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Joint tasking way of life in AOR

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarrod R. Chavana
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs
CAMP TAJI, Iraq --  The 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Detachment 3 convoy 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.

As the convoy drove through an underpass, an explosively formed projectile filled with ball-bearings 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, a fellow 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 Technical 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 Oakfield, Wis., native, Chief Master Sgt. Tim Ryan, the unit security force's manager deployed from Dyess AFB, Texas.

Before entering a war zone, military personnel are mandated to take combat life-saving classes. During this training, personnel 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, combat medic 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."

An Army combat medic attends 16 weeks of medical training that's divided into two parts. The first six weeks prepares the Soldier to pass the emergency medical technician basic national registry test. The next 10 weeks is the combat medic portion where they learn the EMT 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," said Sergeant Harrelson. "I've been doing this job for 15 years, and without the medics being with us, our job would be a thousand times more dangerous."