Showing posts with label medevacs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medevacs. Show all posts

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Afghan War News Snippets


Climate Change in Afghanistan. This past week the leaders of the world converged in Paris to attend the climate conference. President Ghani attended as well. Read up on the problems of climate change in Afghanistan in "Before the Paris Conference: The state of Afghanistan's climate and its adaption capability", Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), November 30, 2015.

New MoD HQs Building. The Afghan military has a very new and large Ministry of Defense headquarters building in Kabul. (RS News, Nov 1, 2015).

RS HQs Dining Facility Named. The dining facility has been named after the late senior enlisted advisor of the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A) - SGM Wardell Turner. He was killed in Afghanistan in an improvised explosive device attack on November 24, 2014. (RS News, November 24, 2015).

Air Evacuation of Casualties Harmful? A recent news report suggests that the air evacuation of casualties with traumatic brain injury might cause additional damage to the patients. Read "Study: Air evacuating casualties might do more harm than good", The Washington Post, November 30, 2015.

Russia Helping Out . . . With 10,000 AKs. The Russian Federation has promised 10,000 Kalashnikov AK-47s to Kabul. They are expected to arrive before the end of the year. (Khaama Press, Nov 28, 2015).

'Heart of Asia'. A conference will soon be held to promote regional cooperation in South and Central Asia. The Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process has 14 member nations in the region. Read more in "Security Stability in Afghanistan, the 'Heart of Asia'", The Diplomat, December 2, 2015.

Poetry and Afghanistan. Lots of books are being published about the history of the U.S. military deployment during OEF to Afghanistan. But not many of them are about poetry. Randy Brown has penned Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems From Inside the Wire. Read about this new book in "The poetry of an Afghan deployment", Foreign Policy - The Best Defense Blog, November 30, 2015.

Germany Accepting Refugees . . . Not So Much. The majority of the 140,000 Afghans who have fled Afghanistan this year have ended up in Germany. Why not - it is a nice place to live, there are some jobs available, and the social safety net is way better than the one found in Afghanistan. However, there is just one sticking point. The welcome mat is no longer on the doorstep. Read more in "Merkel: We will have to return people to Afghanistan", Deutsche Welle, December 2, 2015.

Guantanamo Bay Prisoner - "Oops, Sorry About That". Looks like we had the wrong guy. A prisoner locked up for 13 years in Cuba was not the fellow we thought he was. Read more in "Guantanamo Bay prisoner victim of mistaken identity, says US", BBC News, December 2, 2015.

Afghanistan Looking to Central Asia for Internet Options. The Internet continues to see expanding usage in Afghanistan and the country is looking north for increased services at reduced prices. Read "Internet Draws Central Asia, Afghanistan Closer", Silk Road Reporters, December 2, 2015.

World Vision and WASH. UNOCHA provides funding for a project that installs water pumps. Watch 2-min video that provides insight to this program in Badghis province. (UNOCHA, Nov 30, 2015).

Photos of Afghanistan - Cultural in Kabul. Kabul's rich cultural landscape is sometimes overlooked with the news of constant danger. Have a look at some photos by Tyrell Mayfield in "Kabul: A Different View", The Diplomat, November 30, 2015.

More Photos of Afghanistan - Commerce in Kabul. A couple of photojournalists provides us with photos of life, labor and commerce in Kabul. (Bloomberg, Dec 1, 2015).

Political Economy of a District. War is continually present in many of Afghanistan's districts. This is especially true of Andar district in Ghazni province - and the economy suffers from this constant threat. Learn more in "Finding Business Opportunity in Conflict: Shopkeepers, Taleban, and the political economy of Andar district", Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), by Fazal Muzhary, December 2, 2015.

'Russian Taliban' Gets Life. A former military tank commander has been sentenced to life in prison for leading a Taliban attack on U.S. forces in Khost province, Afghanistan in 2009. He was a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who stayed and joined the Haqqani Network. (Gandara Blog, Dec 4, 2015).

Plight of Deported Afghan Minors. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is reporting on the plight of Afghan teenagers who are smuggled across the border into Iran to seek employment. While making that journey they are often victimized and end up in unfavorable situations during their employment. Read more in "IOM Highlights Needs of Deported Afghan Minors", IOM, December 4, 2015.

More Female Afghan Lawyers Needed. Women held in detention face a troubling future. Their ability to seek justice is hampered by a lack of female lawyers. (RefWorld, Dec 3, 2015).

MEC Losing International Funding? USAID and other donors are threatening to stop funding the operations of the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) due to corrupt activities such as illegal salary increases, travel payment abuses, and other shady goings-on. Hmmm.

UN Address by Afg Ambassador. H.E. Mahmoud Saikal, the Afghan ambassador to the United Nations, made a presentation on November 30th about the situation in Afghanistan. (YouTube, UNAfghanistan, 20 minutes).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qJ1PX55iqo

Marine Forced Out - Had Warned of Insider Attack. A Marine officer is being forced out of the service because he disseminated classified information about the possibility of an insider attack in Afghanistan. He tried to warn other Marines about an insider attack that could occur because a corrupt Afghan police chief who was sexually abusing children. One of the child victims subsequently took possession of an AK-47 and killed three U.S. Marines. Read more in "Decision to force out Marine who sent warning ahead of insider attack upheld", The Washington Post, November 30, 2015.

Video - U.S. Army's Human Dimension Strategy. The Army needs a concerted effort in the implementation of a comprehensive human dimension strategy - to include development of agile and adaptive leaders, realistic training, and institutional agility. U.S. Army Center for Combat Arms, November 30, 2015. (YouTube, 5 mins).

Former Detainee Now DGov in Nangarhar. A detainee held by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay is now back in the fight; but working for the Afghan government. Read "Once in Guantanamo, Afghan Now Leads War Against Taliban and ISIS", The New York Times, November 27, 2015.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Paper - Helicopter Options for Partner Nations

RAND Corporation has published a report that could be useful to air advisors of TAAC Air who are training, advising, and assisting the Afghan Air Force. The paper, entitled "Cost-Effective Helicopter Options for Partner Nations" was published in April 2015. It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF, 67 pages long, and 4 MBs big. The authors conducted an analysis on several helicopters - both utility and attack. The Mi-17 transport helicopter currently in use by the Afghan Air Force is compared with several other helicopters of a similar class. Some of the research questions that the paper attempts to answer include:

1. What types of missions does the US want partner nations to accomplish?
2. What are the capabilities of various helicopters to execute these missions?
3. What are the most cost-effective helicopters for accomplishing these missions?

www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR141z1.html

Sunday, March 29, 2015

History of Task Force Musketeer (France)

EC-665 Attack Helicopter - Tiger
(photo by Erwan de Cherisey)
Task Force Musketeer was the name of the French aviation task force in Afghanistan. French military forces have been involved in Afghanistan since 2001 and for most of that time the French ground forces were supported by French rotary wing aircraft of many different types. The French helicopters performed a wide variety of duties to include air support, MEDEVAC, personnel movement, resupply, convoy escort, and reconnaissance. Erwan de Cherisey is a guest writer for the Afghan War News Blog. He has wrote a detailed history of France's aviation support in Afghanistan entitled - Task Force Musketeer. Erwan de Cherisey has wrote numerous articles for many different publications about aviation, Afghanistan, defense and other topics. He holds a master's degree in contemporary history and travels to many conflict zones around the world to report on peacekeeping, stability, and security operations. Erwan will provide articles and book reviews to the Afghan War News Blog on an occasional basis and we are proud to have him on the writing team! Read more about Erwan de Cherisey.

View the online article about Task Force Musketeer.


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

AAF Medics Teach Lifesaving Skills to ANA


The Afghan Air Force (AAF) is sending out small medical teams to teach MEDEVAC procedures to medics of the Afghan National Army (ANA). Recently two AAF flight medics traveled to Herat in western Afghanistan to train 19 ANA soldiers in the fundamentals of loading and offloading patients from the Mi-17 helicopter and the C-208 Cessna Caravan (a small fixed-wing aircraft). Both of these aircraft are used by the AAF to transport wounded and injured members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to medical care. While the Mi-17 can land in areas without an airstrip the C-208 has greater range (but requires an airstrip). Sometimes both aircraft are used in combination to transport the injured and wounded - called a hub-and-spoke principle of casualty evacuation. Read more in "Afghan Air Force medics teach lifesaving skills to ANA troops", RS News, January 28, 2014. (Photo by Capt. Jeff M. Nagan, 438th Air Expeditionary Wing).

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Afghan Air Support Improves

The Afghan Air Force has had a slow start getting established. It was plagued by illiteracy, corruption, inefficiency, bad leadership, ANSF dependency on U.S. air support, lack of support by ISAF in the initial years of the conflict, and poor management of training and support contracts by the U.S. Air Force. The Afghan Air Force conducts a variety of missions to include the transport of supplies and personnel, close air support, aerial reconnaissance, and medical evacuation. In the past two years it has improved although not enough to be able to fully support the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Read more in "From resupply to evacs, Afghan air support assumes growing role", Stars and Stripes, January 10, 2015.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

ANP & AAF Conduct MEDEVAC Training

Rotary wing air evacuation training was recently conducted for members of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) in Nangarhar province. The one-day training event held in December 2014 covered aircraft familiarization, ambulance procedures around the aircraft, movement of patients and loading and unloading litters. The Afghan Air Force (AAF) had a Mi-17 on hand for the training. U.S. aviation and medical advisors were on hand to observe the training and provide insight with their training and experience. Read more in "Police Advisory Team, Afghan National Police, and Afghan Air Force complete air evacuation training", DVIDS, January 1, 2015. (Photo by Capt Matthew Kukta, 3d Cavalry Regiment Public Affairs Office).

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

C-17 Flying Hospital

A news article describes the C-17 Globemastter III that is a 'flying hospital'. It is used for MEDEVACs from the war zone to a hospital for patients requiring advanced care. In the case of Afghanistan, the C-17 would transport the patient(s) from Bagram or Kandahar to Landstuhl, Germany. Read more in "The Flying Hospital That Rushes Wounded Soldiers to Safety", Danger Room by Wired.com, January 5, 2015.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

U.S. MEDEVAC Crews Less Busy Train More

A recent news article provides us with a glimpse of the daily routine of MEDEVAC crews stationed at Bagram Air Field. Now that U.S. combat troops are doing little to no fighting the incidents of MEDEVACs is very low. So low, in fact that ". . . the operational tempo has slowed to a crawl . . " the flight crews are spending a lot of time conducting training and ". . . are finding other ways to break the monotony of the deployment, such as table tennis and Whiffle ball games . . ." Read more in "With fewer coalition troops in Afghanistan, 82nd medics running at a slower pace", Fayetteville Observer, November 28, 2014. In the meantime the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are getting hammered by the Taliban. Casualties have increased dramatically for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) over last year and the ANSF is struggling to get its wounded soldiers off the battlefield before they bleed out.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Former SF Medic Establishes Program to Reduce Battlefield Deaths

A medical fellowship program seeks to reduce battlefield deaths. A former Special Forces Medic who served in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 and also in Afghanistan as a battalion surgeon in 2005 and 2010 believes that more can be done for battlefield casualties. The aim of the Military Emergency Medical Services and Disaster Medicine Fellowship Program is to train physicians for the challenges of pre-hospital care on the battlefield. "Pre-hospital care" is that critical time between a traumatic event and when care is received at a military treatment facility. Read more in "Medical Fellowship Program Seeks to Reduce Battlefield Deaths", American Forces Press Service, January 14, 2014.

Monday, January 13, 2014

OCC-Rs Improving in Medical Coordination

The Operational Coordination Centers at the regional level (OCC-Rs) are slowly improving in their capabilities to coordinate and track medical evacuations of injured or wounded members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). This ability has been slow in coming but it would appear that the presence of a never-ending succession of medical advisors at the OCC-Rs is slowly having an effect. While the Afghan Air Force still has problems in conducting CASEVACs in any meaningful way (in terms of capacity) the ground evacuation capability of the ANSF is getting better. The picture at right (photo by CPL Mariah Best) shows Captain Nolan Ellis, medical advisor for the 201st Security Force Assistance Team, discussing the seven-line medical evacuation process with an ANA officer in the OCC-R South. Read more in "Medical operations in Afghanistan: Continued success as ANSF takes the lead", DVIDS, January 12, 2014.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Afghan Border Police Need More Medical Training and Supplies

The Afghan Border Police or ABP work in the most remote parts of Afghanistan. When an ABP member is wounded or injured he is miles and hours (sometimes days) away from the nearest medical facility. With the number of MEDEVACs performed by Coalition rotary wing aircraft for the ANSF in a steep decline a great percentage of the wounded die. SFAATs advising the ANSF in the North of Kabul (NoK) area of Afghanistan along the Afghan-Pakistan border are providing medical training to the ABP so they can administer first aid prior to evacuation to a medical facility. Learn more in "Turning border police into lifesavers in Afghanistan's remotest places", Stars and Stripes, January 1, 2014.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Wounded Evacuations in Afghanistan Improves

Survival rates for wounded Soldiers have improved dramatically thanks to more medevac helicopter crews and improved medical procedures.  Read more in "In Afghan War, More Equipment Helps Raise Survival Rate of Wounded", The New York Times, January 8, 2011.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

U.S. Medevacs Save Afghan Civilian Lives

The medevac system in Afghanistan has improved dramatically.  Several years ago the medevacs would be launched from four locations - Bagram, Salerno, Kandahar, and K2 (Uzbekistan).  Now, the flights can be dispatched from locations all across the country.  The medevacs will serve the Afghan civilian population when available and not in high demand.  The article link below will bring you to a story that illustrates this fact - the story of a woman having a breached birth who was fortunate enough to have a Special Forces team call for a medevac.  Go ahead, read the story - it has a good ending!  See "A U.S. Crew's Urgent Flight Into the Afghan Desert", The New York Times, December 18, 2010.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Military Medevacs in Afghanistan | Forward Operating Base Wilson

A writer in Afghanistan provides us with a glimpse of how medevac crews in Afghanistan work and live.  He describes the modern and traditional techniques used to keep Soldiers alive from pickup in the combat zone to medical care in the combat casualty hospital.  Read "Military medics combine ultramodern and time-honored methods to save lives on the battlefield", The Washington Post, October 17, 2010.