075/077 – 2 – Night life of UAE.
080 – Rockin’ the new rig!
083 – This is a cool one!
085 – They snapchatted me.
088 – 2018-01-23 – Today’s war story started as a nice time leaving Afghanistan heading back to the ‘Deid as a normal length day was almost mission complete. Everything was going too well right before the bottom fell out. “Moose 70: divert to Bagram for medivac.” A hotel in Kabul was bombed and four service members sustained critical injuries. We did the math and if we can pick up our new passengers quickly, it’ll be right at the 24-hour duty day mark for engine shutdown in Germany. Of course, we replied with a, “Can do.” After landing in Bagram, as the Air Evac crew is doing their medivac setup, I thought back to my very first mission. It was that dollar ride where my recommended extra fuel load made the difference in survival of a critical condition Soldier. I asked, “Hey Cap’n, how much is our max weight out of here today for an extra splash of gas?” He built the box, got the numbers, and I ended up pumping 80,000 lbs extra gas just in case. At the time none of us knew how things would further unravel, and that would be the luckiest call of the day. The Air Evac crew gave a thorough briefing where the bottom line came to how fast can we get to Germany to save their lives. “No altitude restrictions, just haul ass.”
094 – Cruising out of Afghanistan for the second time of the day, but this time bound for Germany. Having just finished the combat exit checklist and were waiting for a higher altitude request, but a higher 747 was keeping us down. Suddenly the medivac commander appeared on the flight deck with a look on her face that took no words to describe that something was wrong. She quickly asked, “Can you make a phone call from up here?” I replied, “Absolutely can do Cap’n, what’s the number?” While I’m only medically certified on self-aid/buddy care with a yearly PowerPoint presentation, what she was describing over the satellite link back to Bagram’s hospital had all of us rapidly understanding how things were unraveling downstairs. “…Blood pressure 80 over 40…” “…Yes, he is awake…” “…We can’t stop the bleeding…” My own stomach dropped when she finally asked, “Colonel, what should I do?” “Captain, that is your call,” was the reply. For all I’ve seen so far in my career, it still amazes me how a single decision can interrupt a scheduled event of thousands of moving pieces, people, and processes without hesitation. No longer than it took for her to make the decision to turn around, we got to work on a new plan. “Center; Moose 70; Declaring an emergency, request direct Bagram.” “Moose 70; Copy. Turn heading…” They moved all the traffic out of the way, we pushed the throttles up, and made a perfect high speed decent, approach, landing. It was the fastest I’ve ever flown from the Afghan border into Bagram.
090 – The next sequence of events was fluid to get our somehow still breathing patient off the jet. We had thought it would make sense to clear the runway and unload on a taxiway, but Tower had a faster call. They directed us to stop where we were at, they approved the paramedics right on to the runway for the transfer. “Ops Stop Checklist please…” We then wished him well, but still had three critical patients in the back. I knew the airport was at a standstill, but it’s a concerning feeling knowing our tail was dangling out where a mistake could cause a landing collision. After the ambulance hustled away, “Moose 70; Bagram Tower; Say intentions.” “Bagram Tower; Moose 70; We need to make a phone call but looking to get back in the air as quick as possible. No parking for gas required…”
101 – Quickly approved was a duty day waiver for us pushing past 24 hours since alert. This made our third attempt at leaving Afghanistan this mission. We were back in the air and the jet was showing off how well a Dover C-17 can deliver when called upon. Three critical patients still depended on safe transport to Germany.
098 – While I’ll forever be making jokes against military medical for the common practice of handing out Motrin for all ailments, I will never slander the few Airmen that make up an Air Evac team. Without a doubt they are the highest trained professionals I’ve ever worked for that save lives in the air around the world every day.
105 – Thankfully with no further hiccups, we had a high speed touch down with all three passengers still hanging on. Departing was NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory. Ambulances met us on the parallel taxiway to speed the passengers to hospital, then we taxied to parking. When our important task was completed safely, the weight of almost 30 hours awake minus some in flight naps, hit us all at once on the bus for a ride to the hotel.
106 – Of course on base lodging was full. “Oh no problem, we’ll send you off base about an hour away to a nice spot in the hills.” Fine. I didn’t care how nice or not so nice it was, I just wanted to sleep.
107 – Wait a minute. I’m complaining about being in a hotel while three heroes were still fighting for their life down the road at Landstuhl hospital. I’ll just pass out now.
109 – Didn’t wake in time for breakfast, but let’s see what’s for lunch.
110 – Neat stove.
111 – Still sleepy selfie.
112 – Well this beats the **** out of the ‘Deid’s chow hall.
114 – Racking up the overtime hours,
Loving how we're working on the night shift, baby!
118 – Back to the desert selfie.
120 – Loadmaster hero shot.
