The “Guardian Angels” of America’s military search and rescue technicians, para-rescue technicians and search, evasion, resistance, and evasion (SERE) technicians are some of the strongest cavalry the military has. Little known outside the recovery workers (PR) community, they undergo training that requires each as a special. Troops, Army Rangers, or Navy Seals. In fact, there are often guys who step in and rescue these elite forces when you’re stranded behind enemy lines.
In addition to the downed soldiers or pilots rescuing their units, though, they are often called upon to assist in humanitarian emergencies such as airlifted civilians in remote or difficult-to-access areas, as part of the overall command of the US government. Curators recovery plan.
In the fall of 2011, I was invited by the US Air Force to participate in their annual exercise to test their ability to conduct rescue operations under any and all conditions. Called THUNDER ANGEL, this exercise in Arizona and New Mexico involves units of the Air Force, United States Army, civilian agencies such as Department of Public, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Drug Administration (DEA) and other nations I came to the rescue. In 2011 the participants were Sweden, Singapore, Canada, and Colombia. In addition, University of Arizona Medical Center and fire and Pima County, Arizona officials attended.
I had a great role in the exercise; I was stranded in a mountainous area, and the Guardian Angels had to fly in their HH-60s, pick me up, and take me to medical care. The experience is one that I am unlikely to ever forget. When that big chopper flew over the yoke off the line, even though I knew it was a drill, I could feel my heart racing. I had allowed him to feign internal injuries, and in a nutshell how I was going to deal with the matter. Soon it no longer seemed like an exercise, as PJs (or para-jumpers, the name given to para-liberated men) from helicopters scouted and fortified the area. I forgot one thing; These guys get into some pretty cool areas, being armed to the teeth with their emergency medical gear.
The PJ officer immediately checked on me, asking questions like what a doctor would want to know, and managed the emergency medical treatment to ‘establish’ me. I was then strapped into the ‘street’ plastic wrap and carried down the slope to the waiting helicopter. PJ stayed with me throughout the flight, making sure my vital signs were stable. One hour later I was transferred to a Hercules C-130 flight from the Canadian shipyards to be transported to the hospital. The Canadians were every bit as professional, though a little less military looking, like the US Air Force guys, and even had a female flight surgeons part of the crew. Taken from a small station somewhere in the northern part of Arizona, they flew me to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where the Pima County Ambulance Department then transported me to a medical tent facility where further medical treatment was administered.
Some of the patients in the exercise were flown to the roof of the University of Arizona Medical Center’s helipad, where hospital staff were closely watched with their real patients.
Anyone who thinks the military doesn’t work well with civilians needs to watch ANGEL THUNDER to know that this is just urban legend. When the chips are down, these teachers forget their clothes, orders, and all the other bureaucratic bullshit, and just get the job done.
(Note to editor) Photos (C) by Charles Ray
1. Air Force paramedics moving special “patients” from an HH-60 that landed on the helipad at the University of Arizona Medical Center.
2. University of Arizona Medical Center personnel treat a ‘patient’ who was rescued by the Air Force.
3. The Swedish search team’s dogs help in locating lost or isolated people in a simulated natural disaster in Exercise THUNDER ANGEL.
