USAFE members hone search, rescue skills

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kristi Beckman
  • 435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HOHENFELS ARMY AIR FIELD, Germany (AFPN) --  A CH-47 Chinook helicopter is shot down and four survivors are stranded in a hostile location awaiting rescue. The scenario was part of a joint combat search and rescue exercise held here March 20 to April 2.

Led by the 56th Rescue Squadron at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, the exercise featured more than 50 people from U.S. European Command. The participants included members of the 786th Security Forces Squadron, Sembach, Germany; the 81st Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany; the 236th Medical Company from Landstuhl, Germany; and survival specialists from Royal Air Force Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, England.

Two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters from the 56th RQS flew during the training event.

During the exercise, A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots from the 81st FS and the HH-60G aircrews practiced real-world situations, said 1st Lt. Ryan Wood, 56th RQS intelligence officer, who designed the scenarios. The crews practiced different types of rescues including urban- and rural-terrain pickup locations with varying number of survivors.

Through radios, the A-10 pilots made contact with the survivor, assessed their injuries and gathered intelligence about their location as well as nearby enemies.

“The HH-60 aircrew loves the A-10 because it can get low and eliminate the threat so the helos can go in and pickup the survivors,” Lieutenant Wood said.

Capt. Ron Henderson, a pilot from 56th RQS, said the A-10s are an important part of the rescue.

“The A-10s (patrol) the route and make contact with the survivor. They will authenticate the survivors and make sure they are not the bad guys,” he said. “The A-10s will find out the injuries right off the bat and pass it to us so we can prepare for what exactly we’ll need to take care of the survivors. Then, they clear us a path and direct us to the survivors where we go in for the pickup.”

Depending on the injuries, the survivors are either hoisted up by a strap around their body or on a stretcher.

“The benefit of this training is that we’re working with the guys that we will probably go into theater with at some point,” Captain Henderson said. “We’re working with the A-10 [pilots], who are getting a lot of upgrade training, and the survivors are getting training from the (survival) specialists.”

The “survivors” for the exercise are an Army blackhawk medical evacuation crew from the 236th Medical Company.

“This is the first time they have done any hands-on training,” said Master Sgt. Patrick Carroll, a survival specialist from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath. “They’ve done medical evacuation, and they’ve flown missions -- but, they’ve never actually operated a survival radio, used signal mirrors and signaling smoke canisters and so forth to guide the A-10s to their location so they can (identify) them and communicate with them. This is a great opportunity to do a lot of joint training with them.”

Airmen from the 56th RQS and 786th SFS have worked together since July when they deployed to Sierra Leone to evacuate people from the American Embassy in Liberia.

“Our primary job is combat search and rescue,” Captain Henderson said. “The evacuation out of Africa showed that we could do other things. We have capabilities that other aircraft don’t.”

The 86th Contingency Response Group is responsible for combat search and rescue bed-down.

“The first time we did that was in (Sierra Leone),” said Capt. Jason Beers, an operations officer for the 786th SFS. “That mission opened our eyes to some capabilities that they have, and it opened their eyes to some capabilities that we have. We realized in Africa that we were a pretty good team.”

Security forces Airmen trained on fast-roping, rappelling, rope ladder and parachute drops from the helos during the exercise. They also shot live rounds with the pararescue Airmen, which is something they cannot train on in Iceland.

“It’s definitely the best training outside of traditional security forces I was able to get,” said Staff Sgt. Matt Thompson of the 786th SFS. “Fast-roping and jumping from helos is something a traditional cop doesn’t get to do.”

Sergeant Thompson said the security forces Airmen learn a lot from the 56th RQS.

“We get to see how the PJs and the helicopter crews work, and we get more familiar with the (helicopters),” he said. “Just the training we get to do utilizing the helicopters is awesome.”