C Battery artillerymen receive help from the skies

Photo By Spc. Jazz Burney | Soldiers with C Battery, 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, prepare to load a fellow comrade into a UH-60L Black Hawk search and rescue helicopter during an aerial and ground medical evacuation training event at Combat Outpost Ghormach, April 18. Soldiers were trained in proper medical evacuation requests, landing zone marking procedures, loading patients aboard an aircraft, and using a Skedco brand, sled-like litter.  

COMBAT OUTPOST GHORMACH, AFGHANISTAN

04.17.2011

Story by Sgt. Jazz Burney 

170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

COMBAT OUTPOST GHORMACH, Afghanistan- Quickly sending up a Nine-Line medevac request to U.S. Army combat aviators can be the difference between saving the life of a brother-in-arms, and witnessing the death of one. This is a reality men with C Battery, 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment remember daily while patrolling the Ghormach region.

Aviators with 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division trained C Battery soldiers in proper aerial and ground medical evacuation procedures here, April 18.

Before training began, an introduction was given to “Cold Steel” soldiers aimed at reassuring the artillerymen the aviators care greatly about saving the lives of any wounded warrior.

“When a soldier on the ground is killed it has a real dramatic affect on an aviator, you need to know that,” said Col. Daniel Williams, the 4th CAB commander.

Training as soldiers fight in battle is the best way to teach vital skills that will potentially save the lives of fellow comrades, said Spc. Jeremy Albright, a San Antonio native, now a flight medic with C Company, 4th CAB.

In keeping with this philosophy, aviators landed a UH-60L Black Hawk search and rescue helicopter at the outpost and simulated combat situations soldiers could experience during a mission. Soldiers were trained in proper medical evacuation requests, landing zone marking procedures, loading patients aboard the craft, and using a spine board atop Skedco brand, sled-like litter.

A spine board ensures greater spinal stability during the extraction of a patient from a combat zone, said Albright.

“At the end the day, if you mess up the Nine-Line and are wounded yourself, as long as you can flag us down with colored smoke or push up to us on a net frequency we will come get you, that’s my promise,” said Williams.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for 4th CAB to come down here and conduct training with us despite the rough terrain and enemy activity, these skills are absolutely essential for my Solders,” said Capt. Tim McCarthy, a Detroit native, now the C Battery commander.

The aviation crews consist of pilots, flight mechanics, flight medics and Norwegian paramedics based out of Maimana, the capital of Faryab province.

Artillerymen with C Battery are no longer simply behind the weapons systems they are accustomed to, they are conducting dismounted foot patrols throughout Ghormach. The ground and aerial training will increase their professional expertise to help save lives during any given mission.

• Date Taken: 04.17.2011
• Date Posted: 04.18.2011 08:45
• Story ID: 68904
• Location: COMBAT OUTPOST GHORMACH, AF