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Airmen in combat zone work with, rely on Soldiers

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarrod R. Chavana
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs
CAMP TAJI, Iraq (AFNS) --  A normal convoy run by the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Detachment 3 team would have been a routine 20-minute drive for Army Spc. Tommy Turner, a combat medic attached to the unit, if not for an improvised explosive device that detonated, ripping through a Humvee Sept. 15, 2009.

As the convoy drove through an underpass, an improvised explosive device filled with ball-bearings and hidden within a concrete pillar, detonated, penetrating the back hatch of a Humvee. Shrapnel hit one Airman in the shin and embedded in the back, face and upper abdomen of another.

The convoy immediately assumed a defensive posture while fellow Airmen and Specialist Turner attended to the wounded. Within minutes of the explosion, an Airman had applied a tourniquet to the injured Airman's leg.

While most Air Force units don't have Soldiers working with them, deployed security forces squadrons typically have a combat medic assigned to them because of their hazardous missions outside the wire.

These medics are vital when lives are at risk.

"Specialist Turner saw what happened, evaluated the situation, and reacted," said Tech. Sgt. David Harrelson, a 732nd ESFS, Det. 3 squad leader, deployed from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

The Laurel, Ind., native, Sergeant Harrelson, said Specialist Turner gave step-by-step instructions on how to care for the Airman with the leg injury, while he remained at the scene to help the driver. Without his explicit direction, it could have been a lot worse.

The doctor on call said the tourniquet was "text book" and that the initial triage care at the scene saved a life, said Chief Master Sgt. Tim Ryan, the unit security force's manager who is deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and native of Oakfield, Wis.

Before entering a combat zone, military members are mandated to take combat lifesaving classes. During this training, servicemembers are taught how to stop bleeding and use devices such as the tourniquet.

"The Army training is repetitious; the more you do it, the better you are going to be at it," said Specialist Turner, who is deployed from the 248th Area Support Medical Company Georgia Army National Guard. "I always felt that I might freeze up, but once it actually happened, it was pretty much by the book."

Army combat medics attend 16 weeks of medical training that's divided into two parts. The first six weeks prepares the Soldiers to pass the emergency medical technician basic national registry test. The next 10 weeks is the combat medic portion where they learn the emergency medical technician intermediate and paramedic skills used in a combat environment.

The Airmen of the 732nd ESFS, Det. 3 are happy to have these Soldiers with them. It is a consensus among the unit that having a medic around relieves some of the tension.

"As security forces, we work so much with the Army, it's only natural that we have Army around us all the time," Sergeant Harrelson said. "I've been doing this job for 15 years, and without the medics being with us, our job would be 1,000 times more dangerous."