Photo By Master Sgt. Brian Davidson | Lt. Col. (Dr.) Tim Cathey was a passenger aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, like...... read more read more
By Master Sgt. Brian Davidson
447th Air Expeditionary Group
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- "There I was," begins Doctor Cathey when he tells the story of how he unexpectedly ended up taking care of an injured Iraqi soldier while flying through Baghdad in the back of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. "It's always a good way to start a story," he said. "Especially when it's true."
Lt. Col. (Dr.) Tim Cathey is an aerospace medicine specialist, more commonly called a Flight Doc, assigned to the 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron at Sather Air Base on the west side of Baghdad International Airport.
As part of the air crew, Air Force Flight Doctors regularly participate in flying missions to observe and work as a member of the aircrew and offer advice on aeromedical issues. While deployed, they are required to fly several hours each month in order to maintain their qualifications.
It was that requirement to log flight time that led Doctor Cathey to a mission where his skills were needed far from even the most forward deployed combat medical facility.
When deployed, Doctor Cathey typically logs his flight time aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, and that was his plan for logging his August hours; but first, he had to meet-up with a C-130 crew at their home base about 50 miles north of Baghdad.
The trip from Sather AB to his rendezvous point at Balad Air Base was courtesy of Catfish Air, an Army helicopter service that shuttles Soldiers between operating bases in central and northern Iraq.
Catfish Air earned its colorful name from the Army's 185th Aviation Brigade, that deployed from Mississippi and began the air service in Baghdad. Their name came from the fact that catfish is one of Mississippi's leading exports. The Catfish Air mission has changed hands between aviation units through the years, but the name has stuck.
So Doctor Cathey "flew Catfish" to Balad, where he met-up with his C-130 crew. His C-130 flight was an adventure in itself because the air crew was performing special operations missions. "It was all secret squirrel stuff with tactical landings and take offs, under conditions and circumstances that really stress the human body," he said. "It gives us a chance to observe, and experience the physiological and psychological stresses these kinds of operations cause within a combat environment."
Three days into his trip, and after his flight hours were logged, all Doctor Cathey had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride back to Sather, again via Catfish Air. Little did he know that this was where the real adventure would begin.
"I was glad I could get an early morning Catfish to avoid the heat of the day," he said. "We took off about 8 a.m., just as the last of the cool morning air gave way to the rising heat." As Doctor Cathey pulled himself aboard the aircraft, he noticed in large letters painted above the door was the name "Archangel;" a moniker that would prove to be appropriate.
The Black Hawk helicopter can carry up to 16 people, including a pilot, copilot and two door gunners. It has three rows of seats for passengers, and to get the best view Doctor Cathey chose to sit in the back row facing forward, right next to the open door. It only took a minute for him to realize that his choice was a big mistake.
"In spite of being weighted down with a helmet and body armor, the hot air from the rotors blasted against me and nearly knocked my heavy helmet off, and I had to sit with one hand holding it on and the other grasping my bag to keep it from soaring out the door," he said.
About half way through the flight, the passengers were startled when the door gunners let loose with a burst of machine gun fire and the Catfish Archangel banked and accelerated away from whatever threat was on the ground.
At the first stop, all of the other passengers got off the aircraft, leaving him alone in the back of the Catfish.
Doctor Cathey knew that his was the third stop along the route, only a two-minute flight from the second landing zone.
At the second stop, he noticed that none of the waiting passengers were being escorted out to the aircraft. Then without warning, the Catfish shot straight up into the air, banked hard left and shot across the desert landscape. The wind pushed against him harder than before, knocking his sunglasses askew and blowing his earplugs out.
"I had always wanted to see Baghdad from a helicopter" he said. "But at the speed we were traveling and with the wind shear and banking maneuvers, most things became just a blur."
After several minutes the Catfish left the urban sprawl behind, and sped out into open country. By then the Doctor was wondering if the crew had forgotten about him and he was headed someplace he wasn't supposed to be. One thing was for certain though; he had never been anywhere close to where he was at that moment.
"After flying several more minutes over flat, rural countryside, the helicopter began to slow down as if looking for something. Then I saw someone on the ground pop smoke," Doctor Cathey explained. "We touched down where the yellow smoke marked our improvised landing zone, and a group of Soldiers quickly brought an injured man who was strapped to a backboard to the aircraft."
The patient was quickly loaded into the helicopter where Doctor Cathy was left as the sole attendant. Any verbal information about the patient from the Soldiers was drowned out by the sound of the roaring Catfish engines.
As quickly as it arrived, the aircraft took off and headed in a new direction as Doctor Cathey tried to reach for the patient. As he struggled, he realized the four-point harness that kept him form being flung out of the aircraft was also holding him back from the injured man. He unfastened his safety belts and pulled himself close his patient.
"I didn't have any medical supplies other than the basic combat first aid kit that all American service members in Iraq carry. The first thing I did was assess my patient. I started with ensuring his airway was open and that he could breathe and I looked for any bleeding. I realized it was a young Iraqi soldier, and the medics had already cut away most his uniform. I lifted the blanket covering him and found a white piece of tape with a few words scribbled on it stuck to his left side. It read 'BLAST,' which probably meant he had been injured by some sort of improvised explosive device. It also read 'RR32,' which meant his respirations were 32 times a minute--a sign of possible lung damage or even collapse."
The Catfish Archangel turned and banked as it screamed towards Camp Warhorse where an ambulance would take the injured soldier to critically needed, more extensive, medical care. Meanwhile, Doctor Cathey found that someone had tried "needling the left chest" in an attempt to re-inflate the lung.
"At first he was unconscious and difficult to arouse. Among other things during the flight I was able to keep his airway open and wake him so that by the time we landed he was opening his eyes, moving his arms and trying to talk. Several minutes later, we arrived at the Army camp and an ambulance soon came to rush the soldier away," he said.
With the injured soldier in good hands, Doctor Cathey let out a deep breath, sat back in his seat, fastened his harness, and the Catfish headed on its way. The crew made a brief stop at a primitive Iraqi base, and then a stop for fuel, where Doctor Cathey and the crew finally met and had a chance to talk. The pilot explained that they knew they had a doctor on board when the call went out for medical assistance, and thanked him for helping them rescue the soldier. The Catfish crew then "graciously flew me back across Baghdad and dropped me off right next to the small Sather AB hospital where I work," he said.
He never did learn who the soldier was, what really caused the injuries or even what happened to him, but Doctor Cathey does know that the best stories usually begin with "there I was."
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2008 03:00 |
| Story ID: | 22911 |
| Location: | SATHER AIR BASE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 235 |
| Downloads: | 188 |
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