Hercs make mercy flights

Australian medic Leading Aircraftwoman Megan Sellars comforts a US serviceman being evacuated on an RAAF C-130 from Baghdad to Kuwait.

US Major Kathleen Flarity talks with the aircrew about the arrangements for the aeromedical evacuation flight. Photos by WO2 Al Green

By WO2 Al Green

RAAF aircrew and medics in the Middle East Area of Operations are providing mercy fli­­ghts to coalition troops injured in Iraq.

Our C-130s are combining with USAF Aeromedical Evacuation (AME) teams to transfer casualties from Iraq to Kuwait.

The concept evolved when C-130 crews and USAF AME teams compared notes on AME procedures.

This has resulted in operational flights featuring true coalition integration. The Americans provide the medical crew and equipment while Australians supply the aircraft and flight crew, as well as medical personnel.

According to consulting Flight Surgeon Squadron Leader Steve Fredriksen, the Australian flight crew and medical staff have benefited in being able to draw on American experience of the management of multiple battle casualties.

“With around 18 casualties on any given flight – lightly injured through to critical – our AME-qualified medics are benefiting by working alongside the USAF AME crews to observe procedures and assist,” he said.

An actual AME mission to Baghdad demonstrates just how well the USAF and our Air Force have integrated procedures.

Two hours before a mission the USAF fits out the aircraft complete with mobile medical equipment and supplies essential to stabilising casualties for their journey out of Iraq.

USAF Major Kathleen Flarity is in charge of the medical aspects of the flight and she consults closely with aircrew.

On arrival on the apron in Baghdad the pilot shuts down the engines as the hot engine backwash and dust need to be eliminated to maximise casualty comfort and well-being.

Humvees line up with the stretcher cases – these are patients ready to be transferred to the main theatre hospital having already been stabilised at forward hospitals.

The Australian flight crew pitch-in to lend a hand. Of the 18 casualties, two are critical, one after being hit by fragments of a rocket-propelled grenade in an ambush.

MAJ Flarity oversees the loading, giving a warm welcome and reassurance to each patient. While she gives the critical injuries priority, she’s careful to allocate tasking among medics to assess and monitor all casualties.

Five are on stretchers and the rest are sitting, ill or wounded. As the props begin to turn, the pace of medical effort is high – vitals are taken, medications checked, IV drips hooked up and monitoring devices connected. All seamless and professionally executed by heavily sweating medics clad in body armour while working in the hot, confined spaces of a C-130 gently bumping along a taxi way at Baghdad International Airport.

Working alongside the USAF medical team is Leading Aircraftwoman Megan Sellars. She’s busy taking vitals and offering kind words over the engine roar and, in doing so, wins a smile from one of the critically injured patients. The adage “reassure the patient” is proving of value.

Reaching cruising altitude out of Baghdad, the pilot sends all the air-conditioning to the back where the casualties are located under the Major’s watchful eye.

Carrying casualties gives the aircraft priority of approach into Kuwait where casualties are quickly transferred to a specially equipped bus by hefty medical orderlies. The critically injured are now looking on, positively happy for what will be the beginning of a long journey home with rest and recovery in Germany, and rehabilitation centres in the US.

MAJ Flarity holds a debriefing, gets input, takes notes. She’s always, she says, “looking to improve procedures”. She’s getting plenty of experience to draw on as her crew has been in the Middle East since the beginning of hostilities.

She likes working with the RAAF for reasons of team-work and good humour but also because the aircraft are dedicated, on these missions, “purely to the air medical evac role” – there’s no confinement by cargo.

As for the flight crew, they are delighted to have given a hand. According to the pilot, “It’s fulfilling to have played a small part in the life-saving process.”

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