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Kadena Airmen aid injured mariners

  • Published
  • By Maj. John Hutcheson
  • PACAF
Kadena Air Base Japan (Sep. 27, 2008) --  A team of Pacific Air Forces and Air Force Special Operations Command Airmen from Kadena Air Base deployed Saturday to provide medical assistance to two injured mariners aboard a Panamanian freighter 750 nautical miles north of Saipan. 

Pararescuemen from the 31st Rescue Squadron and members of the 320th Special Tactics Squadron left around 2:30 p.m. aboard an MC-130 flown by the 1st Special Operations squadron. The 320th STS and 1st SOS are both part of the 353rd Special Operations Group, based at Kadena. The 31st RQS is part of the 18th Wing. 

After a fiour-and-a-half hour flight, a total of six Airmen performed a freefall jump into the Pacific Ocean from 3,500 feet around 7 p.m. Using two RAMZ, or Riggable Alternate Method Zodiac packages, consisting of inflatable zodiac boats and engines, the team made contact with the freighter and boarded it around 10 p.m. local time Saturday night. The freighter's crew was mostly Ukrainian, but the captain was able to communicate in English with the rescue team. 

The pararescuemen and special tactics Airmen immediately began providing medical aid to the two injured crewmembers, one of whom was in critical condition with head injuries. The Airmen stayed in constant contact with flight doctors at Kadena as they worked to stabilize the critical patient. During the course of the operation, a KC-135 from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron refueled the MC-130 which subsequently dropped resupply bundles for the Airmen on board the freighter. 

The Airmen will stay on board the ship providing medical assistance to the injured crewmembers until they can be evacuated to a hospital on Guam. According to the U.S. Coast Guard that is coordinating the rescue operation, two U.S. Navy search and rescue helicopter crews from Guam's Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Two Five (HSC-25) will fly to a rendezvous point near Saipan and transfer the injured crew members to Naval Hospital Guam for urgent care. 

"This is one of the many scenarios Air Force rescue professionals train for, and I'm glad that we were able to respond and provide the medical assistance desperately required by those injured crew members," said Maj. Jason Pifer, commander of the 31st Rescue Squadron. "I am proud of everyone, across both Air Force commands and the other services, who came together to make this event happen." 

Air Force pararescuemen, or PJs, are the only Department of Defense specialty specifically trained and equipped to conduct conventional or unconventional rescue operations. Their primary function is to deploy in any environment as a personnel recovery specialist, to authenticate, extract, treat, stabilize and evacuate injured personnel. 

Pararescuemen are among the most highly trained emergency trauma specialists in the U.S. military. They maintain an emergency medical technician-paramedic qualification throughout their careers. With this medical and rescue expertise, along with their deployment capabilities, PJs are able to perform life-saving missions in the world's most remote areas.

For more information contact 18 Wing Public Affairs at 011-81-6117-34-1509 or Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs at 808-448-3218.