop freed.
Using a hydraulic ram we were able to force the forward part of the truck off of the Soldiers legs. We also used some tow chains and a 5 ton truck to pull and hold the dash away from the Soldier. Once freed, we were able to get the Soldier to the ground and the medic took over treating him. Having freed the Soldier, Jay and I could slow down a little. We had been at the scene for maybe 30 minutes but it felt like hours had passed. We were both soaked in sweat and smeared in blood.
The rescue being done we still had to get back to base. The medevac crew offered to come back and pick us up but I refused, the way I looked at it was that they had better things to do rather than concern themselves with our welfare. Jay and I picked up our equipment, loaded it all in the back of a 5 ton truck…that fortunately for us had two full ice chests of ice cold water. The enemy fire had still not slacked off but it hadn’t gotten any worse either. We finally had some Apache’s flying cover for us and that seemed to boost everyone’s spirits that was still on the ground. The order was given to mount up so we hopped up in the covered bed of that five ton…looking forward to the drive that would take three hours to go the same distance that we flew in 20 minutes.
Our drive wasn’t uneventful and it didn’t go fast, twice we stopped for possible IED’s and both times the convoy would get fired upon but fortunately no one got hurt. Back at base we decompressed and wound down…I slept great that night, being so tired didn’t hurt. The next day we found out that the Soldier we rescued had been evacuated to Germany but would survive. We got a few pat on the backs and a few “good jobs’ but nothing compared to being thanked by that Soldiers father. See…that Soldier was in the National Guard, his father was in the same unit. The whole time everyone involved was working to get that troop out his father stood to the side, letting us work, not saying a word to stress us even more. I can’t imagine what could have been going through his mind seeing his own child in such pain. Anyhow, the father, a SFC made a point of stopping by and saying thank you too us….his words…”If you wouldn’t have flown out I don’t think my son would be alive today”.
Today as I look back on those events they almost seem surreal. Many times I have been asked what it was I did in Iraq and I say I was a fire fighter, I helped to save lives. Honestly there have been those that snickered when I told them that, and that’s fine, I know it ain’t Special Forces or none of that other high speed sounding stuff but I know, and I can take to my grave the fact that we made a difference…Soldiers are alive today because we stepped forward.
*Edited by CAL for PERSEC*
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