Medevac training at Fort Hood

1st Sgt. David Falk, the senior non-commissioned officer and flight medic for Company C, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, guides Soldiers from the 154th Transportation Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), away from a medical evacuation helicopter during medevac training on Oct. 2, 2008, at Fort Hood, Texas. Photo and story: Staff Sgt. Rob Strain, 15th Sustainment Brigade.

The training, conducted by members of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, covered everything from calling for a medevac to loading and unloading patients from the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, according to Staff Sgt. Christopher Orange, a flight medic and one of the instructors with the 227th.

Orange, a Sarasota, Fla., native, told the Soldiers some of the most common mistakes people make when calling for a medevac are providing the wrong location on the map or the wrong number of patients.

He explained they would rather have Soldiers overestimate the number of critically wounded than underestimate it.

Orange also talked to the Soldiers about the proper procedures to identify their location to the medevac crews using smoke, brightly colored panels and other techniques. ...

Sgt. Ramon Alcantara, a Boston native and driver, 154th, said the training was a real good experience that was very similar to the real-world events of a medevac. ...

Alcantara said his favorite part of the training was having the helicopters at the site, which allowed for the Soldiers to feel the physical strain of carrying one of their fellow Soldiers about 150 feet on a litter, into the wind of the turning helicopter and actually loading them into the aircraft.

Soldiers from the 154th Transportation Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), carry a simulated casualty to a medical evacuation helicopter during medevac training on Oct. 2, 2008. The training is in preparation for the company's upcoming deployment. Photo and story: Staff Sgt. Rob Strain, 15th Sustainment Brigade.