CAMP DENALI, Alaska - Two Alaska National Guard members parachuted from a HC-130 "King" aircraft to perform a heroic rescue and save a man's life in Red Devil Feb. 1.
Suffering from extreme pain and vomiting following a surgical endoscopy, a 20-year-old male required immediate medical attention according to doctors 200 miles away in Bethel. The doctors conveyed that intravenous therapy was necessary for the patient to survive.
The 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center alerted the Alaska Air National Guard's 210th, 211th and 212th Rescue Squadrons at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 1 and crews were airborne before 10 p.m. in a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and HC-130 "King" aircraft.
Low cloud cover and unfavorable weather conditions did not allow pilots in the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter to safely reach Red Devil. After several attempts to navigate through Rainy, Merrill, Lake Clark and Shellabarger passes, pilots were forced to return to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson following a refuel with the HC-130.
"The Pave Hawk had to turnaround after multiple attempts to get through the weather, so the search and rescue duty officer directed us to get through to see if it was viable for us to execute a jump mission from the HC-130," said Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Maddama, a pararescueman with the Alaska Air National Guard's 212th Rescue Squadron.
Circling overhead of Red Devil in the HC-130, pilots wearing night vision goggles were unable to see the ground because of cloud cover. Running out of fuel, they made one final pass over the small town, 250 miles west of Anchorage, to see if they could conduct parachute drops into the Red Devil airfield.
"We kept checking weather," Maddama said. "Finally on the last flyover, we could see lights on the landing strip and were cleared to jump."
Jumping at 3,000-feet and carrying 60-pound packs, the "Guardian Angel" team of Maddama and Tech. Sgt. Dan Warren, a member of the 308th Rescue Squadron, from Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., leapt into 15 degrees below zero temperatures, blowing winds and inclement weather.
"Fortunately, we were communicating with a ground party in Red Devil and they used their snowmachines and ATVs to light the drop zone, providing us a reference to safely land," Maddama said.
After reaching the airfield, Maddama and Warren were greeted by the ground party and hurried to the 20-year-old patient.
"The patient was really sick," Maddama said. "We assessed him and provided medicine for his nausea and vomiting. We also checked his blood pressure which was pretty low, so we gave him fluids to get his blood pressure back up."
The Guardian Angel team contacted the medical staff in Bethel, relaying his deteriorating conditions and symptoms. Believing surgery was required to save his life, it was recommended that the patient be transported to Anchorage for medical care.
"All the aircraft had returned to JBER because of fuel and weather," Maddama said. "We stayed with the patient over the next nine hours until the Search and Rescue Duty Officer could get a HH-60 in there to pull us out."
Spending the night in Red Devil, the Guardian Angel team repeatedly checked the patient's symptoms and vital signs, watching over him until an HH-60 was able to safely get through the weather and land at 11 a.m. Feb. 2.
"He would have gone into septic shock within 48 hours if he wasn't treated," Maddama said. "[Technical] sergeant Warren did a great job as the medic and it took all three squadrons to execute this mission."
The patient was airlifted from Red Devil to the helicopter pad at Alaska Regional Hospital, where he was transported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in stable condition. The 210th, 211th, and 212th Rescue Squadrons were awarded one save for this mission.