PC-I Spring 2000
"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
where the future lay.
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
was missing.
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
Paramedic was born.
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 ...