Should Medevac Helicopters Operating In Afghanistan Be Armed?

'He'd Still Be Here': Mother's Agony As Soldier Dies After Unarmed Rescue Team Was Delayed An Hour Waiting For Cover -- Daily Mail

* Specialist Chazray Clark was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan last September
* Embedded journalist filmed the rescue with Clark heard speaking
* Helicopter was delayed waiting for armed escort
* Clark's mother says he might have been saved if the helicopter hadn't been forced to wait

An inconsolable mother has told of her heartbreak after an American soldier died before a helicopter could get him to hospital in Afghanistan.

It took a medical evacuation team 59 minutes to get U.S. Army Specialist Chazray Clark to a hospital, after receiving a call that a roadside bombing had severed three of his limbs.

The rescue helicopter was unable to swoop in for the pickup until another armed chopper arrived to provide cover.

Read more ....

Update #1: MILITARY: Soldier's death sparks debate over arming medevacs -- North County Times
Update #2: Soldier's death sparks debate over arming medevacs -- Houston Chronicle/AP

My Comment: Michael Yon has been covering this story extensively since the beginning. His blog is here. As to what is my take .... since the Taliban do not follow or respect the Geneva rules of war .... I say arm these helicopters to the teeth.

Did This U.S. Soldier Have To Die?

U.S. service members scramble for a personnel mission on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, Dec. 29, 2011. The service members are assigned to the 26th and the 46th Expeditionary Rescue squadrons. From initial notification, the units have 15 minutes to be airborne and must have a patient to Camp Bastion within an hour. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. David Carbajal

No Sex, Many Lies, One Videotape, And A Soldier's Unnecessary Death -- James Simpson, American Thinker

It is not a movie. It could be labeled a comedy, a farce, even a Greek tragedy, except that people really are dying. It is, in fact, an absolutely abhorrent, disgraceful, and unacceptable demonstration of the hidebound, self-serving attitude, omnipresent throughout the federal bureaucracy and among many in our political establishment, that my agency, my mission, my job is more important than anyone or anything else.

It is called protecting turf, and the ugly fact, as any government analyst can tell you, is that the federal government spends more time doing it than practically anything else. (And Obama wants to give our medical care over to them, no less!) It is bad enough that these petty turf battles squander agency time and resources, but when they dictate policies regulating combat operations, they can become deadly.

Read more ....

My Comment: Michael Yon's reporting of this story has been spot on. His website is here.

Army Rules On Medevac Operations Raising Questions

U.S. troops carry a wounded Afghan National Army soldier to a U.S. Army MEDEVAC helicopter in Qandahar, Afghanistan. (PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Sullivan/GETTY IMAGES)

Hurry, Wait ... And Die: Army Rules Stalling Medevacs -- Arthur Herman, New York Post

On Sept. 18, Army Spec. Chazray Clark stepped on an IED in Kandahar province, instantly losing an arm and both legs. But the 24-year-old Michigan native was still able to say, “I’m OK,” when his sergeant frantically called out his name. The patrol’s commander immediately radioed for an Army Medevac helicopter, or Dustoff. Clark’s comrade applied turniquets and carried him back to the landing zone for pickup. There they waited — and waited.

The Dustoff they needed was only two or three minutes away at a forward operating base. It couldn’t take off because, under Army rules, the rescue helicopters with their clearly marked red crosses need an armed-helicopter escort to enter a hot combat zone — and none were available.

Read more ....

My Comment: Michael Yon has been covering this story extensively. His blog is here.

Two Must Read Posts On America's Medevac Crews

US Army's MEDEVAC mission in Afghanistan. Long War Journal

Calm In The Midst Of Chaos Is Lifesaving Protocol For Medevac Crew In Southern Afghanistan -- Stars and Stripes

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan — It was the worst of places, but the soldiers on the ground had few options when they marked the landing zone for the medevac helicopter. One of their buddy’s legs had been blown off by an Improvised Explosive Device near Pashmul South, and another had suffered a traumatic brain injury from the blast.

Grape rows, tree lines and mud walls surrounded the field. It was the perfect setting for an ambush.

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My Comment: Another excellent post on America's medevac crews is here.

Blood And Dust: Documentary Of A US Medevac Helicopter Unit In Afghanistan

WNU Editor: Award-winning filmmaker Vaughan Smith spent 10 days with a US Medevac helicopter unit in Afghanistan. This video contains some powerful images.

Medic Battles To Save The Life Of A Captured Taliban On Board A Black Hawk Helicopter

(Click Image to Expand)
The Medevac team are never far from their helicopter - they have to sleep within 50 yards of it. Equipment, body armour and helmets are always left on board

Get Us Outta Here! Explained, How Medic Battles To Save The Life Of A Captured Taliban On Board A Black Hawk Helicopter -- Daily Mail

Shot through his side, the enemy Afghan lies in agony on the floor of the helicopter, his life in the hands of the very soldiers he has sworn to kill.

Whether he is in a state to comprehend the irony of his situation is not clear, but the strained expression on Sgt Tyrone Jordan’s face shows it doesn’t matter who the patient is as he tries to put a drip into the Afghan’s arm.

He shouts over the din of the engines to the crew to turn on the medical ­monitor equipment behind him.

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My Comment: A riveting story on what it takes to be on a medevac helicopter.

A Week-Long Embed On A Medevac Helicopter In Afghanistan

Life And Death On A Medevac Helicopter -- Reuters

Taking pictures of people who are suffering and in pain is never an easy experience. From the jump seat in the back of a Blackhawk medevac helicopter, a constant stream of injured, dead and dying men and women passed in front of me during a recent week-long embed. The wounds were as varied as the patients; an Afghan soldier with kidney stones to a Marine whose legs had been nearly severed by an IED blast.

Read more ....

My Comment: These men and women are true guardian angels .... heroes all of them.