Here's a story you won't see in the mainstream media.

(The stretcher bearer in the ACUs (the E-8) used to be my office mate in Honduras.)

http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/02/09/1775-us-military-evacuates-american-volunteers-injured-in-honduras/

Feb 09, 2007
BY Air Force Capt. Alysia R. Harvey, Joint Task Force Bravo p -
blic affairs officer

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras (American Forces Press Service, Feb. 8, 2007) - U.S. military personnel here helped medically evacuate a group of American volunteers after a bus crash near the village of Mal Pais, Honduras, Feb. 6.

Three people died and 10 others suffered head trauma, broken bones and other injuries when their vehicle rolled over in a remote part of Honduras, an hour and a half from Tegucigalpa.

U.S. military personnel from Soto Cano Air Base evacuated the injured volunteers the day of the accident. Joint Task Force (JTF) Bravo launched a medical evacuation helicopter less than an hour after receiving the call for help. Most Honduran hospitals have limited medical evacuation capability, U.S. officials said.

JTF Bravo officials explained that the evacuation involved a dangerous helicopter exertion into mountainous terrain during bad weather. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, four U.S. helicopters were used to find the casualties and evacuate them to hospitals in La Ceiba and Tegucigalpa. The next day, troops from JTF Bravo moved eight victims originally taken to La Ceiba on to Tegucigalpa, where they were to receive further assistance from the U.S. Embassy.

The killed and injured volunteers were members of a 28-person team from four churches in Newnan and Cartersville, Ga. Their group is linked with the nonprofit organization Honduras Outreach, Inc., based in Decatur, Ga.

Joint Task Force Bravo is part of U.S. Southern Command's mission of protecting the southern approaches of the United States with an active defense against all threats. Part of achieving that mission relies on establishing regional partnerships and developing a military capability that can support security, stability, a functional judicial system and an institutional respect for human rights within these partners.

JTF Bravo is housed on Soto-Cano Air Base, a forward operating base in Honduras that supports a variety of missions, including counterdrug, search and rescue, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance.

"We train to respond rapidly to events throughout Central America," said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Hughes, Joint Task Force Bravo commander. "We are proud to have assisted in this mission because the chance to save lives and alleviate suffering is very important to us.

"We pray for the speedy recoveries of those who were injured in this unfortunate accident and extend our heartfelt condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives," he added.

Until very recently, all pilots, regardless of what airframe they wound up flying, found themselves flying OH-58A/C Kiowas during Basic Combat Skills in flight school. The A and C models (as opposed to its younger and bigger brother, the D model) was a Vietnam-era observation helicopter, which is really just a military version of the Bell 206 JetRanger.

Every aircraft has an operator's manual that you need to know backwards and forwards. Every so often, there would be a change published to the operator's manual. Usually, it allowed for new equipment to be taken off/installed, or it would have a big WARNING: DON'T DO THIS when someone had an accident that the manual couldn't warn against initially. That being said, we'd get a small booklet of pages that we would insert into our operator's manuals, taking out the old pages and inserting the new changes.

The last few pages we replaced were in a section of the book where there was a govenment form (DD Form 2028-2) where one could note any errors or changes to the manual, and mail in these changes to the publisher (postage paid for, of course). Seems that the old form wouldn't suffice. When I looked at the old form and the new form, I only noticed one change between the forms.

(You need to click on it to view it in all its glory.  Then go back to this post.) 



Yes, the new form felt it necessary to insert a female cartoon character who now encouraged people to "Jot down the dope" on this form. 

I should mention that I was inserting this page into my manual in 2003.

Additionally, I notice that there's also two more things that irks me about this form.

1.) "In this space, tell us what is wrong...".  Was it really necessary to write "in this space"?  It's at the top of a blank block.  People will know that their writing goes in this block.  Just tell us what to write.

2.) Apparently, you just fold this paper in half and drop it in the mail.  So why is it necessary to have the soldier fill out the "date sent" block?  Would the postmark on the back not be an obvious giveaway?


Okay, I just now noticed a third thing.  It doesn't say  "In this space, tell us what is wrong...", it says "in this space, tell what is wrong".  I guess it has a more "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" sound to it.  ("What you say?"  "Move ZIG for great justice!")

Not that I'm any better, I just laugh at seeing this in an official military publication.  I mean, someone had to have proofread that thing.  Right?

You know it's true...

http://www.rcheliclub.co.nz/barry.htm



Quote: I AM FLYING THE HELICOPTER. I am flying it by not moving a single body part, for fear of jiggling the control thing. I look like the Lincoln Memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln, only more rigid. "Make a right turn," [the instructor] is saying. I gingerly move the control thing one zillionth of an inch to the right and helicopter LEANS OVER TOWARD MY SIDE AND THERE IS STILL NO DOOR [on the cockpit of the helicopter].

An excerpt:

( Read more... )

This is from the chapter "Air Assault Operations: The Customer is Always Wrong"

One time, Fig and I—Fig being the flight lead and I being the air mission commander for this particular mission--were just finishing up an air movement briefing when we asked if there were any questions. That’s when a major—it’s always a major doing stupid stuff like this--stood up and started to speak.
“I just came up with an idea”

Write this down: If you hear a major say “I just had an idea”, start running.

The major continued, “What if we had a simulated helicopter shoot-down and had to rescue you guys as you were evading through the woods?”, he said, with his fingertips on his temples as if he was coming up with some prophetic vision, “And also, what if you guys performed simulated Medevac as well? I think that would be great!”
“Um…that might require some re-working, Sir. You know, especially considering that this mission is tomorrow. I’ll, uh, see what I can do with this.”
Fig and I left the briefing aghast. Looks like the majority of our plan was now getting scrapped.
As we walked through the parking lot on our way back to the hangar, Fig told me “Sir, we have a saying in Puerto Rico. ‘No one knows what is in the soup but the cook’”.
I chuckled. “Ain’t that the truth?”