Pararescue training intense, rewarding

  • Published
  • By Lee Ross
  • Nucleus editor
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  For the pararescuemen at Kirtland, the important exams have nothing to do with No. 2 pencils.

On Feb. 10, a group of students from the Det. 1, 342nd Training Squadron, who were loaded down with more than 100 pounds of gear, lined up and dropped out of the back of a C-130J.

The line of students formed a spiral in the sky as they parachuted several thousand feet down to a spot marked by a smoke grenade in the flat, scrub brush desert south of Kirtland.

This exercise brought together skills the students learned over two or more years, according to Maj. Seth Davis, the Det. 1, 342nd TRS commander. Davis parachuted to join the group after the C-130J made a second pass, after the students were safely on the ground.

"The students' exits were really good," he said. "Jumping with full equipment is not like skydiving. It's not fun. You're just trying to stay stable."

After packing their parachutes away and readying their weapons and medical equipment, the Airmen regrouped around Airman 1st Class Chris Brandt, who led them in the next portion of the exercise.

Brandt noted how the group could have improved its performance after the exercise was over.

"We were a little slow getting everything together," Brandt said. "And we could have landed a little bit closer together."

Brandt took point in a search for the injured pilots -- in this scenario, that's the reason pararescuemen had been sent to the area. They soon found Airmen 1st Class Caleb Simpkins and Michael Szydlowski in a ravine.

The "injured" Airmen had been made up to have visible and hidden injuries and were told to behave as though they were confused, dehydrated and fatigued.

The pararescuemen asked questions to assess where their patients were injured before attempting to move them. They also asked questions that might help uncover head trauma, like what day of the week it is and who the president is.

After the exercise, Tech. Sgt. Matt Champagne congratulated the students on their performance overall.

"You guys looked good. You're starting to think like operators, not students," he said.

He added that the students should not focus only on possible traumatic injuries. Not every patient will be horribly injured, he said. They should offer "environmental medicine," which includes offering the pilots lip balm and sips of water, he said.

On the ride back to Kirtland, Davis also offered up a few pointers.

He talked to the students about adjusting their body position in free fall to keep themselves from "potato chipping," or rocking like a potato chip in the wind before they deploy the parachute.

Instruction for pararescuemen is extensive, Davis said. They must learn to handle their weapons, take quite a bit of medical training and learn other skills to perform rescue operations over land, sea and air and rescue people who may be in exceedingly difficult to reach places.

The Air Force puts a lot of time and money into training pararescuemen, Davis said. And it is not uncommon for the Airmen to sustain injuries -- from cuts and bruises to broken bones -- during the training, he said.

"We are the most high-risk technical training school within the Air Education and Training Command. We lose four to eight students per class," he said. "We have a vested interest in the students' welfare. We want them to talk to us and tell us if they are hurt."

It is important to know about injuries quickly, Davis said, so the students can get medical treatment and be back to flying status and return to training.

According to Tech. Sgt. Jon Smith, who was the instructor in charge of the operation, exercises like these are tough. They bring together two years worth of training.

"Up until now they've been practicing (their skills)," he said. "But this ties them all together into an actual mission."