Rescue flight crews provide 'help from above'

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mike Hammond
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  On a moonless night, the glow from a red and green instrument panel illuminates the faces of the crew of Blade 79er, a UH-1N Huey flying a night vector mission over the tree-covered mountains of northern Washington. Suddenly, the radio crackles. "Rescue, Rescue, Rescue ... Phaser 1-2 calling in vector," the voice of a student on the ground nearby announces.

After authenticating the student's identity and asking about enemy activity nearby, the pilot, Capt. Amanda Hall, communicates back and forth with the student and directs the chopper accordingly until getting a good visual through her night vision goggles. It was a drill the crew of Blade 79er would repeat more than 70 times within five hours during two missions last week to support the Air Force's combat survival school -- which trains aircrew members to survive until rescued if their aircraft goes down.

Based at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Captain Hall and her crew -- co-pilot Capt. Seung Hak Lee, flight engineer Master Sgt. Keith Fitzgerald, and flight medic Tech. Sgt. John Parish, work for the 36th Rescue Flight. According to Sergeant Fitzgerald, the flight's mission is to support the survival school and also SERE Specialist Training -- where members train to become instructors in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.

This support comes in several forms besides the night vectoring Blade 79er accomplished, according to Senior Airman Jacob Bragg, also a flight engineer with the 36th RQF. "We help them demonstrate parachute techniques for students and distinguished visitors," Airman Bragg said. "We also practice search and rescue scenarios. This involves a parachutist jumping out, landing in simulated hostile territory, radioing the helicopter, and then we go get them. We either lower a hoist to the individual and bring them up or simulate a pararescue team extraction by using SERE instructors."

Airman Bragg explained that the scenarios are accomplished to demonstrate capabilities to survival school students, who later get a chance to practice being hoisted up from a nearby pad.

A secondary mission for the men and women of the 36th is to support the National Search and Rescue Plan through the Air Force Rescue and Coordination Center based at Langley Air Force Base, Va. "If local emergency responders need help rescuing someone, they call the (AFRCC)," Sergeant Fitzgerald said. "If the support is approved, the center calls us and we go help."

According to Captain Hall, the unit just recently began flying night vectors. "It provides a more realistic scenario and adds a different challenge for the students," the captain said.
In the still darkness of the mountains, survival school students, SERE specialists in training, and citizens in danger frequently require help from above. Thanks to the overhead support provided by the crews of the 36th Rescue Flight in training and real-life scenarios, prayer isn't their only hope of rescue.