Trade winds, trade secrets bring Canadian, American rescue forces together

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow and Airman 1st Class Natasha Dowridge
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
SUMMERSIDE, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, Canada --  At a time of year when Canadian Geese fly south for the winter, 30 Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., flew north to a place that harnesses the wind for energy like the propeller-driven WC-130 Hercules that took them there.

Modern steel windmills built upon rolling pastoral landscapes that make up Canada's smallest province set the scene here for a U.S. and Canadian Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX) Sept. 25 through Oct. 1.

Click here to see a slideshow of multi-nation Airmen while they participated in the SAREX - slideshow.

Due to financial strain and manpower shortages, central and western Canadian squadrons withdrew from the exercise, although Lt. Col. Guy Leblanc , 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron Commanding Officer, managed to turn the exercise into a squadron-level event isolated to Canada's eastern units.

Greenwood, Nova Scotia's 413th Transport and Rescue Squadron and Gander, Newfoundland's 103 Search and Rescue Squadron represented the Canadian military, while the Civilian Search and Rescue Association joined in. CSARA is Canada's volunteer aviation association dedicated to the provision of air search support services to the National Search and Rescue Program.

"We decided to move the focus on specific areas that needed more training," said Leblanc.

Each section commander was responsible for planning specific training for their individual fixed and rotor-wing crew members. Jump camps, boat camps and night camps were set up to refine the nuances that are required of search and rescue professionals to save lives, which is a constant study in Mother Nature mastery.

Like the U.S., Canada stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, add an impressive reach to the north, and you have extremely harsh winters. In-between, there are more lakes than any other country containing much of the world's fresh water fed by glaciers flowing from Canadian Rockies.

"When you are pulled away and all you have to do is fly, the training goes up," said Capt. Neil McMahon, C-130 pilot, 413 Squadron.

Moving a large portion of a unit's personnel and assets from one location to another provides training in the deployment process. "And it is a process," said McMahon, like when they get a call to respond to a major accident scene as far north as the Arctic Ocean.

The concurrent training that comes from creating large rescue scenarios gives them every advantage in a fight against the clock to keep hearts beating in weather conditions that stamp on human fragility.

Canadian and U.S. C-130 fixed-wing aircraft and Canadian CH-149 Cormorant helicopters served as the tools for aircrew, pararescuemen (PJs) from the 920th Rescue Wing's geographically separated unit in Portland, Ore., the 304th Rescue Squadron, and their Canadian counterparts - Search and Rescue Technicians (SARTechs) from both the 103 SAR and 413 TRS.

The Cormorant, the Canadian Air Force's only helicopter dedicated to search and rescue, is fully equipped with an ice protection system and can cover approximately 621 miles on one tank of gas. While the Cormorant can be used for extracting survivors from unforgiving terrain, the C-130's four turbo-props and gas tank triples its reach and makes it ideal for inserting PJs and SAR Techs into terrain of the same. An added benefit allows its aircrew to act as an extra set of eyes for personnel searches.

Although the PJs did not participate in boat hoisting exercises that the SAR Techs did, the Canadian Cormorant pilots flew them to a fresh water lake where they performed a free-fall swimmer exercise. PJs would jump out of the helicopter as it hovered low while wearing scuba fins and masks. Then Cormorant aircrew would hoist the PJs back to the helicopter.

"It's definitely a confidence booster to work with guys who do search and rescue often," said Master Sgt. Aaron Finley, 304th RQS PJ. Canadian SAR forces respond to an average of 6-7 civilian distress calls per week, whereas the 920th RQW's bread and butter remains in combat search and rescue - evacuating those with life-threatening injuries from battlefield operations.

But that's not all, last winter 920th PJs responded to a call for help when Afghani civilians fell victim to a series of avalanches in Afghanistan's Salang Pass. In waist-deep snow at an elevation of 11,500 feet, several teams dug out, treated and evacuated 300 victims, all under enemy threat.

An ongoing number of saves is taking place right now as 60 SAR Airmen from the 920th RQW are back in Afghanistan. Since May they've logged 500 lives saved in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, averaging four rescues per day.

During the jump camp, PJs and SARTechs performed ongoing sky dives from the HC-130s onto both open and confined drop zones (DZ) from heights ranging from 3,000 to 12,500 ft. The latter being a height requiring supplied oxygen.

With the expertise of the rescue aircrew aboard the C-130s, the PJs and SARTechs jumped into an old bomb dump and a clearing amongst trees, both serving as confined-space training.

Tech. Sgt. Simon Friedman, 304th RQS PJ, maneuvered himself directly on the marked DZ in spite of surrounding trees and wind in the confined-space setting while his fellow teammates followed suit as close as their silvery gray wind-filled sails would allow.

With each PJ and SARTech doing 10 or more free fall and static-line jumps over the course of the week, riggers from both the 920th RQW and the 413 squadron prepared and packed numerous parachutes. Between the two riggers from Portland, 16 parachutes were packed taking anywhere from 15-20 minutes. The Canadians served as the main riggers for the parachutes used for static-line jumps.

"They can't do their job unless we do ours," said Tech. Sgt. Bryan Lopes, aircrew life support technician, 304th RQS.

Both SARTechs and PJs cover a lot of unforgiving territory when it comes to answering the call, which makes new and unfamiliar places ideal for constant improvement.

"We live on the ocean, so it's nice to come to these exercises and challenge ourselves against the colder weather and confined spaces," said Lt. Col. Byers, C-130 CSAR navigator, 39th RQS, and the exercise coordinator.

Behind the scenes, a full team of Rescue Airmen including aircrew, maintenance and support crew members put their skills to work getting the aircraft and gear ready to fly and putting them to bed at each day's end.

Loadmasters Staff Sgt. Edward Aiello and Tech. Sgt. Marcus Hildebrand performed free fall and para-bundle exercises from the C-130's ramp. The training is used as a tool to hone accuracy in dropping packages of additional survival supplies or equipment from heights of 150-300 feet off the ground. It also strengthens the communication between the loadmasters, pilots, radio operator and flight engineer.

They're like an organism, said Senior Master Sgt. Eric Draper, 920th Rescue Wing loadmaster. Each of the six-person C-130 crew is needed to carry out this function properly.

"Whatever they use for emergency use, we train them to use," Master Sgt. Roy Daugherty, aircrew life support technician, 920th Operations Group. This includes anything which has to do with their emergency egress such as their life preserve units and parachutes.

An added benefit to bringing together 250 rescue pros from two different countries is the chance to exchange ideas and build upon relationships.

"We always get a great amount of benefit out of sharing knowledge between two nations especially when we talk about search and rescue, live para and C-130 ops," said McMahon.

"Everyone would agree every single one of these events every year it happens, the relationship gets tighter. Everyone knows someone from before. Your pool of people that you know just grows and grows," he said.

Over the course of five years, the 920th Airmen have predicated in 19 exercises with the Canadians, said Byers.

The many and varied cultural and geographical differences among the Canadian and U.S. rescue community, enriches their common goal that brought them together, sharing trade secrets to enhance their odds to save lives when they must go up against Mother Nature.

"When we get our American friends coming over helping to do the same training with us, it's a wonderful event," said McMahon.

For more information about the 920th RQW, log on to the wing's Web site: www.920rqw.afrc.af.mil or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.