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Posted

Are you a lawyer? Cause otherwise you won't understand the complexities of the Laws of Land Warfare. Leave the legal thoughts to the experts and just focus on how awesome it would be to shoot a rag with a .50 cal.

 

HAHAA, no, no, not a lawyer. IMO we should take off all the medevac symbols on our helicopters, its not like anybody we fight recognizes the law of war. A lot of medevac missions are actually casevacs anyway.

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Posted

 

HAHAA, no, no, not a lawyer. IMO we should take off all the medevac symbols on our helicopters, its not like anybody we fight recognizes the law of war. A lot of medevac missions are actually casevacs anyway.

Some medevacs are casevacs.

Posted

No Medevacs are Casevacs. Casevacs are hasty, substandard evacs done as a risk/reward decision where it's determined that getting to a higher level of care without delay is more important than enroute care. Medevacs are when you hear the Dustoff callsign on the radio and you know you have the best trained crews in the world coming to take care of you.

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Posted

Casevacs are not sub standard, they are when time is more valuable then waiting for division to release the 9 line. Casevacs have saved countless lives. It's funny how you speak about them so critically. This is the culture that has been created due to the risk adverse command climate in the Army. I have seen troops bleed out waiting for medcom to release assets and I've seen it take over an hour to launch a Cat A that is no fault of the crews but stupid politics.

Posted

That's pretty much what I said. Casevacs having their benefits doesn't mean their quality of enroute care is up to Medevac standards.

Posted

That's pretty much what I said. Casevacs having their benefits doesn't mean their quality of enroute care is up to Medevac standards.

 

Who cares so long as it's saving someone's life? I couldn't care less what's en-route if one of my guys is needed out of the area NOW. Just get me something that has rotors NOW. Every patrol I've ever been on has competent medics, if nothing else they can go on the bird with them. They've already been treating the wounded. Just get this guy the F out of here. That's ALL that matters. Not someone's opinion on BAF or KAF or at some other level.

 

Back to the topic at hand.

  • Like 1
Posted

You should care if it's one of your guys who's life hangs in the balance. People have absolutely died from injuries a proper Medevac crew could have prevented because they jumped on the first thing out.

 

A ground medic may or may not have the equipment to keep your guy alive throughout the flight. A casevac aircrew may or may not know where the closest level 2 or level 3 facility is, that's if they can even figure out which one is needed (a decision which can change midflight based on the patient's condition). If they do know which base they need to fly to they may not know where specifically the clinic is or the procedures to get a patient there (good luck finding the FST at Shank if you've never landed there before).

 

When you get a proper Medevac helicopter you can be sure you're getting a medic (or possibly a flight surgeon) with the experience, knowledge, and equipment to prolong somebody's life another hour if at all possible.

 

Foregoing that platform for the first thing that flies is a serious decision that should only be made after weighing all available info and making a smart, informed decision. Unfortunately when sh*t hits the fan, most people let their emotions take over and use the same thought process you've just outlined. Usually it works out either way, but it turns out to be a mistake far more often than waiting for a Medevac.

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Posted

Without going into serious detail, it's called common sense. It's a principle of patrolling in the Army, and something that most don't utilize. I'd stand behind my decision 100% for taking anything that's flying if I need it right this second. If we can wait for a "proper" Medevac bird, then great, we'll fight in place and evac to a decent pickup site.

 

Obviously, this is completely METT-T dependent. I'm gonna go with my gut though, and rely on guys I've worked with going on the bird if it comes down to that. Working with guys that have been through the SOCM course, and 18D's generally are pretty well equipped for stuff that come up.

 

YMMV.

Posted

I never offered an opinion. The difference between "Medevac" and "Casevac" is doctrinally defined. One is never the other. If you want to treat them as equal you can't possibly make an informed decision about which platform to use.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

This looks dangerous.

 

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Posted (edited)

The aircraft I currently work on, former Marine Corps CH-46E aircraft. This one is the oldest we have here and has over 13k hours, still going strong.

 

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Edited by superstallion6113
  • Like 1
Posted

These guys were at the airport I work at (So IL). They just got off deployment and we're flying from Ft. Bliss to Ft. Drum.

Posted

These guys were at the airport I work at (So IL). They just got off deployment and we're flying from Ft. Bliss to Ft. Drum.

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