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CAMP STRIKER, Iraq (January 22, 2008) - Medical evacuation crews
from Task Force Marne faced down enemy gunfire to deliver five
injured soldiers in Iraq to safety Jan. 18.
The crews from the 3rd Infantry Division's Company C, 2nd
Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, were
called in when a patrol of Stryker vehicles from the 25th Infantry
Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team was attacked.
The Black Hawk helicopters flew to the site, only to find that
the easiest place to land -- the road the Stryker vehicles were on
-- had not been cleared of possible improvised explosive devices.
The medevac crews were unable to contact the ground forces or an
Apache team from 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in the area.
After circling the area scouting for a place to land, the crews
landed in a field adjacent to the road, Army Capt. Samuel Fricks,
operations officer for Company C, said. Fricks, from Morrow, Ga.,
was a pilot in the second of the two medevac aircraft.
"After landing, my medic, Staff Sgt. (Robert) Congdon, departed
the aircraft and linked up with … Staff Sgt. (Aughe) McQuown,"
Fricks said.
The two Army medics went to the site of the attack and soon
returned to the helicopters with three injured soldiers.
As they returned to the Stryker for the remaining two injured
soldiers, Congdon said, they began taking fire.
"I just grabbed the patient and grabbed McQuown and we went into
the Stryker," said Congdon, a native of Las Vegas.
Bullets struck the Stryker and around them as they went for the
cover of the armored vehicle. Congdon reset the Stryker's radio to
the medevac frequency, then took off his flight helmet and put on a
Stryker crewmember's helmet so he could talk to the aircrew.
When the call came over the radio that his medics were taking
fire, Fricks said, he was not sure what to think. He did not know
where the fire was coming from, but he figured that since the
helicopters were down below the level of the road in the field, he
was not in too much danger.
"The only thing we knew was that Staff Sergeant Congdon was
taking fire," Fricks said.
As they waited for the two medics to come back with the
remaining patients, a third medic, Sgt. Donald Dedmon, from
Foreman, Ark., in training as a flight medic, ran back and forth
between the two aircraft to treat the injured soldiers already on
board.
Dedmon was midway through his training to be certified to
operate as a lone medic on a medevac mission when he found himself
suddenly responsible for patients on two different aircraft.
"I was keying on the patients," Dedmon said. "Afterward, it kind
of came into perspective."
Fricks had been linked up via radio to the circling Apaches, and
he relayed Congdon's directions to bring in 30 mm machine cannon
fire to suppress the enemy shooter.
Back at the Stryker, Congdon and McQuown were attempting to get
back to the aircraft with their patients.
"We lowered the ramp (of the Stryker) to get out and be able to
get to the aircraft, and (the sniper) started shooting," Congdon
said.
McQuown, a native of Florida, picked up one patient while
Congdon and an infantry soldier helped the other patient, and they
broke for it.
"They ran out of litters, and the guy was shooting at us,"
Congdon said. "The longer we wait on the ground, the worse it is on
the patient, so at some point we had to just leave and get the
patients to the hospital."
The medics loaded the remaining two patients on the medvac
birds. After a quick count of heads to make sure no one was left
behind, they departed while the Apaches continued to lay down
suppressing fire.
"The five patients we hauled all survived," Fricks said.
He said watching the two medics struggling to bring their
patients to safety was almost like something you'd see in a
Hollywood production. "I just thought it was awesome," he said.
Company C is part of Multinational Division Center and is based
out of Baghdad International Airport, with aircraft at several
locations in and around the Iraqi capital.
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