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Rescue squadron, Craig Joint Theater Hospital team up for MASCAL exercise

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Drew Nystrom
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Pop Warner, a famous football player and coach, is credited with saying, "You play like you practice." If so, the lifesaving Airmen assigned to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing have a good shot at going undefeated.

A realistic mass casualty exercise held here Saturday on a remote part of Bagram Airfield tested the skills of each member of the rescue squadron with the help of the staff of the Craig Joint Theater Hospital (CJTH).

The exercise, weeks in the making, simulated a provincial reconstruction team convoy suffering a crippling improvised explosive device attack followed by a complex attack.

The rescue squadron responded to the situation and, just as they do on a daily basis during real-world missions, treated and evacuated the wounded while still under simulated fire.

After receiving the 9-Line - a succinct way of relaying the situation, number, condition of the wounded, etc. - the HH-60G Pave Hawk swooped down out the sky kicking up a cloud of fine Afghan dust inducing a brownout.

A brownout occurs when a helicopter's rotor wash kicks up sand, dust and debris to the point where visibility decreases to zero before the chopper even touches down. It is a dangerous situation that calls for caution, but presented no problems for this aircrew.

Before the aircraft even had a chance to fully settle onto its gear, the pararescuemen were out the door establishing a perimeter. Seconds later, as the Pave Hawk leapt back into the safety of the air, the PJs were moving among the wounded, evaluating and treating patients.

With the situation firmly under control, the chopper made another landing and the first load of patients were whisked away. In a real world situation, they would have been flown to a treatment facility where their treatment would continue. Today, they made the short ride back to the rescue squadron's compound. Within 30 minutes, all "patients" had been evacuated successfully.

The twist to this exercise, according to Maj. Jade Spurgeon, a flight surgeon assigned to the 33rd RQS, was having trained medical staff playing the role of the simulated patients.

"Non-medical participants might not be able to provide the same kind of feedback [to the pararescuemen] that would be as beneficial," Spurgeon said.

An example would be being able to relay if a tourniquet was tight enough or if a treatment step was missed, she said.

"This way we can give them more medical-centric feedback," the major and Wichita, Kan., native said.

The exercise not only benefited the rescue squadron, but the CJTH staff too, according to Col. Jay Johannigmann, the director of clinical operations at the CJTH and ground commander of the exercise.

"The training is a win-win for both sides," Johanningman said. "As medics, it gives us the opportunity to see what our warriors are going through out in the field. It gives us a feel for what the conditions are like when they [the warfighter] suffer wounds," he said.

"Field conditions create a bit of austerity that is necessary for the medic to understand," the trauma surgeon and Cincinnati, Ohio, native said.

"Taking care of patients under fire and other types of field conditions create their own set of challenges that are good to be aware of ahead of time," he said.

Due to a high operational tempo, this training opportunity was rare and it helped keep the rescue squadron's skills honed sharp.

"Some of the challenges of pararescue are working in confined spaces, austere conditions and working with limited personnel," said Staff Sgt. Joshua Webster, a pararescueman assigned to the 33rd RQS. "This is a good chance to show what we can do in a situation with all three of those things all on top of each other.

"It also gives an added level of awareness to the hospital staff as to what kind of medicine we should be able to practice on the ground and in a helicopter," the Long Beach, Calif., native said.

That "kind of medicine" is world-class according to Colonel Johanningman.

"If our PJs get to somebody and they're still alive," Johanningman said, "the chances we're going to get them home exceed 98 percent. I think that's something the Air Force, the military and the medics should be proud of."