New Mexico Guard aviators ‘Steal from the Reaper’

By Army Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

25th Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan - “Medevac, medevac, medevac” comes over the radio as flight crews from Company C, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment, New Mexico Army National Guard run out to a UH-60 Black Hawk, start it up and take to the skies in response to the request for medical evacuation.

The standard for medevac missions are to launch the aircraft in 15 minutes and to get the patient to a medical facility within one hour. According to Army Lt. Col. Christopher Holland, the 1-171 commander, this Guard unit maintained a 99.9 percent success rate of achieving that standard.

Over the past 12 months, Soldiers of Company C, located at Camp Dwyer and Forward Operating Bases Edinburgh, Paine and Delaram, have completed more than 1,400 missions; treated more than 1,800 patients; and flew a cumulative total of more than 3,900 flight hours from across the four locations.

“The crew chiefs and medics did extraordinary work during the course of the deployment,” said Army Staff Sgt. Chuck McGould, the operations noncommissioned officer in charge. “The ability of these Soldiers to be flexible to any changes, such as geographical separation, injuries … and weather conditions when accomplishing the mission was one of the most valuable qualities of the unit.”

In addition to treating American service members, the medics also tended to International Security Assistance Forces partners and Afghan National Security Forces, as well as Afghan civilians of all ages.

Some of those calls left long lasting memories on the Soldiers of Company C long after their missions were complete.

“I remember two medevac calls we got when I was on shift,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Moya, a flight medic with the unit. “We responded to the call of a 7-year-old local Afghan girl who had been burned by oil and a 5-year-old boy with a head injury. The innocence of the children, being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, causes the memory [to] stick with you.”

The Soldiers of Company C come from different backgrounds, allowing them to bring different experiences and knowledge to the team. Their careers, ranging from a curriculum implementation school administrator to a sales manager for a tool company, brought diverse knowledge to the team as well.

“With all the diverse backgrounds and skills of the Soldiers in the unit, it is possible to find someone that has some knowledge about anything,” Holland said.

The Soldiers showed their dedication to the medevac mission by continuing to stay on top of maintaining the aircraft, equipment, and themselves.

“Our mission out here is all about the Marine, troop, or person on the battlefield,” Holland said. “When the crews react to a mission, they go by the motto ‘we will be there and be there fast.’ They have done a great job of getting the job done each and every time.”

With the last 12 months of medevac missions conducted, the Soldiers of Company C, 1-171 can return to their families and friends back in the states knowing they gave all they had helping those in need and living up to the unit motto, “Stealing from the Reaper.”

Face of Defense: Marine Leads Team to Safety

By Marine Corps Cpl. Adam T. Leyendecker

2nd Marine Expeditionary Force

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PAYNE, Afghanistan, May 5, 2011 – For much of their deployment, Marines of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion have found an insurgent force that was reluctant to fight them toe to toe. Rather, the enemy has relied more on improvised explosive devices and indirect fire.

But on April 20, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jesse K. Knerr, section leader for the battalion’s 3rd Platoon, E Company, and a native of Portland, Ore., found that when insurgents have their backs against the wall, they are left with no choice but to fight.

The mission of the day was to search an area that hadn’t yet been explored by coalition forces but was suspected of being a site for insurgent fighting positions.

When Knerr and his fire team patrolled the area, they found structures made of rock that blended into a mountain ridge. This differed from the buildings they were accustomed to seeing, which mainly were mud huts.

Knerr signaled for his team to search the structures, where they found battery packs, rocket-propelled grenades, enemy propaganda and half-eaten meals that were still warm. After radioing in the intelligence, Knerr and his team followed a trail that led up the ridge to a small cave with an even bigger cave about 100 yards above it.

As they walked up the ridge, the team found fighting positions all along it. Suddenly, they began taking small-arms fire from insurgents in the bigger cave, only about a football field’s distance away from their positions.

The fire team immediately found cover. At around 4:30 p.m., Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Yobani Tejada, the platoon sergeant, got a radio call from Knerr stating that his team was engaged by enemy fire on the ridge.

Tejada, who was in a light armored vehicle at the bottom of the mountain, told the Marines to find cover so they could provide fire from their turret and call in air support.

Knerr realized he had to come up with a plan that would get his Marines out of there safely. Spotting an area that supplied sufficient cover, Knerr directed the Marines to suppress the enemy’s fire while each of them advanced toward the area.

After the Marines were clear, Knerr radioed back to Tejada, who had two vehicles simultaneously suppressing the enemy’s fire. The insurgents returned fire with rocket-propelled grenades, but came no closer than about 100 yards from the vehicles. Air support arrived in the form of F-18s, which destroyed the enemy positions.

Afterward, Knerr said he was thankful that he and his fire team made it out safely.

“I knew that we all had to come together at that very moment when we were under fire and execute my plan perfectly, or lives could be lost,” he said. “In a situation like that, there is no room for error.”

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua I. White, a corpsman who was with the fire team, said he and the other fire team members credit Tejada with preparing them for the situation.

“He’s always told us to strengthen our mind, or we’ll lose it,” White said.