Two Texas Army National Guard aviators flying their last combat mission in Iraq risked their lives in an unorthodox casualty evacuation of a critically wounded soldier June 30.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Kevin Purtee and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Allen Crist turned their AH-64 Apache helicopter into medevac aircraft to rescue Spc. Jeffrey Jamaleldine, an active-component soldier, during a firefight.
Portee and copilot/gunner Crist, both of Company B, 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation, were part of a four-Apache team that flew to Ramadi to assist Coalition forces searching for insurgents and weapons caches.
The troops became pinned down by heavy gunfire and the Apaches responded with air support. Jamaleldine suffered wounds to the face and aim in the firefight.
When Portee and Crist returned to the scene about 40 minutes after refueling and rearming, a conventional medevac helicopter hadn't yet arrived to transport the wounded soldier.
That's when the Texas Guard aviators turned their attack helicopter into an air ambulance.
They decided to land despite continuing heavy small-arms fire. Crist jumped out, strapped Jamaleldine into the cockpit, harnessed himself to the aircraft's steps and crouched on the wing for the 10-minute flight to the nearest medical pad.
Purtee said he was more nervous than Crist during the flight.
"I had my copilot strapped to the side of the aircraft and a critically wounded soldier in the front seat, and we were leaving a very dangerous area," he said. "It wasn't a long flight, but it felt like it took forever."
Once the wounded soldier was in the hands of medical personnel, the pilots returned to the fight.
Despite his nervousness, Purtee said he would do it all over again.
"We have seen the tragedy of watching Soldiers on the ground waiting for medevac," he said. "There is no more hopeless feeling than watching the guys who need help not get it, and I'm tired of that. And that's why we made our choice to go in and do what we did."
© 2007 National Guard Association of the United States Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Source: National Guard
