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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
May 22, 2012 - 5:37:21 PM |
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Helicopter crew rescues four flood victims
Blackanthem Military News
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| Sgt. 1st Class Juan Rendon ( left) and Staff Sgt. Michael Faulk observe as 1st Lt. Melissa Macintyre and Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Torres prepare for another takeoff under rainy skies. (Texas Military Forces photo by Spc. Jennifer Atkinson) |
CAMP MABRY, Texas - On May 27, 2007, during some of the worst flooding in recent memory, National Guard Soldiers were standing ready to help fellow Texans in need. While many of the evacuation efforts were concentrated on the ground, four members of C Company, 2-149th General Support Aviation Battalion found a higher calling.
At a ceremony At Camp Mabry on Jan. 24, 1st Lt. Melissa Macintyre, Chief Warrant Officer 4 David L. Torres, Sgt. 1st Class Juan J. Rendon and Staff Sgt. Michael L. Faulk were awarded the Lone Star Medal of Valor, the state's second-highest award, in recognition of their "extraordinary acts of courage" while in service to the military forces and citizens of Texas.
Launching the helicopter under stormy skies and close to sunset, the medical evacuation crew, along with a rescue swimmer, headed toward the Guadalupe River to help victims trapped by the rising water. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was equipped with a rescue hoist and TriSAR, a high-resolution radar processor used in search and rescue work.
Arriving at the scene 15 minutes after the initial call, the crew found themselves facing a challenging rescue. The four victims were trapped at the bottom of a cliff, meaning visual contact between the rescue swimmer and helicopter crew could be limited at best, and non-existent at worst.
After making a thorough reconnaissance of the area to decide on the best approach, Lieutenant Mcintyre, the newest medevac pilot-in-command in C Co., brought the helicopter to a steady hover high above the river.
Sergeant Rendon and Sergeant Faulk, a flight medic since 1992, guided the aircraft as close to the cliff and the victims as they could while keeping a safe distance from the rocky terrain.
For Sergeant Rendon, the hoist operator and a veteran of almost every type of mission the National Guard flies including floods, fires and a deployment to Kosovo, there was a little bit of added stress.
"I'd used it [the hoist] for about two years," he said, "but this was the very first hoist rescue in Texas - ever."
Using both visual guidance and information from the radar system, the rescue swimmer was lowered into the water and disappeared under the cliff overhang to reach the victims.
"It's a pretty tense moment when he goes under the water and you can't see him at all," said Sergeant Rendon. "You've got no visual observation of him at all."
Since visual contact would be so limited, the crew and the swimmer agreed on a 60-second delay after the swimmer hit the water to begin retracting the cable. After the 60 seconds had elapsed, the helicopter slid sideways away from the side of the hill. and the swimmer and a victim were hoisted up.
One issue facing Sergeants Rendon and Faulk was oscillation, or unexpected rotation, along the hoist cable. Oscillation can also damage to the hoist mechanism, the cable, the aircraft, and in a worse-case scenario, the people on the hoist.
"If the cable spins too fast or too hard, you can injure the person down there," said Lieutenant Macintyre. A spinning cable can also hit the helicopter, or the ground, she said. The rescue swimmer and the victim had to wait for the two sergeants to stop the oscillation before continuing their upwards journey.
After the first rescue, the interval time was shortened to 30 seconds, and three more victims were lifted from the water. All four victims were safely lifted into the helicopter and transported to nearby rescue crews.
"Who's seen the Kevin Costner movie, ‘The Guardian'?" asked Lt. Gen. (TX) Charles G. Rodriguez, Adjutant General of Texas, during the award ceremony. "It's a good movie, but these are the real guardians."
Many Guardsmen do the same kinds of things, in large and small ways, said General Rodriguez, but "this particular incident was very perilous, and it really is a watershed moment in the service of rotary aircraft we have in here in Texas."
For the medevac crew of aircraft TX-TF 1, helping fellow is the driving force behind everything they do in the air, and why they joined the Texas National Guard.
"It's always about helping someone in need," said Sergeant Faulk.
For Chief Torres, the end result is the most satisfying part of his whole Guard experience.
"The rescue itself, saving lives, that's why we do it," he said.
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
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| The Lone Star Medal of Valor was presented to the 1st Lt. Melissa Macintyre, Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Torres, Sgt. 1st Class Juan Rendon, and Staff Sgt. Michael Faulk for extraordinary acts of courage while in service to the military forces of Texas. (Texas Military Forces photo by Spc. Jennifer Atkinson) |
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