Navy Rescue Swimmer Dads

Comment

Comment by Brad on July 24, 2010 at 10:31am

Jim, congratulations to you and Jeff. He has done an awesome job to get through that school! We know what it takes and are also proud of him. Let him know from all of us in the group, Bravo Zulo!!

Comment by Brad on July 18, 2010 at 8:40am

Outstanding David! Hope you can share the Air Medal stories with us someday. When did he start as a rescue swimmer and rank now? That is great that he will be training pilots.

Comment by David Wells on July 17, 2010 at 8:47pm

I'm much happier to see him flying off the USNS Mercy in Pacific Partnership 2010 than flying combat ambulance service in Iraq from Kuwait. While in Kuwait he won the Army Air Medal and the Navy Air Medal, when I asked him why, he said; "I'll tell you about it someday." When he finishes this cruise, he'll transfer to Whiting Field in Milton, Florida to train new helicpoter pilots.

Comment by Brad on July 17, 2010 at 2:52pm

Beautiful pic! Love it!

Comment by David Wells on July 17, 2010 at 12:16pm

Robert in flight over Cambodia as part of Pacific Partnership 2010.

Comment by Brad on June 29, 2010 at 10:53am

Wow, great stuff David and Scott. Love to hear how our men are applying what they have learned to make a difference. With Robert, it sounds like all those qual flights for night landing on small boy ships helped with the sighting for that fog landing on the road, for I know that is what Garrett said they had to call out locations for the pilots. And Scott, great to see your son apply the medical training from rescue school already! You both deserve to be so proud of your sons! Bravo Zulu!

Comment by David Wells on June 28, 2010 at 3:33pm

Heard from Robert, USNS Mercy in Cambodia and he was doing flights when they got a call to get on deck for medvac. They landed, kicked off the passengers, unloaded seats, fueled, picked up three doctors and gear, and took off. Had to fly thru very heavy rains and fog to reach site of car wreck where wife of US Embassy public affairs officer was badly injured. To get to the site, both crewmen hung out the sides looking down because the pilots could not see the ground thru the fog, they were calling out the road and any thing they could see. Finally reached the village and landed in the street blowing umbrellas, tables, and shop merchandise around. They did IV"s and addressed breathing problems, she was in a coma. They loaded her up and took her to the helicopter, checked her IVs, put one doc on the gunner's belt, strapped the rest in, and took off thru the heavy rain and fog for the ship. After they transferred her to a gurney, they started to clean the blood from the helo, then got a call to fly to pick up the US Ambassidor and bring her to the ship. The patient was flown to an airport in Cambodia the next day where she was transferred to a plane and flown to a trauma center in Singapore. Robert said it was the most intense flying he has ever done, with over a thousand hours including combat ambulance service in Iraq and Kuwait. Now they have a few days of liberty in Singapore before heading to Indonesia.

Comment by Brad on June 28, 2010 at 12:24pm

Just spoke with Garrett on Skype, and he reports that his Det A is still waiting for the USS Cowpens to come out of repairs. That means they are considered "on the beach" at Atsugi Airstation in Japan. They will continue training flights from there. He hopes to get his TSO qual by the end of summer if they can coordinate the required two Helo's for most of the flights needed for the various cards to complete the qual. Problem is having the only two Helo's available with flight hours, maintenance, etc. All other Helo's for HS-14 are with CVN73 out on tour, so it continues to be hard to get the flights needed to finish.

Comment by Brad on June 6, 2010 at 10:05am

God speed to HSC23 and Det 4. Way to go in Vietnam! Garrett is now off the GW and on the USS Shiloh with Det A as the 7th fleet prepares for anti-sub maneuvers with South Korea form what I had heard in the media. Clearly AW's will be in the spotlight during these maneuvers. Let's hope we show how awesome our sailor's can be!

Comment by David Wells on June 2, 2010 at 7:46pm

My son Robert arrived in Vietnam on Memorial day aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy. The two SeaHawk helicopters are grounded while in Vietnam waters and will stay in the hanger. (Something my generation did with helicopters in Vietnam, I hear.) The flight crews will be working with the SeaBees during the two week stay. Look up 'Pacific Partnership 2010' for info. Good luck to HSC23 Det4 while deployed.

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