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A young Marine’s life was at stake, and the sea services joined forces to save it.
It is a calm, still night in June 1987 in the South Pacific. The USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) rides large, gentle swells as she makes her way from Sydney, Australia, to Honolulu, Hawaii. The ship has completed more than five months of a six-month deployment, an everyone on board is eagerly looking forward to a two-day port call. The ship lies 380 miles from New Caledonia and 400 miles from the island of Fiji. A recent coup there has raised a lot of shipboard speculation about Fiji’s political status and stability.
The nightly routine in the ship has become almost boring, but that will not last long tonight. Over the ship’s intercom comes the announcement: “Man down- Away the medical response team! Lay to the hangar ^ bay!” The question in everyone’s eyes is, Why didn t he say, “This is a drill?”
Because this time, it isn’t. A Marine has fallen fr°n’
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ltoP a CH-46 helicopter. The medical response team ^ves the injured man from the hangar bay to the fop's hospital. There are no apparent fears about his addition. After all, this is the largest warship hospital tooat. Her fully staffed surgical team can handle nu- ^rous battle casualties. One Marine falling from an !lrcraft should pose no significant problem.
That, however, is not the case. The doctors find that [k Marine’s back is broken and his spinal cord has 'Cen damaged. There is severe lower-body nerve dam- which means the man must be in the hands of a ,:'urosurgeon as soon as possible. The only place in the ,acific that has one is Hawaii. The Amphibious Ready Jr°up lies 2,400 miles to the south.
After the surgical team briefs them, the commander * Amphibious Squadron Three, the commanding offi- er of 11th Marine Amphibious Unit, and the commanding officer of the Belleau Wood resolve to go to toiatever lengths are necessary to ensure that the young marine gets the best possible chance for a complete "'Covery. The ship’s operations officer, navigator, and *lr operations officer begin preliminary planning to move the patient to an airfield ashore, from which fixed-wing transportation can carry him to Hawaii. Simultaneously, the amphibious squadron (PhibRon) staff starts planning the fixed-wing linkup with higher commands, including Commander Seventh Fleet (Com- SeventhFlt) and Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet (CinCPacFlt).
Among the first questions the planners face is when and where to effect the linkup with a fixed-wing aircraft. Word comes in the early-morning hours after the accident that diplomatic clearance has been received for a mercy flight into Suva, Fiji. However, long before this, the air operations officer, ship’s navigator, and embarked squadron executive officer have begun the necessary ship and flight planning. They have discovered that Suva’s Nandi International Airport operates only in VHF frequencies for aircraft control. The helicopters working the transfer are equipped with only UHF and FM radios. Fortunately, embarked with the squadron is the first shipboard contingent of AV-8B Harriers, equipped with state-of-the-art VHF radios.
The air operations supervisor suggests launching an AV-8B to conduct radio relay among the medevac helicopter, Nandi International, and the Belleau Wood.
The only problem now is time. Morning is soon to arrive, and the ship must close to within 125 nautical miles before launching the helicopters. With three hours’ fuel aboard, the CH-46 aircraft will be able to make shore, effect the delivery, and return to the Belleau Wood without having to refuel. This is critical:
The only fuel available at Nandi is NATO F-35 jet fuel, which the Navy prohibits on board ships because of its low flash point. Crews and aircraft are designated for the mercy flight, and flight deck crews and maintenance personnel ready the aircraft. Everyone with a role in the drama is straining to achieve the earliest possible launch.
Word comes to the PhibRon staff and then to the Belleau Wood that a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules will arrive at Nandi from American Samoa. Aboard her will be five medical specialists from the USS Mercy (T-AH-19). The young Marine will have expert care en route from Fiji to Hawaii.
As the morning wanes, the Belleau Wood closes to the launch position. Flight coordination is made with Nandi through a high-frequency radio relay with the Pacific Flight 109.
Meanwhile, the ship’s medical personnel prepare the patient for the long air trek to Hawaii, the most important flight of his life. His condition is critical but stable. He is secured and comforted with cushions to protect his damaged spine from the vibrations that will jostle him during the journey.
As the launch hour approaches, the mercy-flight crewmen man their aircraft. The ship, at flight quarters, continues to close on the island of Fiji at full speed. The final diplomatic clearance is received. The PhibRon staff has permission from CinCPacFlt and ComSeventhFlt to proceed.
Four aircraft will participate in the mission, guided by the Belleau Wood's senior air traffic controller. The plan is to launch two CH-46E helicopters (YP-04 and
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YP-05) with auxiliary internal fuel tanks. Thirty minutes later two AV-8Bs will be launched. The AV-8Bs will proceed 60 nautical miles ahead and anchor to effect the communications link vital to the mission’s success. Besides its crew, the first CH-46E will carry the patient, two doctors, and one corpsman. The second CH-46E will provide flight integrity and mutual search- and-rescue support for the long overwater journey.
After 30 minutes on station, the second AV-8B will return to the Belleau Wood, hot refuel, and relaunch to relieve the lead Harrier. The second CH-46E will accompany the lead Sea Knight to within three nautical miles of shore, then loiter over the water until the transfer is complete. This is necessary because diplomatic clearance was granted for only one aircraft to land. Numerous air traffic routes and inbound aircraft to Nandi will force the mission aircraft to keep to 2,500 feet or below.
The hour is set for the launch. Combat cargo has gently but securely loaded the patient into the waiting mercy-flight helicopter. Then, two minutes prior to launch, a call comes in from ComSeventhFlt: “Hold the mission!” The C-130 is at Nandi, but is down mechanically. Another is en route from Hawaii. The mission is now delayed for two hours.
, This is a major setback for the patient. He is unloaded and returned to the ship’s hospital. The pilots of the Sea Knights are thankful, however, to have 40 nautical miles cut off their trip in each direction. All is quiet in the ship, but you can almost hear the anticipation and frustration. The next two long, hot hours drag on. All personnel remain near their duty stations, waiting for the word to commence the mission.
It arrives, and the launch sequence begins anew. Everyone does his part to move this critically injured Marine toward relief. The saying, “Marines helping Marines” in this case should be, “Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines helping Marines.” From the engineer who speeds along the ship to the helmsman who steers her; from the Coast Guard and Marine pilots who fly the aircraft to the Navy air traffic controllers who guide them; from the doctors who tend the patient to the communicators who maintain the radios—all hands in the Belleau Wood do their utmost to ensure the mission goes without flaw.
The launch is set for mid-afternoon so the patient and passengers will not have to be transported at night over open ocean. The CH-46Es take off; immediately, the air operations control center (AOCC) gives the helicopters radar vectors to their destination. The AV-8B aircraft are launched on time and proceed to their anchor position. The captain of the Belleau Wood continues to close on Fiji at best speed to spare the pilots a long overwater return flight. A naval aviator himself, he appreciates their formidable task—a long over-ocean flight into an unfamiliar country suffering from political unrest, carrying an invaluable cargo that has the attention of many senior commanders. An old Navy/Marine Corps adage applies here: “Don’t screw it up!” AOCC provides traffic advisories over the entire route. The first AV-8B makes contact with Nandi and begins to relay vectors to YP-05 and his wingman. The three-
way radio communication plan is working. The procedure keeps the Belleau Wood's AOCC and Tactical Art Control Squadron 11, Detachment B, informed, and they in turn keep the PhibRon staff, ComSeventhFlt, and CinCPacFlt advised of the mercy flight’s progress-
The second AV-8B returns to refuel. The first AV-8B obtains all clearances necessary over VHF rad' for YP-05 and relays them to the helicopter’s pilot °ve UHF radio. The plan is going like clockwork. YP-0a arrives at Nandi and lands near the disabled C-130 to discharge its “cargo.” The pilot is perplexed to find that no one is there to take charge of the patient, wnj YP-05 is on the ground, word comes from CinCPacf that the doctors from the Mercy have set up a temp0' rary hospital room in the VIP lounge of the main terminal. They decide to keep the patient there until the second C-130, which is en route, arrives from Hawaii This word goes from AOCC to the AV-8B and then 0 to YP-05. The helo pilot taxis to the main terminal, receiving all his instructions from the AV-8B aircraft 60 nautical miles away, which is receiving the initial instructions from Nandi tower only half a mile away from YP-05. YP-05 follows the tower’s instructions j° the letter, yet its pilot never speaks to the tower, and the AV-8B pilot never sees the airfield. Truly close teamwork!
YP-05 discharges its young Marine patient into the caring hands of doctors from the Mercy and prepares for the return flight. YP-04 has remained over water awaiting YP-05’s return. YP-05 requests takeoff instructions via the AV-8B radio relay from the tower and departs Nandi International. The mercy part of th mission is completed. God has guided the Navy/MaO team, now He must guide the Coast Guard crew fly’n- the young Marine to the surgeon’s hands. The next problem for the aviators is to make it home. The oe' leau Wood has closed to within 80 nautical miles of ^ shore and continues to narrow the gap. Upon lift-off YP-05, a bearing and distance are provided by the AOCC supervisor; in his 13-year career he has brouf all aircraft under his care home safely. He prays this deployment will be no different. The YP flight effects a routine join-up. The AV-8B has demonstrated the essence of his call sign—“Magic.” The flight returns to the Belleau Wood as uneventfully as a daily routi116 mission. -f
This is precision. It is the U. S. sea services at th peacetime best, working as a well-trained, well-disc1' plined team to effect the premier completion of an aS signed mission. No single element could have done mission alone. But together, all hands have worked to allow a young Marine the chance to live a full life-
Postscript: In spite of all the efforts, Marine Lance Corporal Jeffery Saddler is fighting a long hard batt on the road to recovery. The author and all players 1,1
Major Shelton is a CH-53 pilot who has served a combat tour m etnam, a tour as White House aircraft commander with HMX-1 1 Quantico, Virginia, and four deployments in the Western Pacific- the time of this incident he was air operations officer in the Be" Wood, an assignment in which he still serves.
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Proceedings / Aug“sl