Navy Helo MEDEVAC Update 2515th Navy Air Ambulance Deatchment

[Bevo16]

My buddies in HSC 21 have told me that they expect to do all of their flying out of Kuwait. I don't know what kind of mission that leaves them. It's not like the Sierra has the legs to get to anywhere if it starts from Kuwait.

Is HS-15 going to rotate their HH det with other squadrons, or are they going to keep it. It would make sense to just have whatever squadron that is in the gulf send their pilots and aircraft to do the job. We ran a 2 HH det out of Arifjan for 4 1/2 months last year when we were in the gulf. It would not be that much harder to run it out of anywhere else. The hardest part is coming up with enough HH's to do the job. We went on cruise with 3, but the squadron that took over for us only had 2 and that prevented them from being able to fly with the tempo that we did.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

 

[gunfighter77]

I have been in Iraq since August 05 and the only gray aircraft around here are Marine aircraft. It seems that working along the rivers would be an easy transition for Navy squadrons. The rivers are where all of the action is. I'm sure the Navy has been using there helos to find a lot of submarines lately but we sure could use some relief over here.

 

[Gatordev]

And pretty much the entire operational side of the Navy helo side wants to come and play, but alas, we don't get to pick our battles (literally).

 

[gunfighter77]

Play is definitely an understatement, 5 more weeks left. I heard there was a Navy Reserve squadron over here but when I escorted them they were in Black 60's so I think they were Army 60's. I saw some pictures of grey Navy Medevac birds on the Dustoff website but haven't seen them in person nor do I know anyone who has seen them.

 

[Gatordev]

The reserve squadron you're speaking of is probably either HCS-4 or 5. They're an all Hotel squadron, and don't do the dust off mission (normally, anyway, I'm sure there's always exceptions).

 

[bobbybrock]

The Navy guys in country ( Iraq) don't do dustoff. The unit in Kuwait is doing dust off but only in Kuwait. I saw them down there about two months ago. They do all the Kuwait mission. Although I did a see a few Army dust off aircraft a the airfield.
Those are the only two navy helo units I know of in country.

 

[Poolzer]

Greetings!

A little history of our 'creation':

Army requested Navy support for Dust-off in late 2004 and in Jan 2005 the powers that be started the ball rolling by requesting 8 search and rescue corpsmen to start a comprehensive training pipeline. Late Feb-late March myself and 7 others reported to Ft Rucker, AL to 'prove' ourselves in their flight medic course. As we were going through this HS-15 and HSC-25 were designated as the 2 squadrons to support the 1st wave and started their pipeline.

In June the 8 of us reported to NASNI to go through SERE, PDAHS, an operational medicine course and met up with HSC-25 in El Centro for a 2 week HARP training det where we flew Iraqi based missions in HSC-21's MH-60s.

HSC-25 reported to NAS JAX in Aug and we got there Sept 1st. and were going to start training up as a group, but the whole Katrina thing happened and we sent 4 of our HM's to help with the HS guys already there. Between mid-Sept and mid-Nov we trained as a group doing Army run scenarios and working with the new litter management system (LMS) and wireless ICS (WICS)that were installed in 4 MH-60S and 3 HH-60H (the 60S LMS wasn’t installed until literally days before we deployed). We got in country in Mid Nov and did a 2 week pass down with the Army unit we were relieving (whom had been there for 11 1/2 months and were so happy we showed up!). We took the mission over Dec 1st and just hit our 100th mission today.

HSC-21 and the 2nd 1/2 of HS-15 came in country last week and we're doing turn over with them and they will assume the mission later this month.

Can field most questions as OPSEC allows, so feel free to ask away.

 

[Pags]

Greetings!

A little history of our 'creation':

Army requested Navy support for Dust-off in late 2004 and in Jan 2005 the powers that be started the ball rolling by requesting 8 search and rescue corpsmen to start a comprehensive training pipeline. Late Feb-late March myself and 7 others reported to Ft Rucker, AL to 'prove' ourselves in their flight medic course. As we were going through this HS-15 and HSC-25 were designated as the 2 squadrons to support the 1st wave and started their pipeline.

In June the 8 of us reported to NASNI to go through SERE, PDAHS, an operational medicine course and met up with HSC-25 in El Centro for a 2 week HARP training det where we flew Iraqi based missions in HSC-21's MH-60s.

HSC-25 reported to NAS JAX in Aug and we got there Sept 1st. and were going to start training up as a group, but the whole Katrina thing happened and we sent 4 of our HM's to help with the HS guys already there. Between mid-Sept and mid-Nov we trained as a group doing Army run scenarios and working with the new litter management system (LMS) and wireless ICS (WICS)that were installed in 4 MH-60S and 3 HH-60H (the 60S LMS wasn’t installed until literally days before we deployed). We got in country in Mid Nov and did a 2 week pass down with the Army unit we were relieving (whom had been there for 11 1/2 months and were so happy we showed up!). We took the mission over Dec 1st and just hit our 100th mission today.

HSC-21 and the 2nd 1/2 of HS-15 came in country last week and we're doing turn over with them and they will assume the mission later this month.

Can field most questions as OPSEC allows, so feel free to ask away.

great first post and pics!

pretty cool to see the 60S with all of its ASE gear installed.

 

[phrogdriver]

The Navy guys in country ( Iraq) don't do dustoff. The unit in Kuwait is doing dust off but only in Kuwait. I saw them down there about two months ago. They do all the Kuwait mission. Although I did a see a few Army dust off aircraft a the airfield.
Those are the only two navy helo units I know of in country.

Maybe I'm missing something. Wouldn't be the first time. So is the squadron in Kuwait just doing admin transport of casualties, or is it staging out of there to work in-country? What is the squadron in Iraq doing?

 

[Poolzer]

We cover all areas of Kuwait and southern Iraq.

 

[bobbybrock]

Good to hear that you guys are getting a little work in country. I know the reserve guys up north are doing some good stuff woth the 160th guys. They are reserve guys though.
When I was in country the med guys out of Kuwait did very little work up north. That sector is covered by another country.

 

[Grumpy4669]

2515th NAAD

Hey, I just returned from helping stand up the first Navy AA det at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait. The first wave of guys that went over focused mainly on medevac in Kuwait since the Army didn't really trust us going over the fence into Iraq, nor did they want to lose the assets once over the fence (the whole "who worked for whom" was a giant pain in the ass, but CFLCC in Kuwait did not want to lose "their" AA assets to the commanders in Iraq). The second wave is getting more missions in Iraq though, and I think that's because all the Navy guys are proving flying from pt a to pt b to pt c and back isn't as hard as the army guys want you to think it is. As far as the Marine who stated the only gray helos he saw were USMC, you need to open your eyes a little wider since HCS-4/5 have been in Balad for 3 years flying NSW support, and the HS guys off the carriers have been doing NSW support/convoy escort in the Basrah/Al Faw Peninsula for the last 2 years as well.

 

[HighDimension]

Welcome to the Forums Grumpy!

 

[ChuckMK23]

Grumpy -

So what were the real hurdles? Did your mission tasking include a set of GPS lat/longs? Did the Army think that was particularly challenging?

What about weather and day vs. night - I assume this was all done with goggles at night. Did you have any interservice grumblings over weather mins and 3710 vs. real world mission needs?

Thanks - and thank you for the updates and pics!

 

[bobbybrock]

Being an Army aviator I can probbaly answer some of the questions involving the mission.
I've flown in Iraq and Kuwait and can tell you that the flyign condition are very similar. But the problems start when you cross the border. You've gone from a permissive to a non-permissive enviorment. In Iraq we flew dual ship at all times. The only exception was our Dustoff guys. Then in the early fall of 05 one our pilots took a 12.5 mm round. Luckly he survived but at that point the command decided that all in country dustoff aircraft would have an armed escort. If you got a red cross on your aircraft you air not permitted to carry any crew served weapons. That being said the Navy would not be able to serve as escosrts for their own aircraft.
The army is going through some huge growning pains in the Dustoff community.Until the last year they worked own ther own and belonged to a medical command rather than an Aviation command. No longer the case. But the Medical Service Corps is having a very difficult time adapting to the way Army aviation branch works. I sure some of the MSC clowns who worked with the Navy didn't make the transition very smooth.It is difficult enough when and Army unit replaces an Army unit.
As far as the HCS4/5 guys in country. Yes they were there. My 160th friends said they provided some great support dong ISR and other support roles. But of the 366 days I was in Iraq I saw them very little.