Dust, wind formidable foes for C-130 crew

Iraq weather hampers Arkansas group's mission to ferry 22 patients to larger hospitals

KUWAIT - The medical team stacked litters for wounded three high in the back of the plane and placed oxygen and heart monitors at the ready.

They were flying to Iraq that day to pick up wounded and move them from small military hospitals in combat outposts to bigger facilities. For some of the patients, the C-130 ride would be the first hop on a long ridehome.

It's known simply as "the bandage run."

The 746th Airlift Squadron, which includes crews and planes from Little Rock Air Force Base's 463rd Airlift Group, has hauled more than 530 patients since February. The squadron always has one plane on alert - ready to fly on a moment's notice - for medical emergency missions. They have moved 21 critically injured patients to safety in the past four months.

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Most bandage runs are filled not with critical patients but with stabilized patients who require a move to a better medical facility.

"It's a really long day," said Capt. Nick Weber of North Little Rock, a deployed member of Little Rock Air Force Base's 463rd Airlift Group and commander of the mission. But, he said, medical evacuation is one of the most important missions of the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron.

The medical crew of two nurses and three medical technicians and six-man flight crew gathered in the C-130 Hercules' cargo bay for a briefing before takeoff. Each wore a pistol on his hip.

Maj. Ed Schmidt, the medical mission director, briefed the group on who needed to be picked up and what to expect.

"We are picking up 22 patients in six locations," he said. "None of the patients are critical, but we have two [psychiatric] patients. They're medicated and we have restraints if necessary."

He said he didn't expect any problems. The injured soldiers and Marines were stabilized. The two psychiatric patients were suicidal. One had tried to kill himself with his pistol. The other pulled a rifle on his commander.

Weber looked at his notebook and addressed the crew.

"We're going all around Iraq today," he said. "But the weather's pretty bad. We'll see how many we can make it to, if any."

The dust-storm season has extended into the summer, and forecasters say it has been the worst in decades. High winds from colliding high and low pressure areas combined with a dry winter have fed dust storms that span thousands of miles and last for days.

One such storm was kicking up on the day of the flight.

A blast of exhaust laced with the stinging scent of fuel snaked into the plane as the loadmaster pulled the crew door shut. In a matter of minutes Tail No. 3287 from Little Rock Air Force Base was off, headed north to Iraq.

The crew members talked about the weather as they checked conditions at the northern bases. The wind was continuing to kick up and visibility was a problem. The crew discussed what to do if the weather worsened. Ali Air Base was closed and al Taqaddum was quickly closing. But they were still hours away.

They'd just have to fly over and see.

Medical evacuation usually means a longer day than others and includes many more stops.

"The bandage run the other day was the hardest mission we've ever flown," Weber said. "There were a lot of stops, a lot of time on [night vision goggles]. We hauled more than 40 patients."

It is not uncommon to land at a location and find more patients than expected awaiting transport.

First Lt. Steve Burton of Jacksonville, the navigator, pointed to a green screen on his panel of dials and radars as the plane crossed from Kuwait to Iraq near the Iran border.

"This picks up radars," he said. "Iran is taking a look at us."

A minute later, the blip went away.

Capt. Brian Huston of Sherwood, the co-pilot, called up to Ali Air Base to check the weather. The crew expected bad news.

Visibility was a quarter-mile with 30 mph wind gusts.

There are minimum requirements for landing. Tech Sgt. C.J. Mahoney of Little Rock, the flight engineer, flipped through a thick book of regulations, rechecking the cutoff for safe landing. They needed a half-mile of visibility in the current conditions to land.

"We're not going there [AliAir Base]," Weber said. "We're going to overfly there and go straight to [Taqaddum]."

Weber clicked on his headset and called back to the cargo bay for Schmidt, the lead flight nurse.

"So would it be worth stopping back at Ali on the way south after Balad if the weather clears?" Weber asked.

Schmidt said no.

"They're all routine patients, no emergencies," he said.

As the plane moved north, the sky below turned a darker muddy brown. The cargo plane was skipping along the top of the dust storm, flying the line between brown air and blue skies.

"What we have to figure out is whether we can get into Balad or al Asad or Taqaddum," Weber said. "If we can't get into those, we have to figure something else out fuel-wise. If the weather's crap everywhere, we need to figure out something different than going north and running out of gas because we can't land anywhere."

Burton worked the radios, calling as far ahead as possible to check weather conditions.

Balad, al Asad and Taqaddum all reported 35 mph gusts with visibility below a quarter-mile.

"Be advised," the voice on the radio from Balad Air Base reported, "conditions are expected to improve."

The crew discussed its next move. They may be able to land at Balad but couldn't land at any of the small, outlying bases where the patients waited for transport to the hospital at Balad.

"If we can't land anywhere, we better bug out at 20,000 pounds [of fuel remaining], because things don't look that great at [a base in Kuwait] either."

The options for fuel were quickly dissipating just like hope of getting to pick up any patients. Tension mounted as they flew over another potential stop that was "dusted out."

"If we can't get to Balad, it defeats the whole purpose of what we're doing up here," Huston said.

Burton called back to command post, relaying that every stop was at or below minimum conditions for landing. The crew again debated whether to pick up wounded if they couldn't get them where they needed to go. There was a possibility they could get into Kuwait, but most of the patients below needed to go north to Balad - which was still socked in with dust.

"If we can get into Taqaddum, we can pick up patients and get fuel," Huston said. "But right now that would be fueling to go back home because we can't get in to Balad. That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah," Weber said. "Then we've accomplished nothing. And it doesn't get these guys any closer to where they need to go."

Burton was still waiting for an answer from the command post down south.

In the back of the plane, the medical crew members sat around empty litters, wondering if they'd see any patients.

Burton sighed into his headset. "We've dealt with this weather every time we've come up this way," he said.

The command post advised the crew to overfly Taqaddum and head straight for al Asad. If they couldn't get in there, divert to Baghdad.

The crew members shook their heads and changed route, pushing further north.

"The weather everywhere is bad," Weber said.

Baghdad was at the minimum for landing, half-mile visibility with blowing dust.

"Sometimes this country surprises you with good weather," Huston said. "It rarely surprises you with bad weather. This country's been socked in with dust for three weeks now."

Even at the higher altitudes, the wind wreaked havoc on theplane.

"It's never a good day when you have 27,000 pounds of fuel and you don't have enough to be doing what you're doing," Huston said.

A new weather report came infrom al Asad in Anbar province. The bottom had dropped out of the weather. Visibility sank to an eighth of a mile.

"We're overflying al Asad?" Schmidt asked from the back.

"Yes," Weber said. "We're turning around to Baghdad. I know that doesn't help you guys, but it's about the only place we can go right now."

The plane tipped around on its right wing and descended toward Baghdad.

Burton called for a weather update and found that Baghdad had dropped in visibility in the last few minutes. The crew was told to move into a holding pattern and circle to the south.

They'd have to wait.

Burton called back to command post and ran down the situation. He pulled no punches.

"Do you want us to hold, go to [Kuwait] which has bad weather or come back to [the base not allowed to be named] while we still have gas?"

The answer was obvious and quick: Come on home.

Weber called back to Schmidt, "Sorry."

"The weather's not with us today," Schmidt replied.

"This has never happened before," Weber said, looking over at Huston.

"I've never been completely weathered out of Iraq," Huston said.

Front Section, Pages 1, 4 on 06/16/2008

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