Fall/Winter 12 - DUSTOFF Association

DUSTOFFER
THE DUSTOFF Association Newsletter
Fall/Winter 2012
In this issue:
Going Home
by Vietnam Vet Bud Willis
bc
The Fear I Never Lost
Meet Brave Medics in Afghanistan
bc
34th Annual DUSTOFF Assn. Reunion
Schedule and Information
(Pages 25–27)
Boots, rifles, and flight helmets representing four soldiers killed in the helicopter crash of a
Dustoff chase ship in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Killed in the crash were
CWO2 Nicholas Johnson, 27, San Diego, California; SPC Dean Shaffer, 23, Pekin, Illinois;
CWO2 Don Viray, 25, Waipahu, Hawaii; and SPC Chris Workman, 33, Boise, Idaho.
Photo by Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes. (Stories on page 14.)
The names of these four Soldiers have been added to the DUSTOFF KIA Memorial.
Fall/Winter 2012
PAGE 1
T
President’s Message
o the members of the DUSTOFF Association: Greetings and well wishes from the Home of Army Medicine, good ole Fort Sam Houston. In keeping with the
changing times, the Fort Sam Houston most of you all knew
is now called Joint Base San Antonio, and we are now commanded by an Air Force One Star. I would never have thought
that would come to pass. One of our bright shining lights is
that the “Fort Sam Houston” Garrison Commander, is now
called the “The 502nd Base Support Commander,” and he is
a DUSTOFF’er, COL John Lamoureux.
This year has been very busy and historical, as well for
the Association, with the release/premier showing of When
I Have Your Wounded: The DUSTOFF Legacy to the 43rd
Army Surgeon General and an audience of DUSTOFF heroes
at the Pentagon on 9 November 2012.
All is well within the DUSTOFF Association, and we wish
each and every one of you a very Happy Holiday season, as
it is fast approaching.
This was another great year for many of our DUSTOFF
DUSTOFF Association
Executive Council
President:
Johnny West................ johnny.west@amedd.army.mil
Executive Director:
Dan Gower.................. ed@dustoff.org
Vice President:
Jon Fristoe................... jon.fristoe@us.army.mil
Treasurer:
Dan Gower.................. treasurer@dustoff.org
Secretary:
Bob Mitchell............... robert.mitchell@amedd.army.mil
Historian:
Patrick Zenk................ historian@dustoff.org
Social Media:
Christopher Wingate... mcwingate@me.com
units, as they returned home to families and friends. Special
thanks goes to Dan Gower, Bob Mitchell, and Ben Knisely
for visiting each of those units (C-1-214th, Landstuhl, Germany; F-Co 5-159th Reserve unit from Clear Water, FL;
and C-3-82nd, Fort Bragg, NC), as they returned home, and
providing them with some heartfelt thanks and the customary DUSTOFF coins. We still have many men and women
deployed and in harm’s way. I ask that you keep each of them
in your thoughts and prayers.
The 2013 DUSTOFF REUNION planning is going strong,
and we’re hoping to have a great showing this year. Please
all mark your calendars for 12–14 April 2013 at the Crowne
Plaza Hotel, San Antonio, Texas. This year’s reunion will
coincide with a great Texas tradition— “Fiesta.”
We are truly looking forward to the DUSTOFF Reunion
coming back to San Antonio, and I believe we will have a
great attendance and festivities.
I ask a special favor and request from all those great
DUSTOFF Company Commanders—we know there are some
great missions and stories to be told, some special recognition
for the crews, individuals who went above and beyond their
normal duties. Please take the time to sit down and write up
that deserving crew, or that flight medic, crew chief, pilot. We
need your best efforts, and we need them soon. Please send
in your recommendation for Pilot of the Year, Crew Chief of
the Year, Medic of the Year, and Rescue of the year. We have
great sponsors from industry who also go above and beyond
to recognize each of these winners, so again, please take the
time and submit your nominations immediately.
The DUSTOFF Hall of Fame voting was exceptional this
year. With one of the highest turnouts in recent history, LTC
(R) Ron “Huey” Huether and LTC (R) Steve Vermillion will
be inducted into the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame at the 2013
DUSTOFF Reunion.
This has been a very busy and blessed year. I hope to
see each of you at this year’s DUSTOFF Reunion—“FiestaDUSTOFF!”
Warm regards,
Johnny L. West, President
DUSTOFF Association
DUSTOFFer Editor:
Jim Truscott................. jtrus5@aol.com
Web Site: http://www.dustoff.org
Ronald Huether........... ron@hueyproductions.com
uuuuu
DUSTOFFer layout & design
Susan Gower..................................... rockgower@yahoo.com
Printing
The Sorceror’s apPRINTice
PAGE 2
The DUSTOFFer
Going Home
O
Article published in the June 2012 issue of Vietnam Magazine, by Bud Willis, a Marine helicopter pilot
in Vietnam, 1966-67. The feelings expressed here are shared by many Vietnam veterans.
n March 17, 1967, after 642 missions, I closed out
my combat flight log. I had only 10 short days remaining on a 13-month tour, “12 and 20,” as it was
known throughout the ranks. It was understood that a Soldier
wasn’t as likely to make his best decisions, so they cut him
some slack and sent him to the rear, where he wouldn’t hurt
anybody. Relegated to the role of wizened warrior, I wasn’t
expected to do any more “heavy lifting,” and at last I could
start thinking seriously about going home.
You may remember the VMO-2 ball cap that Tom Selleck
wore in Magnum, PI. VMO-2 was my Marine Observation
Squadron at Marble Mountain, four miles west of Da Nang,
where I piloted my first combat mission on 1 March 1966.
Our small band of rookie Huey drivers, operating so close
to North Vietnam, found itself on the bleeding edge of a war
unlike any other in history. This was a helicopter war, where
we shuttled grunts directly into live action, practically on
DUSTOFF Association
Past Presidents
Chuck Mateer (1980–81)................ deceased
John Hosley (1981–82)................... mjohnhosley@gmail.com
Byron Howlett (1982–83)............... bybkhow@satx.rr.com
Ed Taylor (1983–84)....................... eddotaylor@aol.com
Thomas Scofield (1984–85)............ tomsco@erols.com
Joseph Madrano (1985–86)............ jmadrano@satx.rr.com
Jim Ritchie (1986–87)
Donald Conkright (1987–88).......... dconkright@sbcglobal.net
Roy Hancock (1988–89)................. southflite@yahoo.com
Glen Melton (1989–90).................. deceased
Gerald Nolan (1990–91)................. gerrynolan@aol.com
Jim Truscott (1991–92)................... jtrus5@aol.com
Roger Opio (1992–93).................... roger.opio@amedd.army.mil
Ed Bradshaw (1993–94)................. edwardb421@aol.com
Robert Romines (1994–96)............ deceased
Daniel Gower (1996–97)................ aggiedustoff@yahoo.com
Charlie Webb (1997–98)................. dustoff6@hotmail.com
Herb Coley (1998–99).................... coleyhs@earthlink.net
Merle Snyder (1999–2000)............. snyder@belmontcc.com
Gregg Griffin (2000–01)................. greg.griffin@us.army.mil
Jeff Mankoff (2001–02).................. jgmankoff@satx.rr.com
Ken Crook (2002–03)..................... kcrook@satx.rr.com
Art Hapner (2003–04).................... hapnera@erols.com
Ernie Sylvester (2004–05) ............. erniesylvest@verizon.net
Garry Atkins (2005–06).................. garrylynatkins@aol.com
Doug Moore (2006–07).................. doug.e.moore.ctr@health.mil
Timothy Burke (2007–08).............. tim.burke@us.army.mil
Robert Mitchell (2008–10)............. robert.mitchell4@us.army.mil
Bryant Harp (2010–11)................... bryant.harp@us.army.mil
Scott Drennon (2011-12)................ william.drennon@us.army.mil
Founder
Tom “Egor” Johnson......................... gentjohnson@cox.net
Members at Large
David Litteral...................................david.litteral@msn.com
Rock Agosta.....................................richard.agosta@us.army.mil
Scott Heintz.....................................dsheintz@aol.com
Mike Bishop....................................mike.bishop1@us.army.mil
Fall/Winter 2012
an hourly basis.
Most of the young pilots in my squadron were completely naive about death and combat when they were sent
to Vietnam, and they certainly had no desire to kill anyone.
This made the sheer volume of Medevacs we witnessed
even more heartbreaking. Some of us, especially Medevac
pilots, who were exposed to live combat nearly every day,
almost expected not to make it out alive. It seemed arrogant
to think that you would return home to lead a normal life
when so many good people, some of them your friends, did
not. Sleepless nights dogged by thoughts of bullets ripping
through various parts of my body had kept me “entertained”
for over a year, but I had somehow managed to dodge those
bullets in the real world and could return home.
My orders home were slow to come in, so I spent a couple
of weeks in a lonely twilight zone. The young lieutenants
who were in my hooch when I had moved in had one-byone rotated home. Charlie Plunkett, Steve Waltrip, and Poop
Ashbaugh, who had entertained me with their antics for
months, became quiet and reclusive during their end days.
Together, we had experienced a coming of age in that little
hooch on the South China Sea.
One night, when our poker game was interrupted by a
mortar attack, we sat in a dark bunker, trying to guess where
the mortars were landing. When Waltrip courageously suggested that we put on our flight suits and run down to the
flight line to evacuate the Hueys, it only took a few seconds
to conclude we weren’t doing that, not in a million years.
We had all acquired leather holsters and were wearing nothing but our dyed-green underwear with our pistols on our
hips like half-naked cowboys, wondering if it might come
down to hand-to-hand combat. I knew I would never experience another bond like the one I shared with these men,
the same way I knew I would never see them again when
all this was over.
Each of my hoochmates entered into his own private
transition for going home, though they prepared themselves
in a similar fashion —writing home, reflecting, and talking
quietly with each other. There was no fanfare for their departure, nor did they want any. They just sort of dissolved.
One day their duffel bags sat on the floor, the next day they
were gone. New officers took their places and rearranged
their spaces to suit themselves.
One of them, a senior captain named Jack Owens, asked
to be put into a hooch with a “seasoned pilot,” and they put
him in Waltrip’s old spot, next to me. He snored so loudly,
we accused him of blistering the plywood on the ceiling.
There was an unwritten rule that experience trumped
rank, and one night Owens sat at the end of my cot and told
me that I was one of the most respected pilots in the squadron. After that, I told him everything I knew about flying into
hot zones and how to protect himself with common sense.
Each pilot had to develop his own version of survival. Mine
(Going, continued on page 4.)
PAGE 3
(Going, continued from page 3.)
was to fly as often as possible and not to
waste a bit of time, effort, energy, fuel,
words, ammo, or emotion.
Owens was an all-American guy
and a good pilot. He reminded me of
one of my best childhood friends, who
was killed by a drunk driver when he
was 14—the first time I’d experienced
the death of a close friend. I had felt
overwhelming sorrow for my friend
and for his grieving dad, who could
barely stand at the funeral. I also felt
sad for the poor fellow who hit him.
That’s when I decided that no matter
how complicated life is, death should
be the easiest part. A couple of years
after that, when I lost another teenage
friend in a train accident, I felt I was
being sent the message that I should
prepare myself with a special set of
survival skills.
One night, Owens asked me if I had
a relationship with Jesus Christ and if I
had ever accepted him as my personal
savior. I told him that I had screamed
his name a few time on some of my
missions. He chuckled uncomfortably,
but I could tell he had a lot on his mind.
I told him that I was a Christian, if that’s
what he meant. I think he just wanted to
know where my calmness came from.
Seeing these new guys, like Jack
Owens, come into my squadron just
as I was preparing to leave, robbed
me of some of the excitement of going
home. They were experienced pilots,
but green to combat, and there was
too much for them to process without
practical advice and mentoring.
In my early days in Vietnam, I flew
copilot with some people who would
spend 10 or 15 minutes circling the
landing zone like a buzzard. Then they
would make a conventional, into-thewind approach, as though they were on
a training hop. We learned to refine this
“sitting duck” approach, and as I told
Owens, “I don’t think it matters which
way you approach, as long as you turn
into the wind and have everything
under control at the last second.” The
point is, you don’t telegraph your plan.
It’s like the old joke about never calling
your wife from a bar. You’ll be yelled
at on the phone and ambushed again
when you come home. Instead, you
should “sneak in with your shoes off.”
I also shared with Owens how
PAGE 4
important it was on a Medevac mission never to look back, and I told him
about a wounded Marine, in shock,
who jumped off his stretcher with no
legs. The bones in his stumps stuck in
the dirt as he hung helplessly by his elbows, while his two terrified stretcherbearers scrambled to help him back on
the stretcher. The last thing I saw out
of the corner of my eye, and the image
I will never forget, was the red cloud
of dirt and dust that our Huey stirred
up around them as we lifted off the
hospital pad. Jesus Christ!
According to the senator
[Fulbright], we have a glorified image of our nation,
believing it’s our duty to
do God’s work. It made me
wonder if the people who
create wars actually know
why we fight them.
When my orders to go home finally
arrived, I visited the VMO-2 squadron
line shack, where the crew chiefs and
corpsmen hung out, and made my
goodbyes, thanking everyone and shaking hands. Then they cranked up the
Medevac slick for our short ride to Da
Nang. A few of us who had come over
to Vietnam together sat in the back of
the Huey on a stretcher that was stained
brown with dried blood.
In Da Nang, we could see the long
white Pan Am 707 waiting to take us
home, but none of this seemed to be
sinking in. It felt as if my mind were
on a dimmer switch set to its lowest
setting. MAJ Bob Plamondon and
CPT Harold “Gus” Plum, on the other
hand, were practically giddy with anticipation, taking snapshots with a new
Polaroid camera and peeling off the
developed pictures instantly. Amazing!
Dr. Curtis Richard “Doc” Baker, our
flight surgeon, had given me a couple
of pills so I could sleep on the plane. A
stop in Okinawa would add an extra day
to our 10,000-mile journey. Once we
were inside the aircraft and the stewardess closed the door, it finally hit me that
I would not be coming back to Marble
Mountain. Images of my hooch entertained me for a few minutes: the “patio”
deck made of wooden pallets, where we
shared so many stories and warm beers;
our poor little fake Christmas tree still
sitting there in March flocked in red dirt
and sand; and the squadron’s adopted
pet monkey, Justin Case, whose lack
of house training epitomized the chaos
that surrounded us.
When the pilot taxied for takeoff,
my thoughts began cascading irrationally. Rather than feeling relieved to
be going home, apprehension and guilt
began to chew my insides. My mind
played tricks on me. Was this a part of a
cruel joke, and everybody on the plane
was going to die in a spectacular crash?
Time stood so still that I tapped on my
watch to wake up the sweep hand. I
leaned forward in my seat, unwilling
to become too attached to it. As on my
Medevac missions, I needed to focus in
front of me and not look back.
An Army officer sitting next to
me was reading Senator William Fulbright’s new book, The Arrogance of
Power, in which Fullbright strongly
criticized the war. His book attacked the
justification of it, as well as Congress’s
failure to set limits on it. I read along
with him for a while as he turned the
pages. Fullbright blamed our involvement on Cold War geopolitics, claiming
that the United States is cursed with a
Puritan spirit that leads us to look at
the world through a distorted prism
of angry moralism. According to the
senator, we have a glorified image of
our nation, believing it’s our duty to do
God’s work. It made me wonder if the
people who create wars actually know
why we fight them.
The nagging premonition of tragedy
would not leave me alone. I could feel
Doc Baker’s two sleeping pills lying
loose in my left front pocket, but I’d
waited too long to take them. I felt like
a feral cat that had been forced into a
strange domestic environment, hovering on the edge of anxiety. When we
finally landed in Okinawa, I spent the
rest of the day standing in line, being
processed. After dinner that night, MAJ
Palmondon brought me some very bad
news.
Just hours after saying farewell
that morning at Marble Mountain, my
former hoochmate, Jack Owens, was
killed on a routine recon mission out
of Dong Ha. His plane was riddled
(Going, continued on page 5.)
The DUSTOFFer
(Going, continued from page 4.)
with heavy-caliber and small-arms fire,
and he was killed instantly. Doc Baker
also perished in the crash, along with
a 22-year-old door gunner, CPL Paul
Albano, and a 19-year-old crew chief,
George Stevenson, both of whom I
visited in the line shack before leaving.
This horrific incident had coincided
with my irrational anxiety attack on
the plane. Doc Baker died before I
could swallow his sleeping pills. I felt
an urgent need to keep pressing on
toward home.
By the time we boarded our flight
to San Francisco the next morning,
I began to feel as if my entire tour
had been nothing more than a dream,
similar to a long novel, and it would be
up to me to write the ending. As soon
as the stewardess handed me a Coke,
I swallowed one of Doc Baker’s pills.
As I struggled to relax, those images of
bullets ripping through various parts of
my body paid me another short visit.
It’s simply not possible to process the
weight of everything a war can throw
at you.
When the second pill didn’t calm
me down, I began to suspect that Doc
had actually given me the amphetamines as a practical joke, but by the
time we landed in San Francisco, I was
so subdued, I barely remember the walk
to the terminal. I said goodbye to Gus
Plum and promised to stay in touch
—a promise I couldn’t keep. Plum
would be dead two weeks later when
the helicopter he was riding in crashed
into a mountain during an orientation
flight at El Toro Marine Base, killing
everyone on board.
I still had another long flight to Tennessee ahead of me. In the terminal, the
shapely legs of women clicking their
high heels as they walked past perked
up my spirits. A man came over to
shake my hand and thank me for my
service, something I wasn’t expecting
from reading the newspapers. I ordered
a beer and watched the frost melt on
the bottle; the bartender wouldn’t take
my money.
Somewhere between the Golden
Gate Bridge and the St. Louis Arch,
my brain fog lifted. I stared out the
window like a child on his first airplane
ride. The closer we came to my home
state of Tennessee, the more I began
to realize I just might be out of the
woods. It dawned on me that people
wouldn’t be shooting at me anymore,
and whatever challenges might be
thrown my way, instant death wasn’t
a likely outcome of a wrong decision.
I promised myself that I would never
worry about anything else because the
worst was surely behind me.
I pondered how my experience had
changed me, knowing that I wasn’t the
same person who had left 13 months
ago. That guy was never coming home.
I’d picked up a few idiosyncrasies that
I’d have to work through. I could no
longer tolerate whining and selfish
behavior. And I seemed to have developed a hyper-awareness of everything
around me. In my peripheral vision,
I could see the stewardess with her
cherry-red fingernail polish. “Sir, I need
you to put your seat forward,” she said,
every word carefully crafted from her
corporate training. Her beverage smile
was gone now as she collected empty
cups and checked passengers for loose
seat belts.
Through the open cockpit door, I
could see the pilots going through the
prelanding procedures and talking to
the air traffic controller. Books and
magazines were being stowed. Several
reading lights remained on. A sergeant
coming back from the lavatory pulled
on the back of my seat as he went
by. He had a window seat in row 16.
The men at the windows were staring
intently down to earth. Those on the
aisle looked straight ahead, watching
the pilots. The seat belt light came on,
accompanied by three soft tones.
I dug out my ballpoint pen to see if
I could remember the oath I’d recited
as a 12-year-old Tenderfoot Scout. On
my honor, I will do my best . . . to do
my duty . . . to God and my country. . . .
I had no idea what would be waiting
for me in the world that I had left behind so many lives ago, but the simple
words seemed to be as good a place as
any to start my life over again. I knew
that this landing would not mean the
end of Vietnam for me. This war would
never end. But my seat belt and tray
table were once more in the full upright
and locked position, and I was ready
for landing. 
My Sister, the President
The year is 2016, and the United States has just elected the first woman president. A few days after the
election, the president-elect, whose name is Debra, calls her father and says, “So, Dad, I assume you will be
coming to my inauguration?”
“I don’t think so. It’s a 10-hour drive.”
“Don’t worry about it, Dad. I’ll send Air Force One, and a limousine will pick you up at your door.”
“I don’t know. Everybody will be so fancy. What would your mother wear?”
“Oh Dad,” replies Debra, “I’ll make sure she has a wonderful gown custom-made by the best designer in
Washington.”
“Honey,” Dad complains, “you know I can’t eat those rich foods you eat.”
The President-to-be responds, “Don’t worry, Dad. The entire affair will be handled by the best caterer in
Washington; I’ll ensure your meals are salt-free. You and Mom just have to be there.”
So Dad reluctantly agrees, and on January 20, 2017, Debra is being sworn in as President of the United
States. In the front row sits the new president’s dad and mom.
Dad, noticing the senator sitting next to him, leans over and whispers, “You see that woman over there with
her hand on the Bible, becoming President of the United States?”
The Senator whispers back, “You bet I do.”
Dad says proudly, “Her brother is an Army Aviator!”
Fall/Winter 2012
PAGE 5
Training Pays Off for Stranded Fort Polk Soldier
F
A news release from the Fort Polk Public Affairs Office, posted March 23, 2012, by Kristian Claus
ORT POLK, La. — Fort Polk Directorate of Emergency Services,
military police and the United
States Army Air Ambulance Detachment (Cajun Dust Off), 5th Aviation
Battalion put their medical evacuation
training to the test, conducting a live
hoist medevac mission early in the
morning March 21.
More than 10 inches of heavy rain
struck Fort Polk March 20-21, causing
severe flooding in some areas. A Soldier was attempting to cross a flooded
road in an HMWVV on his way to the
Joint Readiness Training Center training area when his vehicle was caught
in the water. The Fort Polk firefighters
were dispatched to the site to find the
vehicle more than two-thirds covered,
with water over the hood and bed of
the vehicle, said Chief Michael Kuk,
Fort Polk DES.
“We were out there on-scene right
after we got the call and immediately
identified how he needed to be rescued.
We lit up both sides of the crossing
and coordinated with Dust Off to get a
hoist,” Kuk said. “Water was pushing
the vehicle with a current of about five
miles per hour and was chest-high.”
Fort Polk DES had their water
rescue teams on standby in case the
medevac couldn’t launch due to the
weather.
“The 911 dispatch contacted our
dispatch and told us about a guy
stranded on a vehicle. The firefighters
wanted us on standby, so we prepped
ourselves and waited,” said CWO3
Daron Hankins, the pilot for Cajun
Dust Off.
“The fire department called for a
hoist, giving us the grid (location) of
the incident. The weather was still dangerous, but the battalion commander
(LTC Christopher Speer) approved the
mission,” said SGT 1st Class Rodney
Dippel, the medic for the USAAAD.
“We opened the doors to the helicopter, and I was lowered onto the
truck. The crew chief and pilot had
to be precise to drop me accurately.
If it was too far to either side (of the
vehicle), I would be in the water.”
PAGE 6
The crew chief’s job is important
for the safety of the medic being lowered, Dippel said. The crew chief’s
job is to “assist the medic and be the
hoist operator,” said SPC Olin Sparks,
the crew chief for USAAAD. “I’m responsible for getting (the medic where
he needs to be) and telling the pilot
“It was the most challenging call I’ve had in my
career. There was heavy
rain and about two miles
of visibility,” Hankins said.
what’s going on, because he can’t see
(below him).”
Once Dippel was lowered onto the
HMWVV and his cable was hoisted
back up to the aircraft, the pilot circled
around until Dippel asked for a pick-up.
“The first thing I did was hook up the
patient. He looked very happy to see
me, since he was cold and stranded,”
Dippel said.
Dippel then called for the pilot to
return to do the hoist.
The pilot hovered 100 feet above
the ground to hoist Dippel and the
Soldier at the same time. Once the patient was safely inside the aircraft, he
was put on a litter to be treated. “We
covered him with blankets and turned
up the heat. We wanted to treat him for
hypothermia, and then we took him to
(Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital),” Dippel said.
The mission posed some difficulty for the USAAAD because of the
weather. “It was the most challenging
call I’ve had in my career. There was
heavy rain and about two miles of visibility,” Hankins said.
The 5th Aviation Battalion’s training, however, assisted in a successful
operation.
“I was very impressed with our
guys. We trained over and over in similar instances for this mission. It was our
first real-world hoist in more than two
years,” Hankins said.
Joint training with Fort Polk’s DES
“in a hoist extraction was vital to the
success of this mission,” Speer said.
“The challenge was the weather, but
our crew felt comfortable doing the
mission.”
Kuk said he felt the mission was a
great cooperation between the USAAAD and DES. “How we train worked
out perfectly in real life,” he said.
“We train for this all the time, but
you don’t really expect it to happen. I
treated this like a training mission, but
also knew someone’s life was on the
line. I paid attention to what I needed to
do for the medic and the pilot,” Sparks
said. “Missions like this are the reason
we train. You never know when you’ll
need it.” 
The DUSTOFFer
Pre-Deployment Flight Medic Training
by MSG Michael Stoddard, Operation Enduring Freedom 11-12, 68W5M, First Sergeant,
C CO 2-227th Aviation Regiment, Class 62, 01 October 2011
Abstract
Pre-deployment flight medic training has become a significant challenge
for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC)
companies across the Army that have
the responsibility to treat and evacuate
the War Fighter. It is my intention to
share with you the challenges I had
as the MEDEVAC Company First
Sergeant for 1st Cavalry Division in
preparing my flight medics for deployment to Afghanistan in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom ’11–’12.
While the Army works to create more
robust flight medic training, beginning
in 2012, current and future MEDEVAC
Company First Sergeants can use my
experience to bridge the capabilities
gaps that have been identified in Afghanistan. Training that is resourced,
planned, and prepared will ensure that
flight medics are better equipped with
the tools necessary to provide care to
the War Fighter in Afghanistan.
Pre-deployment
Flight Medic Training
Pre-deployment flight medic training continues to be a significant challenge for MEDEVAC companies
deploying to Afghanistan. Dedicated
Unhesitating Service to Our Fighting Forces (DUSTOFF) has been the
promise that flight medics have made to
the War Fighter for over 40 years. The
ability to keep the promise is based on
the training flight medics receive to sustain their proficiency. Afghanistan has
presented new scenarios to the flight
medic community, which included
longer evacuation times and different
patient demographics. Together these
challenges have placed demands that
required the flight medics to be better
equipped and trained.
Another challenge was to find the
quality of training needed to incorporate the increase in population of
flight medics in the Modified Table of
Organization and Equipment (MTOE)
from 12 to 30. The pre-deployment
training included multiple outsourced
resources that proved to be the cornerFall/Winter 2012
stone of successfully training the flight
medics required for their mission in
Afghanistan. This paper will show the
training conducted for the flight medics
and demonstrate that with great support
from the chain of command, the ability
to think outside the box, and to put the
time and energy into planning training,
Afghanistan has presented new
scenarios to the flight medic
community, which included
longer evacuation times and
different patient demographics. Together these challenges
have placed demands that required the flight medics to be
better equipped and trained.
it is possible to ensure your flight medics are ready to treat and evacuate the
War Fighter.
Setting the Stage
MTOE Change Challenge
Upon return from Operation Iraqi
Freedom (OIF) 09-10, my company
was told that it would be deploying to
Afghanistan in the next year. As with
any return from a deployment, comes
a reset that includes a huge personnel
change-over. This led to the loss of
senior flight medics, which included
my standardization instructor, who
was responsible for the oversight of
flight medic training. The company
was made aware that we would be
going through an MTOE change that
would increase our aircraft from 12 to
15 and our personnel from 85 to 109.
As previously mentioned, a challenge
with this MTOE increase was that my
company would be authorized 30 flight
medics, which was an increase from the
12 the company was authorized during
the Iraq deployment. The increase in
flight medics was the biggest challenge,
as the Army had identified a shortage
of flight medics.
I was offered the opportunity by the
Brigade Command Sergeant Major to
brief the Division Command Sergeant
Major on the increase to my flight
medic authorizations. I put together a
flight medic manning brief that demonstrated the shortages and highlighted
the training challenges. The result from
the flight medic manning brief was
the support of the Division Command
Sergeants Major, provided by filling
my flight medic shortage from within
the 1st Cavalry Division. The end
state resulted in the re-assignment of
six medics from within the Division
and making them on-the-job training
flight medics. This was a huge success
in getting the necessary flight medics
early, so training could be done in time
for the deployment to Afghanistan. The
flight medic increase was not the only
challenge; there was also the challenge
of ensuring that the flight medics were
trained to meet the mission requirements in Afghanistan.
Training: Planned, Resourced
and Executed
It was immediately identified that
based on the last five years of afteraction reviews coming out of Afghanistan, there was a flight medic capabilities gap. It would be necessary to build
a pre-deployment flight medic training
program that used the resources the
Army Medical Department provided
with the Medical Simulation Training
Center on Fort Hood and the Brigade Combat Trauma Training Team
(BCT3). Outsourced training with the
Army Trauma Training Center and
Remote Solutions would have to be
funded by the 1st Cavalry Division.
The pre-deployment training process really started during a meeting at
the Brigade that the Company Commander and I attended. During this
meeting, the Brigade Commander
asked about our plan to train our flight
medics for the mission in Afghanistan.
The Brigade Commander encouraged
us to find the best training possible for
our flight medics, and funding for the
training event would be approved and
(Training, continued on page 8.)
PAGE 7
(Training, continued from page 7.)
paid for by the Brigade. The first step
would be to do the homework necessary to get the best training I could
find for my flight medics. This would
seem like a dream come true for any
First Sergeant. It was, but it did not
come without some challenges. With
the flexibility the Brigade Commander
afforded the company, I was able to
take the opportunity to outsource the
training my flight medics received.
Thinking Out of the Box
Army Trauma
Training Center
When the Brigade Commander
instructed the Company Commander
and me to find the best training available, it was a great opportunity for both
of us to think outside of the normally
available resources. I did research
and found the Army Trauma Training
Center (ATTC) in Miami, which trains
Forward Surgical Teams prior to deployment to Afghanistan. The ATTC in
Miami is a two-week course, focusing
on preparing Forward Surgical Teams
for the trauma they will encounter
while deployed.
Ryder Hospital in Miami is one of
the busiest trauma centers in the country and can see as many as 11 trauma
cases a day. The average trauma cases
seen are 80% gunshot or knife wounds,
10% motor vehicle accidents, 5% children and 5% other. I recognized that
these were exactly what the flight medics would be exposed to in Afghanistan.
Another benefit of sending
junior flight medics was
to expose them to real
trauma situations while
being supervised.
The first step was to call the ATTC
in Miami to see if sending my flight
medics was an option, as ATTC’s primary mission was focused on deploying Forward Surgical Teams. When I
spoke to the personnel at ATTC and
explained to them my situation, I was
told that the program had never trained
flight medics before, but the staff would
be interested in setting up an opportunity to introduce flight medics into the
program. It was exciting to think, we
would be the first MEDEVAC Com-
pany to utilize this training in preparation for Afghanistan.
I was limited to slots that a scheduled Forward Surgical Team left open,
which meant I would only get two to
three slots per month. Training only
three flight medics per month was a
serious roadblock, and I would only be
able to train 12-15 of the 30 flight medics in the company. The average cost to
train three flight medics was $10,000.
I developed an order of merit list and
scheduled the training for my junior
flight medics who had never been exposed to a real trauma situation. I used
one senior flight medic to serve as the
mentor for them during the rotation.
Another benefit of sending junior
flight medics was to expose them to
real trauma situations while being supervised. Experiencing the horrors of
war for the first time in the back of a
helicopter in Afghanistan could ruin a
young flight medic. The training at the
ATTC in Miami proved the best first
step, as the flight medics I sent were
exposed to multi-system traumas. Their
experiences gave the flight medics the
confidence needed to perform the mission while deployed. In the end, I was
(Training, continued on page 9.)
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PAGE 8
The DUSTOFFer
(Training, continued from page 8.)
able to train 12, of which nine were new
flight medics. I would highly recommend using the Army Trauma Training
Center as a pre-deployment requirement for MEDEVAC companies. The
U.S. Army Medical Command should
routinely resource that type of training
for deploying flight medics.
Remote Solutions
The next training challenge for my
flight medics was bringing in a company that offered advanced trauma training for flight medics. Remote Solutions
is a company that is contracted to build
advance trauma training based on your
unit’s mission-essential task list. This
was a simple solution for ensuring my
flight medics received the best training
they could get prior to deploying, or at
least I thought it was simple.
I conducted initial coordination
with Remote Solutions after I was
given permission by my chain of command to find the training that would
meet the requirements for Afghanistan.
The way this training was approved is
something that I must share as a lesson
learned. The conversation started with
Remote Solutions in December of 2010
with the intent to conduct training April
4 through 9.
The first priority was determining
the cost of the training, so a briefing
could be done for the Division Commander. The cost of the training was
going to be over $90,000. On the surface the cost seems extreme. However,
that training included a cadaver lab, live
tissue training, and classes in Advanced
Trauma Training. Another benefit of the
outsourced course was its accreditation,
which gave the flight medics a total of
56.5 hours of continuing medical education (CME). All 68Ws are required
to attend 72 hours of CME every two
years.
The process began for getting
the contract approved. This training had full support of the Division
Commander, but there were many
more steps in the process of contract
approval. The contract was finally approved in March 2011, just a couple of
weeks from the start date of training.
My lesson learned was that what I was
entering into was a sole source contract,
and in a perfect world it is preferable
Fall/Winter 2012
to get another option. In addition, the
contract development was so close to
executing the training, the Commander
and I were forced to attend a III Corps
Contract Review Board to justify the
requirement.
The contract review board was an
eye-opening experience, and I learned
that you must justify your requirement not by emotion but by facts. The
Commander and I were able to use
after-action reviews for Afghanistan
to help in validating our requirement.
The reality is, you never know where
or who you may have to brief, but if
The great challenge to
the flight medics was that
all the scenarios were at
night under minimal lighting, and there was also
the challenge of fatigue.
you have a requirement to train your
flight medics, it really does not matter who you brief; it matters that you
get the funding approved to conduct
the training needed. The 1st Cavalry
Division Chain of Command was very
supportive, and it was because of that
support that the Commander and I were
able to get over $90,000 for training
that was justly needed.
The question remains was the
training with Remote Solutions worth
it? I would say without a doubt. The
first day of training was a cadaver lab
that provided a great anatomy and
physiology class, which set the tone
for the training days ahead, including
two days of live tissue training. The
average training day was 15-18 hours
and started with classroom instruction
that covered medication, advanced
trauma training that broke down each
individual body system and then moved
out to an urban training site to put into
practice what was learned in the classroom. The great challenge to the flight
medics was that all the scenarios were
at night under minimal lighting, and
there was also the challenge of fatigue.
Our motto in the Army is “Train as
you fight.” The capstone to this event
was the utilization of MEDEVAC
aircraft. It incorporated simulated missions that included live hoist missions,
like those the flight medics would
conduct in Afghanistan. To accomplish
that, my company was required to get
an urban training site and provide helicopters to support simulated MEDEVAC missions. These simulations were
the culminating training event for my
flight medics and helped to alleviate
the gaps in flight medics’ capabilities
identified in AARs from Afghanistan.
Fort Hood Medical
Training Option
Medical Simulation
Training Center
The training available at Fort Hood,
Texas, included the Medical Simulation
Training Center (MSTC) site and the
opportunity to utilize Brigade Combat
Trauma Team Training (BCT3). The
MSTC site did provide a great area in
which to train and was very well resourced with medical simulation manikins. The challenge with the MSTC site
was that it was designed to train the
mission set of the medics assigned to
a Brigade Combat Team, and it is the
only site certified for CPR and EMTB refresher that falls in line with the
requirements for 68W recertification.
Flight medics have a requirement
to remain current on International
Trauma Life Support, and neither the
MSTC site nor the hospital was able to
meet this requirement. That meant that
to gain this required certification, the
training would have to be outsourced.
The MSTC site did have some great
training value, and my flight medics
did use the site for patient assessment
scenarios and to do tactical scenarios.
However, the site was not able to
support the MEDEVAC mission requirements; for example, there was no
HH-60 mock up.
Brigade Combat Trauma
Team Training
The next option for training was BCT3,
which was very good trauma training.
This venue would have provided training similar to the Remote Solutions
option, but there was one huge issue.
Unfortunately, BCT3 was not authorized for an Aviation Brigade, which
meant I would have to borrow slots
that at the time would have given me
(Training, continued on page 10.)
PAGE 9
(Training, continued from page 9.)
only the option to train four of 30 flight
medics. This option would not have
guaranteed that I could get all my flight
medics trained, and that would not meet
the requirement for Afghanistan. The
policy for BCT3 has been updated and
now authorizes Aviation Brigades to
utilize BCT3.
Conclusion
Pre-deployment flight medic training
continues to challenge MEDEVAC
companies deploying to Afghanistan.
Flight Medic training is not the challenge. Finding training necessary to
bridge the gap in level of care is one
of the challenges. The biggest challenge I had was dealing with the lack
of medical training resources on Fort
Hood. The MSTC site was very good,
but not able to support my flight medic
training requirements. BCT3 was not
authorized for Aviation Brigades, and
I was unable to get my flight medics
trained on ITLS due to a lack of site
certification. I was able to overcome
those challenges by utilizing the Army
Trauma Training Center in Miami and
Remote Solutions. The outsourced
training conducted ensured my flight
medics were ready to take care of the
War Fighter in Afghanistan. Another
important take-away was that I was
able to accomplish this training because
of great support from the 1st Cavalry
Division. The division leadership listened to our problems and encouraged
us to think outside the box to find
solutions. They ensured the training
was planned, resourced, prepared, and
executed. 
The Fear I Have Never Lost: Meet the Brave
U.S. Army Medics in Afghanistan
F
From theblaze.com: Posted on May 30, 2011, by Jonathon M. Seidl
ORWARD OPERATING BASE
EDINBURGH, Afghanistan
(AP)—U.S. Army medic SGT
Jaime Adame hauled open the door and
lunged from the helicopter into a cloud
of dirt and confusion.
He could hear bursts of incoming
fire above the thumping rotor blades.
Somewhere in the billowing red smoke
that marked the landing zone and the
choking dust whipped up by the medevac chopper was a cluster of Marines
pinned down by heavy fire, and one of
them was bleeding badly. The problem
for Adame was that he did not know
where.
Adame had dropped into hot L-Zs
before, but this one was especially
thick with commotion. Every second
of indecision mattered, so he just ran,
knowing any direction was dangerous.
Only then did the cloud clear enough
to bring into view the blurred outline
of several Marines’ boots peeking out
from under the vehicle where they were
taking cover.
“The fear I have never lost,” said
Adame, who’s from Los Angeles. “It’s
absolutely risky, and it will definitely
get a lot more dangerous.”
With the spring fighting season
under way in Helmand Province in Afghanistan’s volatile south, the medics,
crew chiefs, and pilots with the U.S.
Army’s Dustoff medevac unit expect a
rising number of casualties. Coalition
troops are seeing stepped-up attacks,
PAGE 10
the use of complex weapons systems,
like multiple-grenade launchers, and
the continuing plague of improvised
explosive devices on the battlefield.
By the war’s blunt calculation, the
worsening hostilities on the ground,
mean more medevac flights to ferry
The Dustoff helicopters
are distinguished with the
emblem of the Red Cross,
and under international
law are supposed to be
off-limits to enemy fire.
Afghanistan’s insurgents
make no distinction.
the wounded. For an emboldened
insurgency, that equals opportunity.
Increasingly, they are targeting the
medevac choppers as they swoop in
for a rescue.
The Black Hawk helicopters Hill
and other medevac pilots fly are unarmed, though they are always accompanied by at least one other aircraft. The
Dustoff helicopters are distinguished
with the emblem of the Red Cross, and
under international law are supposed to
be off-limits to enemy fire. Afghanistan’s insurgents make no distinction.
On one recent medevac run, as the
helicopter navigated a firefight to set
down in a small courtyard, a rocketpropelled grenade fired from a compound exploded in the air just behind
the helicopter. The pilot quickly aborted
the approach. Ground units called in air
support, and attack helicopters riddled
insurgent positions with heavy caliber
machine gun fire. Within minutes, the
medevac chopper made a second attempt at landing to rescue a critically
wounded Marine who had sustained a
gunshot wound near his spine.
On another mission, insurgents fired
several rounds from an assault rifle
into the belly of the helicopter and its
rotor blades.
“They seem to want us to get killed,
which is surprising because we rescue
everybody, including them,” said CWO
Michael Otto of Irvine, California.
The medevac doesn’t discriminate
between the war’s wounded. Beyond
coalition and Afghan Soldiers, helicopters and medics also pick up injured Afghans, especially children. They often
act as an ambulance service, ferrying
ill and injured Afghans from remote
villages to coalition medical facilities.
Enemy fighters are evacuated from the
battlefield and treated, as well.
With the sound of explosions shaking the air, Adame raced to find the
wounded Marine. His comrades carried
him on a stretcher from the dusty chaos
to the chopper, and Adame and his crew
(Fear, continued on page 11.)
The DUSTOFFer
U.S. Army flight medic SGT Jaime Adame rushes into the dust out
of a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army’s Task Force Lift “Dust Off.”
(Fear, continued from page 10.)
chief swiftly set to work.
CPL Andrew Smith was suffering
a life-threatening arterial bleed from a
shrapnel wound. His boots were sliced
from his feet with a seat belt cutter. He
was losing blood at an alarming rate.
The medics focused only on stabilizing
the young corporal; there was no time
to think about the danger they had just
faced.
“If one of those grenades hit us as
we’re taking off or coming in to land,
that’s close to 17,000 pounds of steel,
and hydraulic fluid, and flammables,”
Adame said. “Falling out of the sky in
one of those things isn’t going to be
pretty, no matter how you look at it.”
Smith remarkably survived and
is recovering at a military hospital in
Maryland. It’s those successes that give
the Dustoff crews motivation to plunge
back onto the battlefield.
“It’s all about saving a human life,”
said CWO Joe Rogers of Russellville,
Kentucky, the pilot of the helicopter
that was hit by assault rifle fire. “And
it’s definitely worth the risk.” 
Fall/Winter 2012
“It is kinda the wild, wild West,” said pilot LT Terry Hill of Kellyville,
Oklahoma, the senior officer at Forward Operating Base Edi. “In the back of
your mind as a pilot you know that you will most likely be shot at or hit.”
U.S. Army flight medic SGT Jaime Adame, top, cares for seriously
wounded Marine CPL Andrew Smith, on board a medevac helicopter
following an insurgent attack.
PAGE 11
Warwick Awarded Silver Star for Service in Vietnam
M
Bruce Baker, City Editor, McCook (NE) Daily Gazette
cCOOK, Nebraska—As a
storm of bullets pelted the
helicopter he rode in, and
chaos swirled all around him, U.S.
Army Specialist William “Bill” Warwick heard his pilot shout that they had
to leave now, and he felt the aircraft
rising up from the ground below them.
As he looked down, he didn’t notice the
enemy surrounding their position or the
impending doom of the situation. All he
saw were fellow U.S. Army Soldiers
lying scattered and wounded on the
ground below him.
Warwick was the crew chief of an
ambulance helicopter performing a
series of rescue missions near Dong
Tam on March 3, 1968, during the
Vietnam War. Their current mission
was an urgent evacuation request from
a surrounded infantry platoon pinned
down in the middle of a North Vietnamese Army bunker complex. They
had already been exposed to a heavy
amount of enemy fire, but successfully
extracted several of the wounded. This
was to be their final landing zone, but
the enemy fire they were receiving was
too much, and the pilot was pulling
away before they could complete the
rescue. There was only one option for
Warwick; he unplugged his helmet and
jumped from the helicopter approxi-
mately 15 feet to the ground below
as the aircraft pulled away. Warwick
crawled to one wounded Soldier after
another and dragged them to the safety
of a nearby dyke, away from the deadly
enemy fire that still rained down around
them.
“His selflessness contributed to
the safe evacuation of six critically
Jennifer came upon some
of her father’s military
paperwork and quickly
discovered her father was
nothing shy of a hero.
wounded Soldiers,” according to the
Department of the Army order honoring Warwick for his actions that day.
The military order announcing
the award is dated 1968; however,
Warwick was never actually bestowed
the medal, an oversight that will be
rectified this weekend. Warwick, now
a 65-year-old retired resident of Cambridge, Nebraska, will be awarded the
Silver Star, Sunday, during a ceremony
at the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve Center east of McCook.
After Warwick completed his one-
William “Bill” Warwick, center, receives the Silver Star for his service in Vietnam.
Marvin R. Pruitt, left, served as a crew chief, and Jim Truscott, right, was a pilot
in the 45th Medical Company (AA) in Vietnam in 1968.
Photo courtesy of LTC (R) Desiree C. Wineland, U.S. Aviation Branch
PAGE 12
year Vietnam tour, he extended to
serve out his remaining seven months
fighting alongside his fellow Soldiers.
This eventually led to a significantly
reduced timeframe for out-processing
from the military and meant paperwork
for medals and awards arrived with no
fanfare at his mother’s home.
Warwick told the Gazette last week
that at the time he had no desire to do a
non-combat tour at a stateside military
post.
“I wasn’t going to be a parade
Soldier,” explained Warwick. But his
then selfless dedication to his fellow
Soldiers seems to be a source of guilt
for Warwick, whose eyes saddened as
he attempted to describe the absence
of compassion that consumed him and
so many other young men during those
war filled times.
“It made us so callous,” Warwick
paused and looked down before continuing. “It was like you had a disregard
for human life, you would kill 10 on
their side if it meant you could save
one on our side.”
Warwick said he gave little thought
back then to the recognitions, even the
Silver Star, as he moved on with his
life. The scenario may have remained
that way, were it not for the persistence
of his daughter, Jennifer Warwick.
Jennifer came upon some of her father’s military paperwork and quickly
discovered her father was nothing shy
of a hero.
Jennifer knew her father had served
in Vietnam, but was unaware of the
level the man had been decorated for
his service. In addition to the Silver
Star for his actions on March 3, 1968,
Warwick also received a Bronze Star
for Valor and an Air Medal for Valor,
stemming from other incidents. Knowing he would never pursue recognition
on his own, Jennifer quietly began her
quest to see her father properly awarded
his Silver Star. It was a quest that she
will excitedly see completed Sunday.
Warwick casually brushed off a
mentioning of his other medals during
his interview with the Gazette. “Almost
(Warwick, continued on page 13.)
The DUSTOFFer
(Warwick, continued from page 12.)
every day we were in the air, there were
missions like that. That’s your job; it’s
routine,” said Warwick with a humble,
undeserving tone that attempted to emphasize his belief that he was no better
than any of his fellow Soldiers.
Warwick’s persistent attempts to
downgrade his accolades are rivaled
only by his appreciation for those
presenting him with the Silver Star,
repeatedly mentioning his gratitude and
the honor it means to his family.
Warwick described a compound he
was based out of during one stretch of
his combat tour. He said hot meals usually only came around once or maybe
twice a week, providing a sliver of
relief during a dark and intense time.
According to Warwick, the hot meals
were usually distributed in the early
evening.
“It never failed. Just as we were
sitting down to enjoy a hot meal, the
mortar attacks would begin,” said Warwick. Warwick recalled one batch of
hot meals accompanied by a cooler of
single-serve ice cream. He remembers
in detail his cup of strawberry ice cream
and the wooden spoon rubber-banded
to it. He had just finished his meal and
was about to indulge in the precious
desert when a mortar attack struck.
Warwick said the compound he was
at was roughly the size of four football
fields, surrounded by a pyramid-like
fence made up of six stacked rolls of
concertina (razor) wire. Warwick and
his fellow Soldiers knew from experience that a mortar strike within the
compound meant there were aggressors
trying to take advantage of the chaos
and breach the wire fence. Warwick
remembers staring at his ice cream
when the mortar struck, and his remorse
today for the scenario is apparent. At
the time, it was just one of many combat scenarios they experienced, and he
remembers thinking he wanted to hurry
up and defend the wire, get the fighting
over with as quickly as possible, before
his ice cream melted.
There is not a glimmer of boastfulness in his tale, not a speck of excitement, just shame for how cold and
unfeeling those times had made him.
When the emotional barrier that
Vietnam built melted away for Warwick, it didn’t just unleash compassion for his fallen comrades. Warwick
remembers vividly the face of at least
one Vietnamese soldier, an image that
haunts his sleep. Looking to his wife of
38 years last week during the interview,
Warwick said he wasn’t certain he had
ever told her about the incident involving the young man.
“He was about my age, maybe even
younger. He was probably no different
than me,” said Warwick, deeply saddened by the memory.
It is clear that Warwick was everything one would hope for in a hero. He
was selfless, brave, and a man of action,
throwing himself in harm’s way on a
regular basis in hope of saving another.
Warwick argues that he is nothing more
than an ordinary man and did nothing
that anyone else wouldn’t have done.
Warwick will be surrounded Sunday by family, friends, fellow Soldiers
and supporters, all to honor a selfless
man, a rare hero.
Nebraska National Guard Chief of
Staff COL Daniel Kenkel will present
the medal. Among those in attendance
were a Purple Heart recipient, who
was a member of Warwick’s helicopter
crew, and two other retired members of
his unit. 
Congressman Tim Scott Presents Vietnam Veteran with High Honor
O
by Lisa Edge, on CarolinaLive, website of WPDE NewsChannel 15, the ABC affiliate,
serving the Myrtle Beach/Florence, South Carolina area.
utside the American Legion in
Murrells Inlet men and women
held American flags to mark
Friday’s ceremony. The man of honor,
Legion Commander, 1LT Evans Kayser, is now being recognized for his
courageous efforts in Vietnam on June
19 and 20, 1967.
While on a routine flight, Kayser
got the call to help fellow Soldiers who
were ambushed. He has many memories of that day, but there’s one image
he hasn’t forgotten.
“We came in, and a Dustoff medivac chopper had loaded, had come
to a hover, was lifting off, lifted up to
go into flight, and all of sudden rolled
almost to a 90-degree angle and fell to
the side.”
Kayser says four crew members
and several wounded Soldiers were on
board. No one survived the crash.
Fall/Winter 2012
Despite the loss of his comrades,
Kayser continued to fight. He said,
“There was so much confusion because
our guys had no cover. The Viet Cong
were in bunkers; they were protected,
and it was very difficult to find them.
They were that well camouflaged [making it hard] to try to take them out to
get these guys back to safety,” he adds.
Four decades later he’s now been
awarded the Silver Star, the third
highest honor for valor. Congressman
Tim Scott presented the medal in front
of a crowd of admirers, but Kayser is
humble about the recognition.
“I don’t know of any helicopter
pilot, or any combat Soldier, or Sailor,
or Airman who ever went into combat
thinking that they were going to come
home decorated. To be very honest with
you, most of the time you do things,
you do it because you truly believe
you’re not gonna live.”
Kayser goes on to say, he dedicates
his award to those who didn’t make it.
Also during the ceremony Kayser
presented Congressman Scott with an
American Legion coin for his public
service. The coin is typically given to
those who have served in the military.
Kayser served in the Army from
1965 to 1968. 
PAGE 13
Four Americans Killed in Afghan Helicopter Crash
by Graham Bowley, New York Times website, April 20, 2012.
K
An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Helmand Province.
ABUL, Afghanistan — A
United States Black Hawk
helicopter crashed in southern
Afghanistan on Thursday, killing all
four American service members on
board, NATO and American officials
said. According to local officials in
Helmand Province, the helicopter went
down about 9 p.m. in bad weather in the
Garmsir district.
A defense official in Washington,
speaking on the condition of anonymity
because the investigation was continuing, said the cause of the crash had not
been determined. A Taliban spokesman,
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed that insurgents had shot down the helicopter.
However, the official in Washington
said there were no early indications that
enemy fire was involved.
The Garmsir district governor,
Mohammad Fahim Gorbati, said the
helicopter had been responding to a
call to evacuate seven Afghan police
officers. The officers were wounded
in a suicide bombing that had killed
four police officers at a checkpoint.
Garmsir had been a troubled district
with a heavy Taliban presence that was
greatly reduced by the surge. The main
town, also called Garmsir, had become
safer, but insurgents have never been
completely driven from the district’s
rural areas.
Last month, a Turkish helicopter
crashed into a house in Kabul, the capital, killing 12 Turkish service members
and two civilians. In August, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport
helicopter in Wardak Province to the
west of Kabul, killing all 38 people on
board — 30 Americans and 8 Afghans.
That crash involved the largest loss of
American life in a single day during the
war in Afghanistan. 
Black Hawk Helicopter Crew Mourned at Kandahar Air Field
K
by Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes, April 23, 2012
ANDAHAR AIR FIELD,
Afghanistan—The mission
goes on. Outside a hangar full
of mourners here Monday, the buzz of
choppers continued unabated. There’s
little time to pause during a war.
For two hours, though, hundreds of
Soldiers got a chance to say goodbye.
They filled the seats inside and spilled
out of the fabric clamshell structure in
a crowd stretching close to the flight
line, bowing their heads in prayer and
tears to remember four Soldiers killed
Thursday in a helicopter crash in Helmand Province.
The crew consisted of CWO2 Nicholas Johnson, 27, San Diego; SPC Dean
Shaffer, 23, Pekin, Illinois; CWO2 Don
Viray, 25, Waipahu, Hawaii; and SPC
Chris Workman, 33, Boise, Idaho. All
were flying in a Black Hawk, along
with a medevac chopper on a mission
to pick up Afghan policemen wounded
in a bombing. Thunderstorms and poor
visibility forced the team back, but
one chopper crashed, killing all four
on board—a “fallen angel” in aviation
parlance. The cause of the crash is still
under investigation.
The Soldiers were with 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, Task
Force Hammerhead out of Hawaii,
flying for the 25th Combat Aviation
Brigade in Afghanistan.
Amid laughter and sobbing, the
PAGE 14
mourners shared stories of the fallen,
of pranks and leadership, revelry, and
bravery. There was the push-up king,
Viray, a native Hawaiian who entered
into a fierce competition with another
Soldier to do 1,000 push-ups in the
shortest amount of time. He won,
clocking in at 27 minutes.
“Funny enough, he didn’t like the
ocean,” friend and fellow chopper
pilot CWO2 Justin Neal said. “Flying
with him was a joy,” Neal said. “He
loved it.”
Shaffer did like the ocean, hitting
the beach regularly between paintball
battles with his friends. He was also
known as fearless, wanting to complete
the mission, no matter what the danger.
“His mentality was, it don’t matter
what’s going on, he’s coming to get
you,” his friend, SPC Eric Polaski said.
Johnson was a prankster and a storyteller, a devoted husband and father
who would draw funny pictures in other
Soldiers’ notebooks, unbeknownst to
them, to make them burst out laughing
in serious meetings.
“He had a joke or a one-liner for
each and every situation,” said CPT
Macky Price, commander of Alpha
Company 225.
Workman was the former auto glass
technician who joined the Army late
in life, the specialist performing high
above his rank; a natural leader who
planned to become an officer. Married
with a son, Workman was trained to
respond to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies,
but retrained to be a door gunner to
come to Afghanistan. Younger Soldiers
and even officers would go to him for
advice.
“A lot of people put a lot of responsibility on him,” his friend, 1LT Cody
Greene said. “(One officer said,) ‘As a
specialist, he’s one of the best platoon
sergeants I’ve ever had.’ ”
The mission goes on, but you can’t
ignore a tragedy like this when you’re
so close, and some in the regiment
admit to being rattled.
“I flew yesterday, and I was scared,”
SPC Jose Molina said. “Shaffer was
one of my mentors. When you see
someone like him have an accident
like that, it makes you second-guess
your abilities.”
But the birds must fly, the wounded
must be picked up, and LTC Lori L.
Robinson, commander of Task Force
Hammerhead, said there’s no better
tribute to the fallen.
“They were just an extremely brave
crew—they were on a mission to save
another’s life when they gave their
own,” she said. “In their honor we fly
. . . we continue to complete the mission.” 
The DUSTOFFer
New Entries on the
Flight Manifest
John M. Alderete
Stephen T. Asprodites
Michael S. Bays
Louie R. Bell
Terry L. Boese
Robert W. Brittner
David L. Campbell
David H. Cooper
Glenn A. Crist
Thomas J. Dolce
Alvaro J. Dominguez
John C. O’Donnell
Amberly G. Glitz
Mark Griffin
Arthur E. Jenner
Stephen F. Lane
Luke A. Lindaman
Wyeth A. Lindeke
Glenn T. Liska
Ryan B. Newman
Richard D. Schneider
Adam Stratton
Bill Warren
Albert D. Winks
We want your stories!
Share them in The DUSTOFFer
The DUSTOFFer would like to publish
your article. If you have a recollection of a
particular DUSTOFF or MAST mission, please
share it with our members. If your unit has
been involved in an outstanding rescue mission
or worthwhile program, please submit your
essay about it to The DUSTOFFer. Don’t
worry about not being the best writer. We
will edit your material professionally. Send
photographs with your article or attach them
to your e-mail.
Send typed, double-spaced, hard copy to the
address below, or e-mail your article to ed@
dustoff.org or jtrus5@aol.com.
Please send your submissions to:
May 1, 2012
through
October 31, 2012
The DUSTOFFer
P. O. Box 8091
San Antonio, TX 78208
INCOME
Interest Income
$
5.10
Membership Dues 2,650.00
Memorial Fund 1,750.00
Reunion 2012 Income* 12,177.17
Sales Income 4,844.67
Scholarship Fund Income
$1,500.00
TOTAL INCOME $22,926.94
EXPENSES
Memorial Expenses $
251.50
Newsletter Publishing 1,604.45
No Category
0.00
Operating Expenses 1,120.65
Reunion Expenses 20,966.97
Sales Expenses 2,544.65
Scholarship Fund Expenses
$1,500.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $27,988.22
OVERALL TOTAL$ -5,061.28
*Reunion 2012 actually crossed our normal fiscal
year (April 30, 2012); therefore, much of last year’s
reunion income occurred in the previous fiscal year.
Fall/Winter 2012
Nominate Your Hero
for the
DUSTOFF Hall of Fame
DUSTOFFers, don’t let our legacy
go untold. The Hall of Fame honors
those who exhibited our ethics and
standards in their actions and their
contributions to DUSTOFF. Do your
homework. Find out about that man
or woman who made a difference in
your career by his or her inspiration.
Research your hero and nominate them.
Deadline is May 1. Details are on the
dustoff.org homepage. Click on the Hall
of Fame tab at the left of the opening
page for information. It’s OUR Hall of
Fame; let’s make it complete.
PAGE 15
For Baird, Honor is a Belated
“Welcome Home”
R
By William K. Alcorn, April 29, 2012, vindy.com, The Valley’s Homepage, Youngstown (OH) News
obert L. Baird sees his induction into the Ohio Military
Hall of Fame for Valor Class
of 2012 on Friday as the welcome
home he didn’t get when he returned
from Vietnam in 1968.
The induction ceremony will be
at 11:30 a.m. in Veterans Plaza at the
Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.
Baird, a medical helicopter pilot
in Vietnam who was decorated with
the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air
Medal for Valor and Purple Heart,
grew up on Booker Drive in Campbell and Clyde Street in Poland. He
lives in Argyle, Texas.
“I was surprised to be honored
by induction in the Hall of Fame for
Valor, and I plan on attending the ceremony. In many ways it’s the ‘Welcome Home’ we never received,”
he said. “I am proud of my service
in Vietnam. I am also proud to have
served my country in the military
service and consider it an honor to
have done so.”
Talking about his Vietnam experience, he said, “We may have gone to
war for our country, but we fought
for each other. I feel my first tour in
Vietnam was one of my best years.
What I hated about Vietnam was
coming home . . . to an ungrateful
G
nation that spit on us, ridiculed us,
and refused to hire Vietnam veterans.
“It was kind of like winning that
big high school football championship game and then having the home
crowd boo you as you left the field
of valor. I am very glad the warriors
. . . “We may have gone
to war for our country,
but we fought for each
other. I feel my first tour
in Vietnam was one of my
best years. . . .”
coming home today are received appropriately better,” Baird said.
From June 1967 to June 1968
Baird served in the Army’s 283rd
Medical Detachment as a helicopter
ambulance pilot. His call sign was
Dust Off 37.
“As Dust Off pilots, it was our
job to pick up the wounded on the
battlefield and take them to a medical facility for lifesaving treatment,”
he said.
Baird said that at first he handed
out a business card to the wounded
he picked up, telling them they had
been picked up by Dust Off 37 and
signed by Mr. Baird.
“I have always wondered if I
would ever meet one of the men
someday, but I have not,” he said. He
asked that his email and phone number be included. They are bobavn@
aol.com and 1-817-691-9721.
Baird enlisted in the Army in
March 1966 as a private and retired in
April 1986 as a lieutenant colonel. He
was assigned to helicopter-pilot flight
school, graduating in April 1967, and
promoted to warrant officer. When he
returned from Vietnam, he received a
direct commission to second lieutenant in the Field Artillery.
His second tour in Vietnam, from
June 1970 to June 1971, was with the
2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 101st
Airborne Division, flying combat
missions and as squadron safety officer, managing its aircraft accidentprevention program.
During his two tours, Baird was
shot down seven times.
Baird, 66, is a 1964 graduate
of Poland Seminary High School.
He received a bachelor’s degree in
general studies from the University
of Nebraska at Omaha in 1974 and a
master’s degree in business administration from Boston University. 
Flight Medic Awarded
German Medal of Honor for Gallantry
erman Ambassador Peter Ammon presented U.S. Army SSG Peter M. Woken with the German Medal of Honor
for Gallantry in Action. The medal, similar to the American Silver Star, was awarded during a ceremony at the
ambassador’s home in Washington, D.C., on 8 December 2011, while U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff, GEN Peter
W. Chiarelli was present. Ammon said an entire nation is thankful for Woken’s actions in Afghanistan, which saved the
life of German Corporal Tim Focken.
Focken was shot 7 October 2010, when his German ground patrol at Qala-ye Zai came under enemy fire. After receiving
immediate medical assistance from German Army medics, Focken boarded an American Black Hawk helicopter, where
Flight Medic Woken tended to the injured Soldier’s wounds during travel to a military hospital. Woken, now a part of
the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Hood, Texas, is the first American to receive the medal on American soil. Seven other
U.S. Soldiers involved in saving Focken’s life also received the medal, which was presented to them by German Defense
Minister Thomas de Maiziere. 
PAGE 16
The DUSTOFFer
Critical Care Nurse
Receives Purple Heart
B
by SSG Jeffrey Nevison, published on-line at DVIDS-News (Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System)
AGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan—Every day, hundreds
of U.S. military nurses work
around the clock providing care to
Wounded Warriors operating in Afghanistan. Each of these professionals
has memories that stay with them; for
U.S. Air Force MAJ James Webb, his
experience has given him a new perspective and greater appreciation for
his calling.
Webb, a critical care nurse attached
to the Army’s 966th Forward Surgical
Team with Task Force-Medical Alpha,
was shot when his team began taking enemy fire while loading patients
onto a UH-60 Black Hawk as part of a
MEDEVAC crew in eastern Afghanistan, August 15, 2012.
It was because of the incident on
that August day in Ghazni Province that
Webb was awarded the Purple Heart
recently at a ceremony at Bagram Air
Field, Afghanistan.
Since its inception in 1782 by GEN
George Washington, the Purple Heart
remains the oldest award still given
to military members, awarded when
injured or killed while serving in the
line of duty.
After receiving the medal, Webb
said he draws strength from the men
and women in his unit.
“It’s very inspirational to be around
everybody in our crew. I love and believe in the mission,” said Webb.
Webb said he is motivated by the
people he works with, but he also wants
to deliver that inspiration to the men
and women on the ground who need
his help.
“It’s important that our guys and
girls out there can trust that there are
those willing to risk everything to
make sure they make it back to their
families.”
MAJ Chris Chung, commander of
the 101st General Support Aviation
Battalion, MEDEVAC Company, and
Webb’s commander, says he has high
esteem for the efforts of both Webb and
his teammates.
Fall/Winter 2012
“Critical care nurses are the key part
of the MEDEVAC team in the amount
and the type of care we can provide to
the wounded Soldier, Sailor, Airman
or Marine on the ground,” said Chung.
Chung said he considers it a privilege to work with an Airman like Webb,
and he admires him for his positive
attitude and desire to get back to work.
“I have the greatest respect for him,
especially because he is continuing to
move forward to rejoin the fight down
in Ghazni where he was wounded.
That’s admirable.”
BG Joseph Guastella, commander
of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing,
was happy to present Webb with his
Purple Heart.
“It was an incredible honor to award
the Purple Heart to an Airman like MAJ
James K. Webb. Even more amazing was his desire to quickly recover
and get back to his remote outpost in
Afghanistan, where he and his teammates put their own lives on the line
every day to save and care for others.
His selfless devotion in support of our
nation’s effort here is an inspiration for
all Airmen,” said Guastella.
For Webb, receiving the Purple
Heart is an experience he never anticipated. And though humbling, he says
he just wants to be with his crew again.
“It’s extremely overwhelming, and
it’s just great to be part of this organization. I get to be around men and
women who put themselves at risk
daily for probably the greatest job in
the military; helping injured Warriors
get home,” said Webb.
After being presented with the
Purple Heart, Webb was also presented
the Air Force Combat Action Medal
by the 455 AEW Command Chief,
Command SGT Marcus Snoddy. The
AFCAM is awarded to Airmen who
have come under direct enemy attack
while performing duties.
Webb has made a full recovery and
will be returning to Ghazni to resume
his duties; helping his fellow Wounded
Warriors. 
MAJ James Webb (left), a critical care nurse assigned to the U.S. Army’s 966th
Forward Surgical Team, Task Force-Medical Alpha, addresses his unit after
being awarded the Purple Heart at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, August 28,
2012. Webb was serving as part of the medical evacuation crew in the central
Ghazni Province of Afghanistan when he was shot by an enemy AK-47 while
loading a patient aboard his helicopter.
PAGE 17
GENERAL SLAMS MILITARY
FOR FORGETTING HISTORY
A
by Kevin DeAnna, a WND staff writer based in Washington
“very, very disappointed” GEN
Patrick Brady has slammed the
U.S. Army for forgetting the
lessons of the legendary “Dust Off”
helicopter ambulance program from
the Vietnam War.
It was in an interview on “Talk Back
with Chuck Wilder” that Brady, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, explained
that bureaucratic changes within the
Army are endangering wounded soldiers. Brady is the author of Dead Men
Flying: Victory in Vietnam.
“The focus is not on the patient,”
he explained, noting that increased
emphasis has been placed on risk assessment, command and control, and
other factors that “Dust Off” pilots in
Vietnam “had not even heard of.”
During the Vietnam War, helicopter
rescue pilots had autonomy to accept
missions themselves and determine the
level of risk. Even though Brady has
“talked to as many people as I can get
to,” it appears that risk-averse policies
of rear-echelon commanders are more
important than the opinions of pilots.
“They took control of a medical
service away from doctors and gave it
to aviation staff officers,” he said.
Consequently, before a rescue operation can be launched, the mission
must be approved by someone who
is not even on the battlefield. Brady
explained a patient’s survival depends
on the decision of someone who is
in no position to actually observe his
condition.
Furthermore, the missions are
launched using an unnecessary number
of helicopters and gunships, meaning
that the Army actually is providing less
“They took control of
a medical service away
from doctors and gave it
to aviation staff officers.”
Consequently, . . . the
mission must be approved
by someone who isn’t
even on the battlefield.
efficient and effective rescue operations
with “four engines, compared to what
we used to do with one.”
Brady recounted an especially hurtful story of how an American Soldier
turned his back on him when he learned
the general was a “Dust Off” pilot,
mistakenly associating him with the
modern program that leaves Soldiers
wounded on the battlefield until it is
too late.
DUSTOFF Hall of Fame
The newest inductees into the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame are
LTC (R) Ronald Huether (left) and LTC (R) Steven D. Vermillion.
Their plaques will be dedicated at the 34th Annual DUSTOFF
Reunion in San Antonio, Texas, April 12-14, 2013.
PAGE 18
As an example, Brady told a story
from Afghanistan where a wounded
American Soldier was trapped on a
mountainside, while the enemy was on
the other side of the mountain. A simple
rescue mission was not approved until
the next morning.
The general noted that helicopter
pilots are as able as ever to participate
in rapid rescue efforts, but they are
hamstrung by official guidelines that
prevent them from acting. Host Wilder
observed that it sounds similar to the
“red tape” of government regulation.
In contrast, “Dust Off” operations
during the Vietnam War were regarded
as primarily a medical service, and
its pilots held to a strict code that put
patients first. MAJ Charles Kelly,
regarded as the father of “Dust Off,”
exemplified the standard.
Kelly died when he refused to
leave a hot landing zone, saying he
would only escape, “When I have your
wounded.” Soon after that, he was shot
and killed.
Wilder explored Brady’s actions as
leader of the 54th Medical Detachment,
drawing some acknowledgement of
Brady’s accomplishments out of the
modest general. The unit rescued more
than 21,000 wounded in 10 months.
When Brady stated that his unit
found a way to fly in zero visibility fog,
Wilder corrected him and stated that it
was Brady personally who discovered
the technique of flying into the fog sideways to gain the tiny visibility needed
to determine direction.
Brady credited his faith in God with
his survival in combat and his ability to
save so many lives.
“My faith was a substitute for fear,”
he said.
Wilder commented, “It ought to be
a movie, it ought to be a book” before
remembering, “it is a book!”
Dead Men Flying, by Brady has
been reissued by WND Books and is
available now in a new edition. Brady’s
coauthor is his daughter, CPT Meghan
Brady Smith, an Iraq war veteran who
was awarded the Bronze Star. 
The DUSTOFFer
Nurse Hero in Afghanistan
I
by Robin Hocevar, published online at Advance for Nurses, July 3, 2012
n this age of simulated mannequins
and iPhone apps to prepare for the
NCLEX, James Gennari, BSN, RN,
TNS, applied his “old school” nursing
education to save a Soldier’s life in
Afghanistan.
Last January, Gennari was alerted
that a 22-year-old with a live rocket
grenade in his leg was en route to his
makeshift OR in Musa Qala, Afghanistan. Medical staff were forewarned
they couldn’t all rush to the helicopter
because that increased the risk for sudden explosion.
Once presented with the young
patient, the East Chicago, Illinois,
nurse relied upon therapeutic touch,
conscious sedation, and jaw thrusts,
which guided him through the most
dramatic episode of his career and
saved a Soldier’s life.
“I talked to my old professor at
Purdue University-Calumet and told
him to tell his students old school
counts,” he reflected. “Everything I did
was simple stuff. The first thing in the
training manual is the most important:
identifying myself, saying I’m here to
care for you.”
His approach was low-tech, but
Gennari’s mission was anything but
simple. As department head for a
mobile ED and shock trauma platoon,
Gennari dealt with lost limbs on a daily
basis. His mobile OR suite was attached
to a resuscitative surgical system.
Much of his work consisted of
stabilizing Soldiers in the golden hour.
If quick resuscitative surgery was
necessary, Gennari would often be
involved in debridement of above and
below the knee amputation. On Jan.
12, a medevac helicopter transported
a patient with a live explosive device
still lodged in his leg.
As policy dictated, he couldn’t go
inside the clinic for treatment, lest he
endanger the lives of the other patients.
One wrong move could trigger an
explosion.
“So I went out there and stayed with
him,” Gennari said. “He was out there
all by himself. I told him I was his nurse
and I’d stay by his side until we got that
thing out of his leg.”
Fall/Winter 2012
Gennari consulted with the explosive ordinance removal specialist, who
advised against surgery and said they’d
have to pull the mortar out manually.
Gennari performed conscious sedation, and immediately afterward, the
EOD specialist told him that was his
last chance to leave the site and potentially save his own life.
“I told him, if you ain’t leaving; I
ain’t leaving,” Gennari recounted.
“He didn’t remember
much, except that someone with glasses and a
moustache told him he
wouldn’t leave until the
thing was out of his leg,”
Gennari said.
With that, the two discussed protective clothing options. In the end,
they opted to wear only flak jackets,
which is similar to a bulletproof vest,
and helmet.
“If we put on suits, we wouldn’t be
able to move around as much,” he said.
“We decided not to wear any protective
glass equipment because we’d blow up
anyway if the device exploded. Why
die sweaty?”
With that said, the explosive device
specialist removed a 14” rocket propelled grenade, which was embedded
up to the patient’s buttock, in three tugs.
Concurrently, Gennari administered
pain medication and kept the airway
open. Because of the extra narcotics,
the patient had no reaction when the
device was removed.
Gennari then initiated a jaw thrust
until the Soldier had spontaneous respirations. The hole in the patient’s leg was
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, so
Gennari tightened the tourniquet.
The entire episode took approximately seven minutes, Gennari estimated.
Momentarily, the stretcher bearers
arrived with the shock trauma platoon.
Two surgeons applied non-pneumatic
pressure dressing. The patient had good
circulation, so they intubated and prepared for critical transport to a Level III
facility, which is the military equivalent
of a Level I trauma center.
After the 65-mile trip to a hospital,
the patient’s leg was saved and he
started rehab therapy back in the U.S.
Today, he can bear weight on the leg.
Seven months later, Gennari is
also back at his regular post as nursing
clinical and administrative manager for
general surgery, ENT, and urology at
Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health
Care Center in North Chicago, Illinois.
He’s never followed up with a
former patient, but felt compelled to
call when he learned the patient was
recovering in Washington, D.C.
“He didn’t remember much, except
that someone with glasses and a moustache told him he wouldn’t leave until
the thing was out of his leg,” Gennari
said.
A few months’ perspective also
helped Gennari come to terms with
the enormity of his actions. Given the
opportunity, he said he would do everything the same, including the decision
not to send a subordinate to remove the
mortar, which would’ve been permissible because of his high rank.
“I did consider it at the time, but I
knew that if someone panicked, there
would be a higher risk of the device
blowing up and killing everyone,”
he said. “I knew I wouldn’t panic.
I’m 52 and this isn’t my first deployment. It was everyone else’s. I’d never
ask someone else to do something I
wouldn’t do myself.” 
PAGE 19
Top of the Schoolhouse
by 1SG Keith Schultz
Future of the
Flight Medic Update
The first class of 26 National Registry Paramedic (NRP) students has
completed the course, to include the
eight-week Critical Care Course at
Fort Sam and was awarded the ASI F2
Identifier. Currently, we have a second
NRP class at the University of Texas
at San Antonio. It appears we will be
having three NRP classes for FY13; the
dates are 27 February, 29 May, and 4
September 2013, with plenty of seats
to fill. We have just completed our first
five-week Flight Medic Course here at
USASAM, which gave them more time
for preparing the future Flight Medics
to go to their unit mission-ready.
Hails and Farewells
The new arrivals to USASAM are
COL Jeffrey Foe, CPT Bradley Kistler,
CPT Daniel Bunn, SFC Jacob Dowers, SSG James Adams, SSG Nicholas
Pearson, SSG Garrick Morgenweck,
and Mr. Patrick Longcore; they have
been added to the staff. Those departed
since our last update are Major Dwanye
McJunkins, retired; Major Kenneth
Brooks, retired; Captain James Tullis; SFC Christina Martinez; and SSG
Colin Marcoux.
card or pay advance. Students continue
to express limited exposure to medical
training, their medical equipment, and
during conversations with students,
they usually do not or do only part of
their TC8-800 MEDIC Tables. Most
important is that we need more participation from the Flight Medics in the
Joint En Route Critical Course (JECC).
We have four classes in FY 13: February 11-22, May 13-23, August 19-29,
and September 9-20. The numbers for
Flight Medics in the course have been
decreasing, and we need support in
filling these slots in the JECC.
Current Trends
—DUSTOFFer—
Students continue to show up to
USASAM without a government credit
The Flying Ambulance
Evacuation of men wounded in
battle was a major headache for all
armies of the Napoleonic Era. Usually, the injured had to be left on the
field until after the battle was over, and
even then evacuation was slow. Search
parties would be sent out on to the field
to sort through the piles of dead bodies
for men unable to crawl back to their
own lines.
Many men spent days on the field
surrounded by dead bodies and other
wounded men, suffering from shock,
thirst and their injuries. They also had
to survive the unwanted attentions of local villagers, who would descend upon
the carnage to grab whatever valuables
they could before military police drove
them away. Many wounded men had
their throats cut by the scavengers to
stop them from alerting patrols.
Carts were used in most European
countries, but the lack of decent springs
meant the slow trip on rough roads
was often agony for the injured. Leading surgeons of both the French and
British armies tried to find ways of
alleviating the suffering of wounded
men by speeding up the evacuation
process. Dominique Larrey invented a
flying ambulance for getting men out
of a raging battle to safety. It’s a funny
name for a cart and quite a proper name
for a helicopter. 
The flying ambulance was invented
by Dominique Larrey to get wounded
men out of battle to safety.
PAGE 20
The DUSTOFFer
From the Consultant
by COL Jon Fristoe
G
reetings from San Antonio!
First, I must say a big thank
you to COL Bob Mitchell, immediate past 67J Consultant. Bob has
done—and continues to do—yeoman’s
work for MEDEVAC in general and
the 67J AOC (Area of Concentration)
specifically. Bob received the Legion of
Merit from MG Philip Volpe, the Commanding General (CG) of the AMEDD
C&S, for his work at MEDEVAC Proponency, while simultaneously serving
as Consultant. Bob’s performance and
contributions to our AOC will never
be matched!
I am deeply humbled by the opportunity to follow in Bob’s footsteps
and be selected as the new 67J Consultant. I’ve asked LTC (P) Bill Howard
and LTC Mike Pouncey to assist me
with the Consultant duties. Additionally, being physically separated from
MEDEVAC Proponency, I have asked
COL Vinny Carnazza to represent me
down at Fort Rucker, while leading the
DOTMLPF (Doctrine, Organization,
Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities) efforts for MEDEVAC
and working as our front-line liaison
with USAACE (United States Army
Aviation Center of Excellence).
We are capitalizing on the efforts of
Bob Mitchell by continuing to push the
initiatives he started. These efforts include reviewing our Long Term Health
Education and Training (LTHET)
starts, revisions to DA PAM 600-4,
where we’ll include the 67J Career
Map, updating the POI and attendance
requirements for the CPT’s 67J track/
course, and seeking additional opportunities for 67Js at the Senior grades
(LTC and COL). The objective force
model for the 67Js at LTC and COL
remains out of balance with respect
to requirements vs. inventory and will
remain so for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, we’re taking a hard
look at how we recruit and assess 67Js,
and we’re moving forward with the
work on designating an AOC Secondary NLT the eighth year of Service.
Under this strategy, officers will have
to select a secondary AOC NLT the
Fall/Winter 2012
eight year mark with the goal of either
tracking permanently in your secondary (and you must voluntarily give up
ACIP [Aviation Career Incentive Pay]
to change your primary AOC), or continue in the 67J arena after the 14 year
mark for the purposes of promotion.
Another idea that appears to be
gaining traction is the notion of a 70Z.
Under this premise, many of the Medical Service Corps (less Allied Sciences)
AOCs would convert to a 70Z at the
senior grades and compete against the
field, so the best officers get selected vs.
the best officers of a certain AOC. Your
AOC representatives and the senior
members of the Medical Service Corps
continue to look at these alternatives,
among others, to ensure 67J AOC officers continue to be the strongest in
both the Medical Service Corps and
the AMEDD.
There’s also been a change at
HRC, where MAJ Nate Forrester has
replaced LTC Dirk LaFleur as the 67J
Assignment Officer. Nate came out
of Command at Fort Hood to assume
the duties, while Dirk headed to Fort
Hood to assume Command of the 61st
Multi-Functional Medical Battalion.
Also, LTC Mike Breslin has taken over
as the MEDEVAC SME in the HQDA
G-3/5/7 at the Pentagon.
Congratulations are also in order for
the following 67Js:
Promotion Colonel: LTC(P) Brian Almquist, LTC(P) Chris Gruber,
LTC(P) Pete Eberhardt, LTC(P) Erik
Rude, LTC(P) Bill Howard
Senior Service College Alternates:
LTC(P) Brian Almquist, LTC Daniel
Bonnichsen, LTC(P) Christopher
Gruber, LTC(P) William Howard, LTC
Robert Howe, LTC Dirk Lafleur, LTC
Edward Mandril, LTC(P) Erik Rude,
(Activated).
Promotion to CPT: 1LT(P) Denis
L. Alfin, 1LT(P) Michael B. Anthony,
1LT(P) Ryan J. Bahnsen, 1LT(P) Cassie
R. Bonadeo, 1LT(P) Timothy J. Brennan, 1LT(P) Stephen D. Carl, ; 1LT(P)
Amanda B. Charlton, 1LT(P) June
M. Ciaramitaro, 1LT(P) Matthew D.
Colsia, 1LT(P) Christopher Dimaio,
1LT(P) Eric Doe, 1LT(P) Nicholas
Fassieux, 1LT(P) Robbie L. Flowers,
1LT(P) Thomas L. Hansen, 1LT(P)
John W. Hawkins, 1LT(P) Douglas L.
Hill, 1LT(P) Clint X. Lowe, 1LT(P)
Suzannah Morrison, 1LT(P) Roman
H. Pietris, 1LT(P) David J. Preczewski,
1LT(P) Amanda S. Raulerson, 1LT(P)
Brandon L. Richmond, 1LT(P) Brian N.
Thielmann, 1LT(P) Alexandra A. Vane,
1LT(P) Austin M. Wiese.
LTHET Selections:
CPT Antonio Blue, PhD 73B- Clinical Psychology
CPT John Crimmings, MHA 70AArmy Baylor
CPT Mark Jones, MHA 70A - Army
Baylor
CPT Luke Lindaman, MS/MPH
72D-Env Health & Science
CPT Kristian Mroczko, MBA/MPA
70C-Defense Comptroller
CPT John Wolf, MHA 70A-Army
Baylor
CPT David Zupancic, MPA 70CLegislative Affairs
CPT Spencer Cash, MS 67J- Homeland Security
CPT Nolan Roggenkamp, MBA
67J-MBA-Acquisition
You all continue to demonstrate
why the 67J is the strongest cohort of
officers within the AMEDD and why
67Js are continuously sought after to
fill the most demanding roles. Your
superior efforts and performance add
to the legacy and only continue to
strengthen it. I ask all of you to stay
in touch with me and MAJ Forrester,
so we can best support your career development needs as we move forward,
and remember to “like” the 67J Page
on Facebook for 67J-specific news
only when you need it: <https://www.
facebook.com/67JMSC>.
Thanks for all you do for our Army
and the Nation.
DUSTOFF!
—DUSTOFFer—
PAGE 21
Closing Out the Flight Plan
CW5 (R) Mary Smalley
W
e are saddened to announce the
passing of a great pioneer for
women Army aviation officers, CW5
(Ret.) Mary Cara Smalley, on Thursday,
June 14, 2012, in Enterprise, Alabama,
after a battle with brain cancer. She
was born in Vernon, Texas, on February 22, 1955, and enlisted in the Army
to become a crew chief and to earn a
college degree.
In 1976, she became the thirteenth
woman to graduate from flight school
and went on to serve as the first woman
aviator in 6th Air Cavalry Brigade at
Fort Hood, Texas. There, she served
with aviation visionary COL Robert
Molinelli, who later achieved the rank
of major general, and flew UH-1 and
OH-58 helicopters. Molinelli arranged
for Smalley to become the first female
pilot rated in the AH-1 Cobra attack
helicopter. Although she completed
the AH-1 transition, women were not
authorized to be assigned to helicopter
companies in the late 1970s.
Smalley served in a variety of
assignments, to include as a medical
evacuation pilot, a night vision goggle
instructor pilot, an Initial Entry Rotary
Wing Course instructor pilot, and as
a training, advising, and counseling
(TAC) officer with the Warrant Officer
Candidate School. In 1985, while serving as a TAC, she earned a master’s
degree in Aviation Management in her
off-duty time.
Smalley was the first woman aviator promoted to CW4 in 1989 and was
selected to serve as the adjutant for
the prestigious United States Precision
Helicopter Team in 1991. In 1994 the
National Club’s Outstanding Women
in Aviation Society selected her as the
outstanding female Army Aviator of
the Year. Smalley was the first female
regular Army warrant officer and aviator to achieve the rank of CW5 in 1995.
A master Army aviator with over
3,000 flight hours, 1,000 hours as an
IP, Smalley retired in 1999 after serving her country for 24 years. She was
inducted into the Army Aviation Hall
of Fame in 2007 and also served as a
PAGE 22
trustee.
Smalley was a truly outstanding
warrant officer and an inspiration to all
Army aviators. May she rest in peace.
COL (R) William A. Campbell
C
OL (Ret.) William A. Campbell of
Destin, Florida, passed away September 19, 2012, at the age of 82. He is
survived by his wife Carrie Campbell,
three daughters, eight grandchildren,
and many great-grandchildren.
COL Campbell was retired, having served 25 years in the U.S. Army.
He was the hospital administrator at
Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center
in Denver, Colorado. He served in
Vietnam as a medical evacuation helicopter pilot, commanding the Original
DUSTOFF 57th Medical Detachment
(Helicopter Ambulance) in 1965-66.
COL Campbell’s last assignment was
at Tripler Army Medical Center on the
Island of Oahu, Hawaii.
J
John Hill, III
ohn Hill graduated in Flight Class
67-12 and flew in Vietnam with the
57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) as DUSTOFF 76 in
1967–68. John was born in Norfolk,
Virginia, in 1943 and graduated from
Virginia Military Institute in 1965. He
served in the U.S. Army for four years
and the Army Reserves, reaching the
grade of colonel. He is survived by
his wife of almost 46 years, Carol Ann
Dunton Hill.
K
Kevin W. Dale
evin W. Dale, age 60, of Blaine,
Minnesota, was born January 17,
1952, and passed away peacefully on
July 30, 2012, at home surrounded by
his family. He grew up in Brooklyn
Park, Minnesota, and joined the U.S.
Army in 1969. He served in Viet Nam
as a crew chief of the Original Medical
Evacuation Helicopter Unit, the 57th
Med. Det. (Dust-Off). Kevin collected
numerous medals, including a Purple
Heart.
After his military service ended,
Kevin worked as a police officer in
Blaine, Minnesota, and Spring Lake
Park, Minnesota, from 1973-1996,
when he retired as Sergeant of the
Spring Lake Park Police Department.
He was instrumental in developing the
D.A.R.E. program for Independent
School District #16.
Kevin enjoyed summer days in the
swimming pool, working on projects in
his shop, and afternoons in a boat fishing. He was preceded in death by his
mother, Robinetta; father, Ralph; and
brothers, Wayne and Ralph. Kevin is
survived by and will be deeply missed
by his loving wife of 39 years Melinda;
son, Ryan (Jenny); daughter, Molly
(Tim); beloved grandchild, Robert;
sisters, Kathleen, Geraldine, Pamela
(Max), Patricia (James); brothers, Michael (Kathleen), Randall (Brenda);
along with numerous cousins, nieces,
nephews, and close friends.
J
Joseph A. Jakubowski
oseph A. “Jake” Jakubowski, 62, of
Richland, Michigan, died peacefully
at home on Sunday, September 9, 2012,
after a courageous battle with cancer
that began when he was diagnosed with
stage 4 lung cancer in 2004.
Joe was born the eldest of six children to Alice C. (Wojcik) Jakubowski and Sergeant Major Joseph A.
Jakubowski, Sr., on October 14, 1949,
in Utica, New York. Joe grew up in
Ogdensberg and Binghamton, New
York, as the son of a career Soldier. He
was an avid sports team member in high
school and in college. Joe moved to
Michigan in 1970 to attend Ferris State
University, where he met Anne Marie
Hogan, the love of his life. They were
married on May 12, 1973.
In 1973, Jake received a direct
commission in the U.S. Army as an
Environmental Science Officer in the
Medical Service Corps. He served in
the Army for 21 years, retiring as a
Lieutenant Colonel. During his career,
his various assignments took him from
Ft. Belvoir in Virginia to Oklahoma
City (where he earned his Master’s
The DUSTOFFer
Closing Out the Flight Plan (cont.)
degree in Industrial Hygiene) to Berlin,
Germany; Canberra, Australia; ending
with a command post at Ft. McPherson
near Atlanta, Georgia. In 1994 he accepted a position with Upjohn, and the
family moved to Michigan; he retired
as an engineering manager with Pfizer
in 2007.
Joe and Anne were blessed with
three children, Matthew, Colleen, and
Julia. His children were a constant
source of pride and joy. Jake was a
member of St. Ann Catholic Church.
He enjoyed the outdoors, fly fishing,
hunting, reading, and volunteering. He
volunteered for Reeling and Healing,
an organization that supports breast
cancer survivors by teaching fly fish-
ing skills. He supported Anne with her
many volunteer efforts.
Surviving are his wife, Anne; three
children, Matthew (Margaret Robinson) Jakubowski of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Colleen Jakubowski of
Portland, Oregon; and Julia (Sam Stetser) Jakubowski of Yamhill, Oregon;
two beloved grandchildren, Amaya
Jakubowski-Moubray and Jasper
Jakubowski; and three sisters, Valorie
Bringle of Henderson, Nevada; Kathy
(Jim) Shanahan of Cazenovia, New
York; Michelle Seef of Canastota, New
York; a brother, Peter Jakubowski of
Oneida, New York; Anne’s parents,
John and Peg Hogan of Battle Creek,
Michigan; and good friends Bryan
Robinson and Nate Junker, among
many others. Jake was preceded in
death by his parents and a brother, Paul
Jakubowski.
N
Nancy Temperilli
ancy Temperilli, wife of the late
John Temperilli, passed away
on November 19, 2012, surrounded
by her loved ones. In lieu of flowers,
please donate to Saint Anthony de
Padua Catholic Church, 102 Lorenz
Road, San Antonio, TX 78209, (210)
824-1743. Please send cards to 3007
Manila Drive, San Antonio, TX 78217,
or visit online at https://www.facebook.
com/NancyTemperillli.
The Final Touchdown
adapted from a poem by Dutch Redfield
During the time I was involved in aviation, things worked out nicely. Yet I know that I have one
more forced landing lurking and waiting for me out there. I believe that at this stage in my life, I
am ready for it. Perhaps there will be a warning, maybe not. Will there be time for me to plan a
good approach to this final touchdown? Will it be a hasty no power, no options auto rotation to
a walloping hard touchdown? Or will it be a soft afternoon, peaceful straight-in approach into
the wind? Whatever, for this final touchdown, I ask only for a Huey cockpit, so I can, however
briefly, smell the JP-4, hear the whine of the engine starting up, hear my crew clear me on the
left and on the right, feel the exhilaration of “pulling pitch” and taking off into the powder blue
skies and cool temperatures. Savoring for the last time the feeling of flight, as the windscreen
before me exquisitely frames and records the slowly changing, tilting senses, as I maneuver and
silently bank and glide onto what I have long known will be my very last flight and final approach.
Please give me my old Army helmet, so my old ears can best hear my crew on the intercom,
company operations, and the sounds of the other radios. Bring their chatter to my ears and let
us know we have made a positive difference and helped save fellow Soldiers’ lives.
Below in a forest of trees lies a grassy field long ago set aside for helicopter pilots of old. It looks
small, tiny. With some down pressure on the collective and a little right pedal I’ll slip her a few
inches over the fence. I’ll level her off and then hold her off, with skids skimming the grass tips.
The lift of the rotor blades and the sounds of flight rapidly diminish. With cyclic centered, lift
fades, a slight tremor, then I cushion her on the ground, and she and I are sliding to a stop on a
beautiful sod field. The rotor blades come to a stop and remain still. I loosen my safety belt, take
off my helmet, and slowly climb out. Suddenly, there is applause, then bear hugs and slaps on
the back. “Hey, you old goat, you really slicked that one on!” I am with old friends.
Fall/Winter 2012
PAGE 23
When I Have Your Wounded—The DUSTOFF Legacy
Premiers at the Pentagon
Some participants in the documentary movie, When I Have Your Wounded—The DUSTOFF Legacy, attended the premier of the
movie on November 9, 2012, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Pictured at the podium is COL (R) Bob Driscoll, Director,
Center for History and Heritage, and below from left to right, front row: Alexa Zenk, Cortney Rogers, CPT Justin Goldman,
CW2 Eric Williams, CW2 Salem StJames, COL (R) Ernie Sylvester, LTG Patricia Horoho, CPL Kevin Hanrahan, Cheryl Fries,
Sylvana Forbes, Tawny Campbell, CPT Terry Hill, SSG Tyrone Jordan, Amanda Jarrett, SGT Jenny Martinez, SSG Billy Raines.
Back row, left to right: MAJ Patrick Zenk, 1LT Phillip Schantin, LTC (R) Jim Wingate, CPT Drew Wilson, Wayne Aurich,
Charles Kelly Jr., Danny DeLoach, COL (R) Dan Gower, Pat Fries, Whitney Hanrahan, LTG (R) Eric Schoomaker,
CW4 Scott Forbes, SGT Joe Campbel, Neal Casperson, COL (R) Otis Evans, CPT Aaron Kinney.
Left: COL (R) Dan Gower presents
to LTG Patricia Horoho a book of
photos taken during the filming of the
documentary movie, When I Have Your
Wounded—The DUSTOFF Legacy, in
Afghanistan.
Right: LTG Patricia Horoho greets and
“coins” Pat Fries of Arrowhead Films,
producer of the documentary.
Also pictured at right are
COL (R) Ernie Sylvester and
Cheryl Fries.
Colonel Knisley’s Military Minute
by Ben Knisley, published in Silver & Gold—for and about the employees
of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Vol. 4, Issue 4, October 2012
Having just observed Patriots’ Day (September 11) and with Veterans’ Day (November 11) soon approaching, I
am reminded of an interesting “direct connection” between the two patriotic holidays. Since the terrorist attack on
America in September 2001, more than 5,000,000 men and women have stopped what they were doing to voluntarily join the military services to combat this cowardly enemy. No other time in history (except the draft period of
WWII) has seen such an outpouring of support and commitment to our military enlistment as what has happened
in the last decade. It has been an incredible and unsolicited display of sacrifice and patriotic duty by the people of
this great nation.
The recruiters of all services report that induction quotas all have waiting lists for those who seek to serve in every
branch of the military. This reveals a remarkable testimony to the resolve, commitment, and feeling of duty of the
current generation who now represent a new chapter of American veterans. As these Soldiers return home from
serving in the current War on Terrorism, don’t forget to welcome them home, shake their hands, and thank them
for their sacrifice to the liberty and freedoms we all enjoy so dearly.
PAGE 24
The DUSTOFFer
2013 DUSTOFF Reunion
Spouses’ Luncheon Menu
Saturday, April 13, 2013 @ 11:30 a.m.
Canyon Cafe
Alamo Quarry Market
255 East Basse Rd #400
Price $25.00
Includes chips & salsa, entrée of choice, a dessert of choice, and beverage. Please select an
entrée, a dessert, and a beverage, and enter the numbers on the registration form on page 27.
Entrée: select one
1. Grilled Vegetable Pasta: Marinated vegetables, fire-grilled and served on angel hair pasta,
tossed with spinach, black beans, and garlic soy sauce.
2. Southwest Chicken Sandwich: Adovo-grilled chicken, topped with Monterey Jack cheese
and portabella mushrooms. Served on toasted bun with tossed greens, chipotle mayo, and
crisp fries.
3. Blackened Salmon Caesar: Fire-grilled salmon, served over a southwest Caesar with capers,
parmesan, and roma tomatoes.
4. Avocado Chicken Club Sandwich: Grilled chicken breast, topped with pepper jack cheese,
crisp bacon, tomatoes, and fresh avocado. Served on bun with chipotle mayo and crisp
fries.
5. Black & Bleu Quesadilla: fire-grilled fajita steak, sliced and served in a crisp flour tortilla
with red onion, marmalade, and Monterey Jack and Bleu cheeses. Served with tomatilloavocado salsa, chipotle mayo, and Margarita slaw.
6. Southwest Cobb Salad: Salad greens with salsa, ranch dressing, grilled chicken, pico de
gallo, mixed cheeses, Bleu cheese, bacon, and boiled eggs.
Dessert: select one
1. Cheesecake
2. Chocolate truffle pie
3. Tres léches cake
Beverages: select one
1. Coffee
2. Tea
3. Soda
Canyon Cafe, Alamo Quarry Market, San Antonio, Texas
Fall/Winter 2012
PAGE 25
34th Annual DUSTOFF Association Reunion
April 12–14, 2013
Schedule of Events
Friday, 12 April 2013
1200–1900 — Registration
0900–1000 — Registration for Chuck Mateer Golf Classic (FSH Golf Course)
1000–1500 — Chuck Mateer Golf Classic (FSH Golf Course)
1400–1800 — Hospitality Room open
1900–2200 — Reunion Mixer and Buffet
2200–0200 — Hospitality Room open
Saturday, 13 April 2013
0900–1000 — Professional Meeting
0900–1300 — Spouses’ Shopping/Luncheon (Canyon Cafe, Alamo Quarry Market)
1000–1100 — Business Meeting
1430–1600 — Hall of Fame Induction, Rescue of the Year, and Crewmember of the Year Awards (AMEDD
Museum)
1500–1800 — Hospitality Room open
1700–1800 — Cash bar at Banquet (Ballroom)
1800–2000 — Banquet: Welcome
Invocation
Dinner
2100–0200 — Hospitality Room open
Sunday, 14 April 2013
0900–1000 — DUSTOFF Memorial Service
You may register online using your credit card at <https://resweb.passkey.com/go/dustoff>.
Crowne Plaza San Antonio Riverwalk
PAGE 26
The DUSTOFFer
34th Annual DUSTOFF Association Reunion
April 12–14, 2013
Registration Form
Member’s name __________________________________Spouse’s name ___________________________________
Home/Mailing address _____________________________________________________________________________
Email address ______________________________
New Association Members:
Totals
Officer/Civilian: $100; Enlisted: $50
$ __________
Life Member Dues Reunion Registration:
Member/Spouse $35/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Non-member/Spouse Single-day Registration
$40/person
$20/person
_____ persons
______persons
$ __________
$___________
Late Fee (after 1 Apr 13)
$15/person
______persons
$___________
You may register online using your credit card at <http://dustoff.org/reunion/registrationform.htm>.
Hotel Reservations:
To reserve your room, you may call the Crowne Plaza San Antonio Riverwalk at 1-888-233-9527 or 1-888-233-9527.
Mention you are with the DUSTOFF Association to get a special rate of $106/night. Or you may book your hotel
room online at <https://resweb.passkey.com/go/dustoff>. These rates apply for April 12–14, 2013. If you would like
to stay longer at that rate, call Dan Gower, 210-379-3985, and he’ll try to arrange it with the hotel.
Chuck Mateer Golf Classic:
All Golfers (includes cart)
$50/person
_____ persons
Clubs rent for $30/day—Paid directly to FSH Golf Course at the tournament
Friday Night:
Mixer Buffet—Mexican Fiesta
$37/person
_____ persons
$ __________
$ __________
Spouses’ Luncheon:
Canyon Cafe, Alamo Quarry Market $25/person
_____ persons
$ __________
*Choose from lunch menu on page 25. Entrée: _____ Dessert: ______ Beverage: ______
I will need a ride to the luncheon
_____ persons
I can provide a ride to the luncheon
_____ persons
Saturday Night Banquet:
Dinner
_____ persons
Choose one entrée for each guest: __Beef—$40 __Chicken—$30 __Vegetarian—$30
Please send registration form and check to:
Fall/Winter 2012
$ __________
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
Wainwright Station
San Antonio, TX
PAGE 27
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
San Antonio, TX 78208-0091
Presort STD
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 3017
San Antonio, TX
Address service requested
DUSTOFF Association
Membership Application/Change of Address
q
I want to join the Association as a Life Member
Officers and Civilians
E-9 and below
q
Check here if change of address, or e-mail change to ed@dustoff.org
$100.00 One-time fee
$ 50.00 One-time fee
Rank ____ Last name ___________________ First name ___________________ M.I. _____
Mailing address ________________________________________________________________
E-mail _________________________ Spouse’s name _______________________________
Home phone __________________________ Work phone___________________________
Send check or money order, payable
to DUSTOFF Association, to:
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
Wainwright Station
San Antonio, TX 78208
You may register online using your credit card at <http://dustoff.org>.
PAGE 28
The DUSTOFFer