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Sgt. Marcus Miller, far right, a flight medic with the 50th Medical Evacuation Company of the 101st Airborne Division, deployed from Fort Campbell, Ky., and medics from the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, drive an improvised–explosive-device patient from the landing zone to the hospital entrance March 2. Miller and his medevac crew flew the patient, a civilian contractor, from Baghdad International Airport. Photo by Sgt. Michael J. Carden, USA

Fort Campbell Troops Work to Save Lives in Iraq

By Sgt. Michael J. Carden, USA American Forces Press Service

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, March 7, 2005 – “Never lose a soldier. No one dies on your bird.” This is the motto of the 50th Medical Evacuation Company of the 101st Airborne Division, deployed from Fort Campbell, Ky.

Almost every day since its arrival here in November 2004, the company has been challenged to live by that motto.

“When we get the medevac call, things are pretty chaotic,” said Sam Simons, a crew chief. “Dealing with casualties is never easy. You just do what you’ve got to do to help the medic save lives.” The company spent a year in Mosul, Iraq, during its first deployment to Iraqi. The company’s members were home for only nine months before deploying again. They have flown more than 1,100 combat hours in 12 Black Hawk helicopters.

The flight crews have executed more than 600 medical evacuation missions, transporting more than 800 casualties to combat support hospitals. Fifty percent of their missions have dealt with roadside landings on hasty landing zones, according to the company commander, Maj. William Howard.

Unit members agree no two missions are ever the same for the two pilots, crew chief and flight medic that make up a medical evacuation crew. Every time they receive a call, the possibilities and scenarios of what is in store are endless. They can’t afford to be unprepared or not proficient, said Staff Sgt. Thomas Harris, a flight medic.

“Every mission is different,” Harris said. “The call could be a mass (casualty) because of an insurgent attack or simply to pick up an appendicitis or hernia patient from his base camp’s troop medical clinic. We could take fire when we land. We might have to make a roadside landing in a city or land in an open field. You’ve got to learn to adapt pretty quickly.”

Adapting to different battlefield environments is something the crews do daily. Sometimes they’re called for a second mission before they’ve finished a current mission. They often have to react to several different situations in a single day.

“Some days we can sit around all day and not get called,” Harris said. “Other days (improvised explosive devices) and (rocket-propelled grenades) could be going off all day long. Some days we’ll get three missions in a row and end up flying for three hours straight evacuating troops.”

Simons said that he‘s been flying with a medevac crew for only about a month and a half. During that time, he’s flown more than 50 hours evacuating casualties and patients.

Once the crew is on the ground, the medic’s sole concern is the patients. The crew chief’s responsibility is to make sure the medic can stay focused without worrying about incoming fire. The crew chief is the medic’s security effort. “He’s my bodyguard. He’s my eyes on the perimeter,” Harris said of his crew chief, Simons.

“The medic can’t worry about things like security,” Simons said. “He has the health of the patient to worry about.”

After casualties are loaded onto the helicopter, the medic begins treating patients for secondary injuries, such as minor shrapnel or small-arms-fire wounds.

But sometimes the injuries are far too severe for the medic to treat in the air. Sometimes the casualties don’t make it at all, Harris said.

“Saving a life is the greatest feeling in the world,” Harris said. “But a lot of guys aren’t going to make it. You have to be able to deal with that. I go home with a lot of bad memories of the faces of guys who died and didn’t make it.”

The pressures and stress of being on a medevac crew may be more than most people can handle But the medics, crew chiefs and pilots of the 50th Medevac Company are well-trained, experienced and always prepared to save the life of a fellow soldier, Simons said.

“This job isn’t for everyone,” Harris said. “You’re dealing with casualties and blood. You’ve got to be able to work through that. If you let it get to you, you’re not going to be any good to yourself or the patient.”

(Army Sgt. Michael J. Carden is assigned to Multinational Corps Iraq.)

Marine father, son serve together in Al Asad

Submitted by: 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 20053773447
Story by Sgt. Juan Vara

AL ASAD, Iraq (March 7, 2005) -- Maj. Peter D. Charboneau is a busy man.

The communications and electronics officer for Marine Air Control Group 28 (Reinforced) isn’t just in charge of overseeing the upgrade of fiber optic lines, telephone switches and data servers around this former Iraqi air base. He’s also responsible, to the best of his abilities, for keeping an eye on one Marine who’s not even part of his unit–his youngest son, Joe.

After graduating from high school in Quantico, Va., in 2002, Joe and his older brother Pete joined the Corps following their father’s footsteps. They enlisted under the ‘buddy program’ and reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C., together, graduating in January 2003.

Elder by a year, Pete is a lance corporal serving with Headquarters and Support Battalion’s Brig Company aboard Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Joe, also a lance corporal, serves as a helicopter mechanic with Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 from Marine Corps Air Station, New River, N.C., and is here on his first deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I’m closer to him here than I am back in North Carolina,” said Charboneau. “The beauty of it is that he works nights. We meet in the morning and have breakfast.”

According to Charboneau, he was preparing to leave Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, N.C., and transfer to Marine Corps Base, Quantico, when he heard Joe was deploying to Iraq. He immediately asked for a modification to his reporting date to be able to come here and be near his son. Pete, trying to be near his father and brother, volunteered to transfer temporarily to 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, the unit in charge of protecting this air base.

“I pushed for Pete to come out here too,” said Charboneau. “My wife put a stop to it.”

Charboneau’s wife, the former Dinah E. Gomez, of El Paso, Texas, didn’t want her husband and her two sons to be in Iraq at the same time. She’s now ordered Charboneau to take care of Joe, and ordered both to wear their fragmentation protection armored vests and helmets at all times while they’re here.

“My wife is on an emotional rollercoaster,” said Charboneau. “She put up a sign that says ‘Having Marine son go to Iraq: Heartbreaking. Having Marine husband go with him: Awesome. Having another Marine son stay back with me: Priceless.’”

In his more than 23 years as a Marine, Charboneau, who began his career as a private, has left his family behind several times while he answers the call of duty. His most recent deployment was two years ago, when he served in Kuwait and Iraq during the beginning of the war.

“I’m not as homesick as I’ve been any other time I’ve deployed,” he said. “I could stay here for a year and I won’t miss my family because I have Joe here. I don’t think there’s a better feeling in the world than being in war with your son.”

Joe, getting his feet wet when it comes to deployments, said he misses his family, his girlfriend and some of the comforts of life back home. “You never know how good you have it until you’re shaving out of a water bottle.”

Father and son can often be spotted riding their bikes around Al Asad. They celebrated Charboneau’s birthday last month and are making plans to celebrate Joe’s birthday in July.

Not many are privileged to have breakfast with their father every day while in a combat zone. Not many can smoke a cigar with their son after a hard day of work half the world away from home. Charboneau, proud of his Marine sons, said there’s a small disadvantage of serving with one of them here.

“It’s the same thing as back at home,” he said jokingly. “I have to tell him to do his laundry, clean his room and brush his teeth.”