"Death from above". The is how the modern generation has the Helicopter
             depicted to it by Hollywood. But reality hold a different truth. Most "Ground
             Pounders" remember things a little different. To them it was "Dusty" that is
             remembered from their war and they counted on. It was not a bird of prey, but a
             dove of mercy that brought life to the wounded. This air medical helicopter was
             the one that every wounded man listed and prayed for. And from this hope was
             The History behind Airmedical Evacuation began as many other things
             did, as an experimental derived from a war time military. During World War II the
             military's of the world took enormous casualties and suffered a high mortality rate
             because there was no way to expeditiously evacuate the wounded. In 1951, at
             the start of the Korean police action, Igor Sikorski's new invention, the Helicopter,
             changed all that. Even tough crude it did allow for fast extrication of the worst of
             the wounded and allowed Doctors to begin treatment faster. And yet something
             As world events changed the United States found itself involved in another
             conflict. This time it was in a small country in South East Asia called Vietnam. It
             was here in 1962 that the first of the "Dustoffs" were seen. At first there were no
             medical personnel on these flights but reason soon prevailed and medics soon
             went into the air. For several years these medics were the first line of care for
             those troops. Then in 1967 a revised training program was begun and the
             This new breed of combat medic was trained to an advanced level of
             medical care unheard of outside of a field hospital. With better equipment, more
             knowledge, and faster transport time, care of wounded personnel significantly
             improved and deaths from combat related injuries decreased.
             As with any other good idea word spread like wild fire. The civili...