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'Combat Kings' back to work in Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson
  • U.S. AFCENT Combat Camera Team
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan --  For the first time in five years HC-130P Combat King aircrews here answered an alert call in Afghanistan as Airmen from the 79th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron delivered medical supplies to Herat April 9.

"I was here five years ago when we wrapped up the last of the HC-130 missions here," said Lt. Col. Michael Hinsch, 79th ERQS commander, deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. "During my last rotation we were able to assist 100 people and to see the excitement on the face of my Airmen as they completed their first alert mission in five years was great. They practiced, prepared and are now showing true professionalism to help patients in Afghanistan."

The squadron, which stood up March 29 and went on alert status April 8, consists of 86 Airmen. The aircrews, maintainers and pararescuemen - known as "PJs" - in the squadron bring a unique capability back to Afghanistan, by providing a dedicated fixed-wing, multirole platform to be used for personnel recovery, medical evacuation, casualty evacuation and aero-medical evacuation.

"The HC-130P brings a lot of distinct capabilities to the fight in Afghanistan," said Capt. Tim Saxton, 79th ERQS HC-130P pilot, who was the aircraft commander for the first alert mission. "We specialize in blacked-out operations, PJ airdrops, short-field landings, and helicopter air-refueling.

"Some of our other missions in theater also consist of MEDEVAC and CASEVAC," he said. "We carry a compliment of PJ's on board to care for wounded troops, help with stabilized patients during aero-medical evacuation, or airdrop into the combat zone to help wounded or isolated personnel. It was great to be able to accomplish the first alert launch in OEF in five years, our crews and maintainers trained hard to get to the point where they were able to launch from a dead sleep to wheels up in 30 minutes."

From 2003 to 2005 HC-130 aircrews flew missions out of Jacobabad, Pakistan, and Karshi-Khanabab, Uzbekistan, providing similar operations for Coalition forces at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"During my last mission here we were able to get a 12-year-old Afghan girl with a skull fracture from Tarin Kowt to Bagram Airfield within two hours of her injuries," Colonel Hinsch said, who was an HC-130 pilot was assigned to the 46th ERQS at the time. "That family will always remember what we were able to do for them. If we are able to shorten the time it takes for Coalition forces and Afghan citizens to get higher medical care the way we did before, we all win."

The unit's combat search and rescue and casualty evacuation skills were put on display before the aircrew even went into alert status. During their initial orientation flight, April 6, an HC-130 aircrew was diverted to assist Coalition Forces injured by an improvised explosive device while flying a night-patrol training mission in Badghis Province with Afghan National Army Commandos and U.S. Army Special Forces.

"We definitely were not expecting to assist in this mission," said Tech. Sgt. James Crane, 79th ERQS airborne mission systems specialist deployed from Davis-Monthan AFB, who was on the flight when his crew was diverted. "We didn't have all of our assets or medical equipment with us but when we were asked to help, we knew everybody had to step up to ensure our Coalition partners received the medical care they needed."

The aircrew returned to Camp Bastion to pick up medics and pararescuemen then proceeded forward to provide medical care and flew 10 patients to medical facilities here and at Herat.

"I have never done anything like that before; the fact that I got a chance to actually be a part of saving lives is awesome," said Capt. David Lenhardt, 79th ERQS, HC-130 pilot who was the aircraft commander for the rescue mission. "I have been a part of a rescue unit for almost six years and I had never had the opportunity to help save somebody's life and to be a part of this and future missions is great."

"Guardian Angel" pararescuemen, from 48th ERQS at Davis-Monthan AFB, assigned to the squadron returned to Afghanistan after their last deployment from August 2009 to January 2010. During that deployment, they completed search and rescue missions utilizing HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters at Kandahar Airfield. For some of the PJs, this is their first experience working with the HC-130P.

"The benefits of an HC-130 are more working space to care for patients, allowing more patients to be loaded up and taken to higher medical care and if a patient is far away you can get to them faster," said Senior Airmen Jason Summers, pararescuemen medic team member, after his first HC-130 flight evacuating 10 patients. "This is my first experience on an HC-130; and as far as overall patient care goes, this has been a good experience. "

The unit, the first fixed-wing flying mission presently assigned here, will employ two HC-130 aircraft for rescue missions. Maintainers will spend about 144 man-hours a week ensuring aircrews are ready to go wheels up in their 30-minute time limit.

"Our maintainers are above reproach, they are high-speed, low-drag type of Airmen, who do things right the first time," said Capt. Carlos Salas, 79th ERQS expeditionary aircraft maintenance unit deployed from 923rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB. "They all understand how critical the mission is over here and how important each Airman is to the mission here. We know what we are here to do and we will continue to ensure the HC-130 aircraft are available and reliable."

With the first alert mission complete, Airmen in the squadron look forward to a successful deployment, while showing off the unique capabilities of the "Combat King" aircraft.

"I look forward to saving lives and finally getting to put all of our training to work," said Staff Sgt. Mary Sierra, 79th ERQS loadmaster, who is the newest member of the squadron. "We have an awesome team, we work well together and we are going to show what our team can bring to the fight."