Evacuation under fire: combat rescue units see shift in missions.

• Author: Peck Michael
• Position: SEARCH AND RESCUE

Air Force combat rescue teams increasingly are shifting their training and resources to the evacuation of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of just focusing on the recovery of downed pilots.

"Now we're using our combat search and rescue forces to perform casualty evacuation under fire," said Maj. Scott Shepard, a combat rescue officer at the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). These evacuation missions have "significantly increased the operational tempo for all AFSOC vertical lift aircraft and recovery teams," he added.

This surge in the pace of operations can be gleaned from figures provided to National Defense by U.S. Central Command Air Forces. Air Force units flew about 300 rescue missions in Iraq and Afghanistan between October 2001 and November 2005. But 250 of those were classified as casualty evacuation--or transporting casualties from the battlefield to medical facilities--and medical evacuation, or moving patients from one medical staging area to another. Only 20 missions were classified as combat search and rescue. Of the 300 total missions, more than 85 percent were in Afghanistan.

Combat rescue units can evacuate casualties under battlefield conditions hazardous to standard evacuation aircraft and medics. "By utilizing para-jumpers and offensive recovery vehicles such as the HH-60 and MH-53 helicopters, the Air Force can increase the level of trauma care provided in a combat or austere environment," said Shepard. "When anyone calls the personnel recovery center and says an evacuation is beyond them, if there is an American or coalition partner that has requested help, we don't turn them down."

Yet casualty evacuation has traditionally been considered a collateral capability of the scarce and specialized rescue teams, which are classified as high-demand, low-density units. While the number of missions flown in Afghanistan and Iraq doesn't appear excessive--averaging over one a week--combatant commands demand a 24/7 response.

"We may not be flying actual missions every day, but we're postured to fly missions every day," said Lt. Col. Lee Pera, commander of the 41st Rescue Squadron, which operates HH-60 helicopters as part of the 347th Rescue Wing based at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. "This is a higher burden than most assets because we have got to always be ready at a moment's notice to execute a search and rescue mission."

The numbers illustrate the changing face of combat rescue. Gone are the days of lumbering...