超级军网不抛弃，不放弃的军人故事-----这回是美军的故事
来源：百度文库 编辑：超级军网 时间：2024/05/02 08:55:18
为救出一死一伤的同伴，他们付出了一死两伤+更多的代价。
==============
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-07/01/c_121612095.htm
枪林弹雨下“三进三出”：一支美军救援队的生死5小时
今年4月下旬，驻阿富汗美军的一架直升机意外失事，幸存的飞行员被困荒野。负责救援的空中特遣队迅速前往坠机现场，正当两个救援小组降落地面准备施救之时，突遭塔利班武装分子包围。参与行动的直升机机组成员表现英勇，经过5小时惊心动魄的奋战，终于在枪林弹雨下成功救回战友。美国《星条旗报》日前披露了这场战斗的详情。
前方就是敌人包围圈
4月23日清晨，太阳刚刚升起，救援队便搭乘两架HH-60“铺路鹰”直升机向一条险峰环绕的山谷进发。在情报部门协助下，他们比较顺利地在距失事飞机几百米处发现了一名受伤的飞行员。“我能看到他的GPS信号装置。”长机驾驶员菲利普·布莱恩特少校回忆。僚机很快降低高度，将第一救援小组——杰西·彼得森少校、克里斯·乌瑞特与谢恩·哈吉斯军士放到地面上。他们走近坠机地点才发现，另一位飞行员的遗体还被卡在残骸中。
救援小组打算先将遗体送回机舱，长机把扎卡里·克莱因与比尔·赛纳军士也放到地面上，希望加快工作进度。在这条不到1600米宽的陌生山谷中，最快捷的施救方法是找块空地降落，但崎岖的地形以及近在咫尺的山峰让这几乎不可能。布莱恩特不得不悬停在180英尺（约55米）的半空中，通常情况下，他可以停在40英尺（约12米）的高度。
赛纳与克莱因固定好遗体，准备把它吊上飞机。就在这时，大批闻风而来的武装分子突然从多个不同方向涌来，子弹随之呼啸而至。眼见滞空的直升机处于极度危险中，布莱恩特只得暂停救援，驾机脱离危险范围。听到枪声，长机上的机枪手威廉·冈萨雷斯脑中首先闪过的念头是：“上帝，我中弹了吗？”然后才想到去查看炮火从哪里来。
就在他巡视地面、打算确定敌人位置的时候，身后传来了技术军士詹姆斯·戴维斯的呼救声——他不幸被流弹击中。冈萨雷斯看到同伴倒在血泊中，表情痛苦，马上离开作战位置，对戴维斯进行了紧急抢救——拿一条止血带绑在他大腿的受伤部位。长机开足马力，争分夺秒地将新伤员送回巴格拉姆空军基地，在加油的间隙，他们叫醒了还在睡觉的海斯·库伯特森，让他顶替戴维斯的角色。长机只停留了几分钟就立即飞返交战区域。
“从未想过抛弃战友”
在此期间，留在原地的僚机一直在和敌人交火。由于难以确定目标的具体位置，僚机上的机枪手只得将弹药向大致方向倾泻。机组发现，敌火力主要来自两个空降救援小组之间，一次性将地面人员接上直升机是不可能的。他们当机立断，决定先救受伤的飞行员与第一救援小组。为了更有效率地帮助被困人员脱离险境，经过临时协商，长机决定采取非常规救援方式：单轮着陆——直升机接地但不停机，以便地面人员快速搭乘。
着陆地点就选在一块大砾石上，得益于周围的小山包阻挡了敌方火力，受伤飞行员与3名救援小组成员总算平安登机。然而，直升机甫一升高，瓢泼似的弹雨又从四面八方打来，眼看机载燃油所剩不多，他们不得不后撤补给。再度降落后，僚机机组人员才发现，直升机受到的损伤比想象中要大得多，机械系统多处被击穿，润滑油都快漏光了。
此时，还留在地面上的第二救援小组处境依然险恶，他们处于敌方优势火力下，一步也动弹不得。幸运的是，友邻部队的A-10攻击机与“阿帕奇”武装直升机及时赶到，凭借重武器暂时压制了武装分子的进逼。
为了尽快掌握战局，后方派来一支步兵分队前来助阵。糟糕的是，这群人在半途中便遭到伏击，战斗开始不久就有一名士兵中弹身亡，还有一名受重伤。这时，两架“铺路鹰”刚从基地赶回，接到步兵需要救援的通报，只得临时改变航向。他们面临的情况比刚才更棘手——步兵分队固守在一幢建筑物屋顶，四面八方都有敌人，还得小心乱如蛛网的电线。
担心伤员会因失血过多死亡，长机3次尝试强行降落，都被敌方火力逼退。直到“阿帕奇”再度加入战团，技高一筹的僚机才成功躲开电线，飞到建筑物上空，救起了受伤士兵。
在己方空中力量的威慑下，敌人的枪声终于变得稀疏起来。当布莱恩特机长小心翼翼地将起重机放低，将最后两位救援小组成员接回机舱时，时钟已走过了5个小时。
“无论情况何等险恶，我们从未想过抛弃战友。”战斗过后，参与救援行动的官兵如是说。
http://www.stripes.com/news/helicopter-crew-in-afghanistan-braves-persistent-enemy-fire-to-rescue-wounded-pilot-recover-remains-1.146610
Helicopter crew in Afghanistan braves persistent enemy fire to rescue wounded pilot, recover remains
By T.D. FLACK
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 14, 2011
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — For more than five hours during an April mission, Air Force helicopter rescue crews battled enemy insurgents in Afghanistan while attempting to recover two downed Army helicopter pilots.
Pilots and crewmembers deployed with the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Air Field put themselves in harm’s way repeatedly throughout the day. And two of the squadron’s pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, hunkered down under a fusillade of incoming fire on the ground, calling in air support on enemy forces that got as close as 50 yards.
Several men involved in the mission — deployed from the 33rd Rescue Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the 212th Rescue Squadron from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska — spoke to Stars and Stripes via phone to describe their efforts to recover the pilots: one alive and one killed in the crash. Officials say the helicopter “went down due to an undetermined cause,” and the accident remains under investigation.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon on April 23 when two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flew into the roughly mile-wide valley, with extremely steep mountain slopes, in search of the downed helicopter. Linking up with other air support, they spotted one of the pilots a few hundred yards up the mountain from his crashed aircraft.
“We were able to see his (GPS) signaling device,” said Maj. Phillip Bryant, pilot in the lead helicopter.
The second helicopter lowered a three-person rescue team — Maj. Jesse Peterson, Tech. Sgt. Chris Uriarte and Tech. Sgt. Shane Hargis — down with a hoist. Once on the ground, they learned that the body of the other pilot was still with the wreckage.
They began prepping the first pilot for rescue while Bryant’s crew dropped Staff Sgts. Zachary Kline and Bill Cenna at the crash site.
Bryant said it’s preferable — and much quicker — to land and debark the teams, but the unforgiving terrain made that impossible. He was forced to hover at about 180 feet, much higher than the normal 40-foot hoist, while his two rescuemen were lowered to the ground.
Cenna described the spot as “rugged, unforgiving, very steep.” He and Kline found the dead pilot with the wreckage and began preparing for an extraction.
About that time, with Bryant’s helo hovering overhead like a sitting duck, the enemy opened up with “very effective fire from multiple ... locations,” Cenna said.
Under the roar and rush of the helicopter blades, the pilots and crew said they heard the very distinct sound of gunfire. Bryant pulled back quickly to get out of harm’s way.
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, a door gunner in that sitting duck, said the first thing that went through his mind when he realized they were taking fire was “Am I hit, am I not hit?” Next up, “Where’s [the fire] coming from.”
He was scanning the ground for enemy when Tech. Sgt. James Davis called out that he had been hit.
Gonzalez turned around and saw Davis slumped in the seat, drenched in blood. He told the pilots he was leaving his spot on the gun and began first aid.
“I just tried to find where the wound was,” he said.
Gonzalez placed a tourniquet on Davis’ leg above the wound to stop the bleeding as the crew raced to get him back to Bagram. While refueling, they woke Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, who replaced Davis on the crew. The helicopter was headed back to the crash site within minutes.
“We can’t do anything from Bagram,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve still got our ... PJs on the ground, we still got a job to do.”
The crew of the second helicopter began putting rounds on hard-to-spot enemy positions on the ground, using tracer rounds coming at them as a guide. Heavy fire was coming from a location between the two teams of pararescue jumpers, so getting them together for one rescue was out of the question.
The crew decided to pull out the surviving pilot and their three personnel first. The pilot was in the hoist and the team was giving the hand signal to lift him when the enemy opened fire again.
Senior Airman Michael Price, flight engineer and hoist operator, hit the “shear switch,” cutting the cable so the pilot on the ground wouldn’t be dragged across the cliffs as the helicopter pulled out to evade the attack.
With no room for a normal landing, and no hoist cable, the pilots decided to come around again and use a method that they practice for mountainous extractions: a one-wheel touchdown, keeping the helo in a hover while pulling everyone aboard.
“The best option we had was to put one wheel down on a bigger boulder,” explained co-pilot 1st Lt. Elliott Milliken. “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”
That allowed them to get low enough that the terrain protected them from the incoming fire. The pilot and pararescue jumpers scrambled aboard.
They were hit again by a barrage of bullets as they pulled out. Low on fuel, they flew to a nearby forward operating base where they discovered that the incoming fire had caused more damage than originally thought.
They had lost nearly all their transmission fluid and the helo had to be grounded. Milliken hopped another flight back to Bagram so he could pick up their spare HH-60 and more pararescue jumpers for firepower.
Kline and Cenna, meanwhile, continued to coordinate with other aircraft — including A-10s, Apaches and Kiowas — while pinned down on the ground.
“We would tell them what was going on and then they would coordinate with me to try and come in and suppress the threat,” Kline said.
Pilots dropped ordnance as close as 75 yards from his position, Kline said.
“The overhead air support was very comforting,” Cenna said.
He added that the enemy forces would target them every 15 to 20 minutes throughout the day.
“There [were] rounds going off, the dirt and dust was flying up,” Cenna said. “I still do not know how we were not hit.”
At one point, the enemy gunfire blasted the downed helicopter, lighting it on fire. Cenna and Kline scrambled away as far as they could while dodging bullets. The helicopter exploded, and they were close enough that Kline later found molten metal that had landed in his gear.
As the battle ensued, the Army inserted a quick-reaction force nearby to assist Kline and Cenna, but the team was immediately hit. One soldier was instantly killed and another wounded. Both of the squadron Pave Hawks were on their way back to the area when they got the call that they were needed to medevac the wounded soldier.
The landing zone near the Army troops was extremely dangerous, Bryant explained, with heavy fire coming from all directions and hanging wire that they had to avoid clipping with their rotor blades.
As Bryant tried to maneuver the Pave Hawk under the wire, his door gunner, Gonzalez, saw the reaction force unloading on a building.
He called out “gunfire on the left,” asked the pilots to climb a bit, and let loose with his .50 caliber machine gun.
Knowing the wounded soldier was quickly bleeding out, the pilots made three attempts to land, but got “shot out” of the landing zone each time, Bryant said.
Finally, “both Apaches rolled into [the area] ... and released a lot of ordnance,” Bryant said. Milliken’s crew finally maneuvered past the wire, squeezed into the small landing zone, and saved the soldier. But it was anything but easy.
“It was pretty hairy,” said Price, the flight engineer. “We ended up having to do a two-wheel hover off of that one.”
With the wounded soldier safely en route for care, Bryant and his crew headed back to Kline and Cenna for another attempt.
By this time, the rescue jumpers had been on the ground and under fire for about five hours. Kline said he didn’t realize that it had been that long.
“It could have been an hour for all I knew,” he said. “Everything happened pretty fast and there was a lot going on all the time.”
Kline said they were sure they wouldn’t get out during daylight and were saving ammo for nightfall and the possibility that they would be overrun.
Bryant came into hover and started lowering the hoist.
That’s when the crew realized that one of the enemy rounds had damaged the helo, and the hoist was on a back-up system that meant it moved much slower than normal.
“It felt like a long time that we were sitting there [hovering],” Bryant explained.
But the expected gunfire never came, and they were finally able to pull everyone into the helicopter.
Kline and Cenna stressed that they never entertained the idea of leaving the fallen pilot behind.
“We weren’t leaving without him,” Kline said.
![]()
Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, shows where a bullet entered his helmet during a mission to recover the pilots of a downed Army helicopter on April 23 in Afghanistan. Culbertson was uninjured.
ERICK SAKS/U.S. AIR FORCE
![]()
Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Tech. Sgt. James Davis, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, on April 23, 2011, the same day Davis was wounded while on a recovery mission in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
![]()
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, points out bullet holes in the side of the HH-60G Pave Hawk that he flew in during a mission to rescue downed Army helicopter pilots on April 23 in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
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Pilots fly an HH-60G Pave Hawk Staff assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron during a recent mission over Afghanistan. Squadron crews helped rescue downed Army helicopter pilots during a five-hour mission on April 23. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
![]()
美军士兵在检查站对通行的阿富汗人进行检查
为救出一死一伤的同伴，他们付出了一死两伤+更多的代价。
==============
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-07/01/c_121612095.htm
枪林弹雨下“三进三出”：一支美军救援队的生死5小时
今年4月下旬，驻阿富汗美军的一架直升机意外失事，幸存的飞行员被困荒野。负责救援的空中特遣队迅速前往坠机现场，正当两个救援小组降落地面准备施救之时，突遭塔利班武装分子包围。参与行动的直升机机组成员表现英勇，经过5小时惊心动魄的奋战，终于在枪林弹雨下成功救回战友。美国《星条旗报》日前披露了这场战斗的详情。
前方就是敌人包围圈
4月23日清晨，太阳刚刚升起，救援队便搭乘两架HH-60“铺路鹰”直升机向一条险峰环绕的山谷进发。在情报部门协助下，他们比较顺利地在距失事飞机几百米处发现了一名受伤的飞行员。“我能看到他的GPS信号装置。”长机驾驶员菲利普·布莱恩特少校回忆。僚机很快降低高度，将第一救援小组——杰西·彼得森少校、克里斯·乌瑞特与谢恩·哈吉斯军士放到地面上。他们走近坠机地点才发现，另一位飞行员的遗体还被卡在残骸中。
救援小组打算先将遗体送回机舱，长机把扎卡里·克莱因与比尔·赛纳军士也放到地面上，希望加快工作进度。在这条不到1600米宽的陌生山谷中，最快捷的施救方法是找块空地降落，但崎岖的地形以及近在咫尺的山峰让这几乎不可能。布莱恩特不得不悬停在180英尺（约55米）的半空中，通常情况下，他可以停在40英尺（约12米）的高度。
赛纳与克莱因固定好遗体，准备把它吊上飞机。就在这时，大批闻风而来的武装分子突然从多个不同方向涌来，子弹随之呼啸而至。眼见滞空的直升机处于极度危险中，布莱恩特只得暂停救援，驾机脱离危险范围。听到枪声，长机上的机枪手威廉·冈萨雷斯脑中首先闪过的念头是：“上帝，我中弹了吗？”然后才想到去查看炮火从哪里来。
就在他巡视地面、打算确定敌人位置的时候，身后传来了技术军士詹姆斯·戴维斯的呼救声——他不幸被流弹击中。冈萨雷斯看到同伴倒在血泊中，表情痛苦，马上离开作战位置，对戴维斯进行了紧急抢救——拿一条止血带绑在他大腿的受伤部位。长机开足马力，争分夺秒地将新伤员送回巴格拉姆空军基地，在加油的间隙，他们叫醒了还在睡觉的海斯·库伯特森，让他顶替戴维斯的角色。长机只停留了几分钟就立即飞返交战区域。
“从未想过抛弃战友”
在此期间，留在原地的僚机一直在和敌人交火。由于难以确定目标的具体位置，僚机上的机枪手只得将弹药向大致方向倾泻。机组发现，敌火力主要来自两个空降救援小组之间，一次性将地面人员接上直升机是不可能的。他们当机立断，决定先救受伤的飞行员与第一救援小组。为了更有效率地帮助被困人员脱离险境，经过临时协商，长机决定采取非常规救援方式：单轮着陆——直升机接地但不停机，以便地面人员快速搭乘。
着陆地点就选在一块大砾石上，得益于周围的小山包阻挡了敌方火力，受伤飞行员与3名救援小组成员总算平安登机。然而，直升机甫一升高，瓢泼似的弹雨又从四面八方打来，眼看机载燃油所剩不多，他们不得不后撤补给。再度降落后，僚机机组人员才发现，直升机受到的损伤比想象中要大得多，机械系统多处被击穿，润滑油都快漏光了。
此时，还留在地面上的第二救援小组处境依然险恶，他们处于敌方优势火力下，一步也动弹不得。幸运的是，友邻部队的A-10攻击机与“阿帕奇”武装直升机及时赶到，凭借重武器暂时压制了武装分子的进逼。
为了尽快掌握战局，后方派来一支步兵分队前来助阵。糟糕的是，这群人在半途中便遭到伏击，战斗开始不久就有一名士兵中弹身亡，还有一名受重伤。这时，两架“铺路鹰”刚从基地赶回，接到步兵需要救援的通报，只得临时改变航向。他们面临的情况比刚才更棘手——步兵分队固守在一幢建筑物屋顶，四面八方都有敌人，还得小心乱如蛛网的电线。
担心伤员会因失血过多死亡，长机3次尝试强行降落，都被敌方火力逼退。直到“阿帕奇”再度加入战团，技高一筹的僚机才成功躲开电线，飞到建筑物上空，救起了受伤士兵。
在己方空中力量的威慑下，敌人的枪声终于变得稀疏起来。当布莱恩特机长小心翼翼地将起重机放低，将最后两位救援小组成员接回机舱时，时钟已走过了5个小时。
“无论情况何等险恶，我们从未想过抛弃战友。”战斗过后，参与救援行动的官兵如是说。
http://www.stripes.com/news/helicopter-crew-in-afghanistan-braves-persistent-enemy-fire-to-rescue-wounded-pilot-recover-remains-1.146610
Helicopter crew in Afghanistan braves persistent enemy fire to rescue wounded pilot, recover remains
By T.D. FLACK
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 14, 2011
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — For more than five hours during an April mission, Air Force helicopter rescue crews battled enemy insurgents in Afghanistan while attempting to recover two downed Army helicopter pilots.
Pilots and crewmembers deployed with the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Air Field put themselves in harm’s way repeatedly throughout the day. And two of the squadron’s pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, hunkered down under a fusillade of incoming fire on the ground, calling in air support on enemy forces that got as close as 50 yards.
Several men involved in the mission — deployed from the 33rd Rescue Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the 212th Rescue Squadron from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska — spoke to Stars and Stripes via phone to describe their efforts to recover the pilots: one alive and one killed in the crash. Officials say the helicopter “went down due to an undetermined cause,” and the accident remains under investigation.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon on April 23 when two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flew into the roughly mile-wide valley, with extremely steep mountain slopes, in search of the downed helicopter. Linking up with other air support, they spotted one of the pilots a few hundred yards up the mountain from his crashed aircraft.
“We were able to see his (GPS) signaling device,” said Maj. Phillip Bryant, pilot in the lead helicopter.
The second helicopter lowered a three-person rescue team — Maj. Jesse Peterson, Tech. Sgt. Chris Uriarte and Tech. Sgt. Shane Hargis — down with a hoist. Once on the ground, they learned that the body of the other pilot was still with the wreckage.
They began prepping the first pilot for rescue while Bryant’s crew dropped Staff Sgts. Zachary Kline and Bill Cenna at the crash site.
Bryant said it’s preferable — and much quicker — to land and debark the teams, but the unforgiving terrain made that impossible. He was forced to hover at about 180 feet, much higher than the normal 40-foot hoist, while his two rescuemen were lowered to the ground.
Cenna described the spot as “rugged, unforgiving, very steep.” He and Kline found the dead pilot with the wreckage and began preparing for an extraction.
About that time, with Bryant’s helo hovering overhead like a sitting duck, the enemy opened up with “very effective fire from multiple ... locations,” Cenna said.
Under the roar and rush of the helicopter blades, the pilots and crew said they heard the very distinct sound of gunfire. Bryant pulled back quickly to get out of harm’s way.
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, a door gunner in that sitting duck, said the first thing that went through his mind when he realized they were taking fire was “Am I hit, am I not hit?” Next up, “Where’s [the fire] coming from.”
He was scanning the ground for enemy when Tech. Sgt. James Davis called out that he had been hit.
Gonzalez turned around and saw Davis slumped in the seat, drenched in blood. He told the pilots he was leaving his spot on the gun and began first aid.
“I just tried to find where the wound was,” he said.
Gonzalez placed a tourniquet on Davis’ leg above the wound to stop the bleeding as the crew raced to get him back to Bagram. While refueling, they woke Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, who replaced Davis on the crew. The helicopter was headed back to the crash site within minutes.
“We can’t do anything from Bagram,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve still got our ... PJs on the ground, we still got a job to do.”
The crew of the second helicopter began putting rounds on hard-to-spot enemy positions on the ground, using tracer rounds coming at them as a guide. Heavy fire was coming from a location between the two teams of pararescue jumpers, so getting them together for one rescue was out of the question.
The crew decided to pull out the surviving pilot and their three personnel first. The pilot was in the hoist and the team was giving the hand signal to lift him when the enemy opened fire again.
Senior Airman Michael Price, flight engineer and hoist operator, hit the “shear switch,” cutting the cable so the pilot on the ground wouldn’t be dragged across the cliffs as the helicopter pulled out to evade the attack.
With no room for a normal landing, and no hoist cable, the pilots decided to come around again and use a method that they practice for mountainous extractions: a one-wheel touchdown, keeping the helo in a hover while pulling everyone aboard.
“The best option we had was to put one wheel down on a bigger boulder,” explained co-pilot 1st Lt. Elliott Milliken. “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”
That allowed them to get low enough that the terrain protected them from the incoming fire. The pilot and pararescue jumpers scrambled aboard.
They were hit again by a barrage of bullets as they pulled out. Low on fuel, they flew to a nearby forward operating base where they discovered that the incoming fire had caused more damage than originally thought.
They had lost nearly all their transmission fluid and the helo had to be grounded. Milliken hopped another flight back to Bagram so he could pick up their spare HH-60 and more pararescue jumpers for firepower.
Kline and Cenna, meanwhile, continued to coordinate with other aircraft — including A-10s, Apaches and Kiowas — while pinned down on the ground.
“We would tell them what was going on and then they would coordinate with me to try and come in and suppress the threat,” Kline said.
Pilots dropped ordnance as close as 75 yards from his position, Kline said.
“The overhead air support was very comforting,” Cenna said.
He added that the enemy forces would target them every 15 to 20 minutes throughout the day.
“There [were] rounds going off, the dirt and dust was flying up,” Cenna said. “I still do not know how we were not hit.”
At one point, the enemy gunfire blasted the downed helicopter, lighting it on fire. Cenna and Kline scrambled away as far as they could while dodging bullets. The helicopter exploded, and they were close enough that Kline later found molten metal that had landed in his gear.
As the battle ensued, the Army inserted a quick-reaction force nearby to assist Kline and Cenna, but the team was immediately hit. One soldier was instantly killed and another wounded. Both of the squadron Pave Hawks were on their way back to the area when they got the call that they were needed to medevac the wounded soldier.
The landing zone near the Army troops was extremely dangerous, Bryant explained, with heavy fire coming from all directions and hanging wire that they had to avoid clipping with their rotor blades.
As Bryant tried to maneuver the Pave Hawk under the wire, his door gunner, Gonzalez, saw the reaction force unloading on a building.
He called out “gunfire on the left,” asked the pilots to climb a bit, and let loose with his .50 caliber machine gun.
Knowing the wounded soldier was quickly bleeding out, the pilots made three attempts to land, but got “shot out” of the landing zone each time, Bryant said.
Finally, “both Apaches rolled into [the area] ... and released a lot of ordnance,” Bryant said. Milliken’s crew finally maneuvered past the wire, squeezed into the small landing zone, and saved the soldier. But it was anything but easy.
“It was pretty hairy,” said Price, the flight engineer. “We ended up having to do a two-wheel hover off of that one.”
With the wounded soldier safely en route for care, Bryant and his crew headed back to Kline and Cenna for another attempt.
By this time, the rescue jumpers had been on the ground and under fire for about five hours. Kline said he didn’t realize that it had been that long.
“It could have been an hour for all I knew,” he said. “Everything happened pretty fast and there was a lot going on all the time.”
Kline said they were sure they wouldn’t get out during daylight and were saving ammo for nightfall and the possibility that they would be overrun.
Bryant came into hover and started lowering the hoist.
That’s when the crew realized that one of the enemy rounds had damaged the helo, and the hoist was on a back-up system that meant it moved much slower than normal.
“It felt like a long time that we were sitting there [hovering],” Bryant explained.
But the expected gunfire never came, and they were finally able to pull everyone into the helicopter.
Kline and Cenna stressed that they never entertained the idea of leaving the fallen pilot behind.
“We weren’t leaving without him,” Kline said.
![]()
Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, shows where a bullet entered his helmet during a mission to recover the pilots of a downed Army helicopter on April 23 in Afghanistan. Culbertson was uninjured.
ERICK SAKS/U.S. AIR FORCE
![]()
Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Tech. Sgt. James Davis, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, on April 23, 2011, the same day Davis was wounded while on a recovery mission in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
![]()
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, points out bullet holes in the side of the HH-60G Pave Hawk that he flew in during a mission to rescue downed Army helicopter pilots on April 23 in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
![]()
Pilots fly an HH-60G Pave Hawk Staff assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron during a recent mission over Afghanistan. Squadron crews helped rescue downed Army helicopter pilots during a five-hour mission on April 23. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
![]()
美军士兵在检查站对通行的阿富汗人进行检查
==============
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-07/01/c_121612095.htm
枪林弹雨下“三进三出”：一支美军救援队的生死5小时
今年4月下旬，驻阿富汗美军的一架直升机意外失事，幸存的飞行员被困荒野。负责救援的空中特遣队迅速前往坠机现场，正当两个救援小组降落地面准备施救之时，突遭塔利班武装分子包围。参与行动的直升机机组成员表现英勇，经过5小时惊心动魄的奋战，终于在枪林弹雨下成功救回战友。美国《星条旗报》日前披露了这场战斗的详情。
前方就是敌人包围圈
4月23日清晨，太阳刚刚升起，救援队便搭乘两架HH-60“铺路鹰”直升机向一条险峰环绕的山谷进发。在情报部门协助下，他们比较顺利地在距失事飞机几百米处发现了一名受伤的飞行员。“我能看到他的GPS信号装置。”长机驾驶员菲利普·布莱恩特少校回忆。僚机很快降低高度，将第一救援小组——杰西·彼得森少校、克里斯·乌瑞特与谢恩·哈吉斯军士放到地面上。他们走近坠机地点才发现，另一位飞行员的遗体还被卡在残骸中。
救援小组打算先将遗体送回机舱，长机把扎卡里·克莱因与比尔·赛纳军士也放到地面上，希望加快工作进度。在这条不到1600米宽的陌生山谷中，最快捷的施救方法是找块空地降落，但崎岖的地形以及近在咫尺的山峰让这几乎不可能。布莱恩特不得不悬停在180英尺（约55米）的半空中，通常情况下，他可以停在40英尺（约12米）的高度。
赛纳与克莱因固定好遗体，准备把它吊上飞机。就在这时，大批闻风而来的武装分子突然从多个不同方向涌来，子弹随之呼啸而至。眼见滞空的直升机处于极度危险中，布莱恩特只得暂停救援，驾机脱离危险范围。听到枪声，长机上的机枪手威廉·冈萨雷斯脑中首先闪过的念头是：“上帝，我中弹了吗？”然后才想到去查看炮火从哪里来。
就在他巡视地面、打算确定敌人位置的时候，身后传来了技术军士詹姆斯·戴维斯的呼救声——他不幸被流弹击中。冈萨雷斯看到同伴倒在血泊中，表情痛苦，马上离开作战位置，对戴维斯进行了紧急抢救——拿一条止血带绑在他大腿的受伤部位。长机开足马力，争分夺秒地将新伤员送回巴格拉姆空军基地，在加油的间隙，他们叫醒了还在睡觉的海斯·库伯特森，让他顶替戴维斯的角色。长机只停留了几分钟就立即飞返交战区域。
“从未想过抛弃战友”
在此期间，留在原地的僚机一直在和敌人交火。由于难以确定目标的具体位置，僚机上的机枪手只得将弹药向大致方向倾泻。机组发现，敌火力主要来自两个空降救援小组之间，一次性将地面人员接上直升机是不可能的。他们当机立断，决定先救受伤的飞行员与第一救援小组。为了更有效率地帮助被困人员脱离险境，经过临时协商，长机决定采取非常规救援方式：单轮着陆——直升机接地但不停机，以便地面人员快速搭乘。
着陆地点就选在一块大砾石上，得益于周围的小山包阻挡了敌方火力，受伤飞行员与3名救援小组成员总算平安登机。然而，直升机甫一升高，瓢泼似的弹雨又从四面八方打来，眼看机载燃油所剩不多，他们不得不后撤补给。再度降落后，僚机机组人员才发现，直升机受到的损伤比想象中要大得多，机械系统多处被击穿，润滑油都快漏光了。
此时，还留在地面上的第二救援小组处境依然险恶，他们处于敌方优势火力下，一步也动弹不得。幸运的是，友邻部队的A-10攻击机与“阿帕奇”武装直升机及时赶到，凭借重武器暂时压制了武装分子的进逼。
为了尽快掌握战局，后方派来一支步兵分队前来助阵。糟糕的是，这群人在半途中便遭到伏击，战斗开始不久就有一名士兵中弹身亡，还有一名受重伤。这时，两架“铺路鹰”刚从基地赶回，接到步兵需要救援的通报，只得临时改变航向。他们面临的情况比刚才更棘手——步兵分队固守在一幢建筑物屋顶，四面八方都有敌人，还得小心乱如蛛网的电线。
担心伤员会因失血过多死亡，长机3次尝试强行降落，都被敌方火力逼退。直到“阿帕奇”再度加入战团，技高一筹的僚机才成功躲开电线，飞到建筑物上空，救起了受伤士兵。
在己方空中力量的威慑下，敌人的枪声终于变得稀疏起来。当布莱恩特机长小心翼翼地将起重机放低，将最后两位救援小组成员接回机舱时，时钟已走过了5个小时。
“无论情况何等险恶，我们从未想过抛弃战友。”战斗过后，参与救援行动的官兵如是说。
http://www.stripes.com/news/helicopter-crew-in-afghanistan-braves-persistent-enemy-fire-to-rescue-wounded-pilot-recover-remains-1.146610
Helicopter crew in Afghanistan braves persistent enemy fire to rescue wounded pilot, recover remains
By T.D. FLACK
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 14, 2011
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — For more than five hours during an April mission, Air Force helicopter rescue crews battled enemy insurgents in Afghanistan while attempting to recover two downed Army helicopter pilots.
Pilots and crewmembers deployed with the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Air Field put themselves in harm’s way repeatedly throughout the day. And two of the squadron’s pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, hunkered down under a fusillade of incoming fire on the ground, calling in air support on enemy forces that got as close as 50 yards.
Several men involved in the mission — deployed from the 33rd Rescue Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the 212th Rescue Squadron from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska — spoke to Stars and Stripes via phone to describe their efforts to recover the pilots: one alive and one killed in the crash. Officials say the helicopter “went down due to an undetermined cause,” and the accident remains under investigation.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon on April 23 when two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flew into the roughly mile-wide valley, with extremely steep mountain slopes, in search of the downed helicopter. Linking up with other air support, they spotted one of the pilots a few hundred yards up the mountain from his crashed aircraft.
“We were able to see his (GPS) signaling device,” said Maj. Phillip Bryant, pilot in the lead helicopter.
The second helicopter lowered a three-person rescue team — Maj. Jesse Peterson, Tech. Sgt. Chris Uriarte and Tech. Sgt. Shane Hargis — down with a hoist. Once on the ground, they learned that the body of the other pilot was still with the wreckage.
They began prepping the first pilot for rescue while Bryant’s crew dropped Staff Sgts. Zachary Kline and Bill Cenna at the crash site.
Bryant said it’s preferable — and much quicker — to land and debark the teams, but the unforgiving terrain made that impossible. He was forced to hover at about 180 feet, much higher than the normal 40-foot hoist, while his two rescuemen were lowered to the ground.
Cenna described the spot as “rugged, unforgiving, very steep.” He and Kline found the dead pilot with the wreckage and began preparing for an extraction.
About that time, with Bryant’s helo hovering overhead like a sitting duck, the enemy opened up with “very effective fire from multiple ... locations,” Cenna said.
Under the roar and rush of the helicopter blades, the pilots and crew said they heard the very distinct sound of gunfire. Bryant pulled back quickly to get out of harm’s way.
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, a door gunner in that sitting duck, said the first thing that went through his mind when he realized they were taking fire was “Am I hit, am I not hit?” Next up, “Where’s [the fire] coming from.”
He was scanning the ground for enemy when Tech. Sgt. James Davis called out that he had been hit.
Gonzalez turned around and saw Davis slumped in the seat, drenched in blood. He told the pilots he was leaving his spot on the gun and began first aid.
“I just tried to find where the wound was,” he said.
Gonzalez placed a tourniquet on Davis’ leg above the wound to stop the bleeding as the crew raced to get him back to Bagram. While refueling, they woke Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, who replaced Davis on the crew. The helicopter was headed back to the crash site within minutes.
“We can’t do anything from Bagram,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve still got our ... PJs on the ground, we still got a job to do.”
The crew of the second helicopter began putting rounds on hard-to-spot enemy positions on the ground, using tracer rounds coming at them as a guide. Heavy fire was coming from a location between the two teams of pararescue jumpers, so getting them together for one rescue was out of the question.
The crew decided to pull out the surviving pilot and their three personnel first. The pilot was in the hoist and the team was giving the hand signal to lift him when the enemy opened fire again.
Senior Airman Michael Price, flight engineer and hoist operator, hit the “shear switch,” cutting the cable so the pilot on the ground wouldn’t be dragged across the cliffs as the helicopter pulled out to evade the attack.
With no room for a normal landing, and no hoist cable, the pilots decided to come around again and use a method that they practice for mountainous extractions: a one-wheel touchdown, keeping the helo in a hover while pulling everyone aboard.
“The best option we had was to put one wheel down on a bigger boulder,” explained co-pilot 1st Lt. Elliott Milliken. “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”
That allowed them to get low enough that the terrain protected them from the incoming fire. The pilot and pararescue jumpers scrambled aboard.
They were hit again by a barrage of bullets as they pulled out. Low on fuel, they flew to a nearby forward operating base where they discovered that the incoming fire had caused more damage than originally thought.
They had lost nearly all their transmission fluid and the helo had to be grounded. Milliken hopped another flight back to Bagram so he could pick up their spare HH-60 and more pararescue jumpers for firepower.
Kline and Cenna, meanwhile, continued to coordinate with other aircraft — including A-10s, Apaches and Kiowas — while pinned down on the ground.
“We would tell them what was going on and then they would coordinate with me to try and come in and suppress the threat,” Kline said.
Pilots dropped ordnance as close as 75 yards from his position, Kline said.
“The overhead air support was very comforting,” Cenna said.
He added that the enemy forces would target them every 15 to 20 minutes throughout the day.
“There [were] rounds going off, the dirt and dust was flying up,” Cenna said. “I still do not know how we were not hit.”
At one point, the enemy gunfire blasted the downed helicopter, lighting it on fire. Cenna and Kline scrambled away as far as they could while dodging bullets. The helicopter exploded, and they were close enough that Kline later found molten metal that had landed in his gear.
As the battle ensued, the Army inserted a quick-reaction force nearby to assist Kline and Cenna, but the team was immediately hit. One soldier was instantly killed and another wounded. Both of the squadron Pave Hawks were on their way back to the area when they got the call that they were needed to medevac the wounded soldier.
The landing zone near the Army troops was extremely dangerous, Bryant explained, with heavy fire coming from all directions and hanging wire that they had to avoid clipping with their rotor blades.
As Bryant tried to maneuver the Pave Hawk under the wire, his door gunner, Gonzalez, saw the reaction force unloading on a building.
He called out “gunfire on the left,” asked the pilots to climb a bit, and let loose with his .50 caliber machine gun.
Knowing the wounded soldier was quickly bleeding out, the pilots made three attempts to land, but got “shot out” of the landing zone each time, Bryant said.
Finally, “both Apaches rolled into [the area] ... and released a lot of ordnance,” Bryant said. Milliken’s crew finally maneuvered past the wire, squeezed into the small landing zone, and saved the soldier. But it was anything but easy.
“It was pretty hairy,” said Price, the flight engineer. “We ended up having to do a two-wheel hover off of that one.”
With the wounded soldier safely en route for care, Bryant and his crew headed back to Kline and Cenna for another attempt.
By this time, the rescue jumpers had been on the ground and under fire for about five hours. Kline said he didn’t realize that it had been that long.
“It could have been an hour for all I knew,” he said. “Everything happened pretty fast and there was a lot going on all the time.”
Kline said they were sure they wouldn’t get out during daylight and were saving ammo for nightfall and the possibility that they would be overrun.
Bryant came into hover and started lowering the hoist.
That’s when the crew realized that one of the enemy rounds had damaged the helo, and the hoist was on a back-up system that meant it moved much slower than normal.
“It felt like a long time that we were sitting there [hovering],” Bryant explained.
But the expected gunfire never came, and they were finally able to pull everyone into the helicopter.
Kline and Cenna stressed that they never entertained the idea of leaving the fallen pilot behind.
“We weren’t leaving without him,” Kline said.
Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, shows where a bullet entered his helmet during a mission to recover the pilots of a downed Army helicopter on April 23 in Afghanistan. Culbertson was uninjured.
ERICK SAKS/U.S. AIR FORCE
Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Tech. Sgt. James Davis, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, on April 23, 2011, the same day Davis was wounded while on a recovery mission in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, points out bullet holes in the side of the HH-60G Pave Hawk that he flew in during a mission to rescue downed Army helicopter pilots on April 23 in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
Pilots fly an HH-60G Pave Hawk Staff assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron during a recent mission over Afghanistan. Squadron crews helped rescue downed Army helicopter pilots during a five-hour mission on April 23. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
美军士兵在检查站对通行的阿富汗人进行检查
为救出一死一伤的同伴，他们付出了一死两伤+更多的代价。
==============
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-07/01/c_121612095.htm
枪林弹雨下“三进三出”：一支美军救援队的生死5小时
今年4月下旬，驻阿富汗美军的一架直升机意外失事，幸存的飞行员被困荒野。负责救援的空中特遣队迅速前往坠机现场，正当两个救援小组降落地面准备施救之时，突遭塔利班武装分子包围。参与行动的直升机机组成员表现英勇，经过5小时惊心动魄的奋战，终于在枪林弹雨下成功救回战友。美国《星条旗报》日前披露了这场战斗的详情。
前方就是敌人包围圈
4月23日清晨，太阳刚刚升起，救援队便搭乘两架HH-60“铺路鹰”直升机向一条险峰环绕的山谷进发。在情报部门协助下，他们比较顺利地在距失事飞机几百米处发现了一名受伤的飞行员。“我能看到他的GPS信号装置。”长机驾驶员菲利普·布莱恩特少校回忆。僚机很快降低高度，将第一救援小组——杰西·彼得森少校、克里斯·乌瑞特与谢恩·哈吉斯军士放到地面上。他们走近坠机地点才发现，另一位飞行员的遗体还被卡在残骸中。
救援小组打算先将遗体送回机舱，长机把扎卡里·克莱因与比尔·赛纳军士也放到地面上，希望加快工作进度。在这条不到1600米宽的陌生山谷中，最快捷的施救方法是找块空地降落，但崎岖的地形以及近在咫尺的山峰让这几乎不可能。布莱恩特不得不悬停在180英尺（约55米）的半空中，通常情况下，他可以停在40英尺（约12米）的高度。
赛纳与克莱因固定好遗体，准备把它吊上飞机。就在这时，大批闻风而来的武装分子突然从多个不同方向涌来，子弹随之呼啸而至。眼见滞空的直升机处于极度危险中，布莱恩特只得暂停救援，驾机脱离危险范围。听到枪声，长机上的机枪手威廉·冈萨雷斯脑中首先闪过的念头是：“上帝，我中弹了吗？”然后才想到去查看炮火从哪里来。
就在他巡视地面、打算确定敌人位置的时候，身后传来了技术军士詹姆斯·戴维斯的呼救声——他不幸被流弹击中。冈萨雷斯看到同伴倒在血泊中，表情痛苦，马上离开作战位置，对戴维斯进行了紧急抢救——拿一条止血带绑在他大腿的受伤部位。长机开足马力，争分夺秒地将新伤员送回巴格拉姆空军基地，在加油的间隙，他们叫醒了还在睡觉的海斯·库伯特森，让他顶替戴维斯的角色。长机只停留了几分钟就立即飞返交战区域。
“从未想过抛弃战友”
在此期间，留在原地的僚机一直在和敌人交火。由于难以确定目标的具体位置，僚机上的机枪手只得将弹药向大致方向倾泻。机组发现，敌火力主要来自两个空降救援小组之间，一次性将地面人员接上直升机是不可能的。他们当机立断，决定先救受伤的飞行员与第一救援小组。为了更有效率地帮助被困人员脱离险境，经过临时协商，长机决定采取非常规救援方式：单轮着陆——直升机接地但不停机，以便地面人员快速搭乘。
着陆地点就选在一块大砾石上，得益于周围的小山包阻挡了敌方火力，受伤飞行员与3名救援小组成员总算平安登机。然而，直升机甫一升高，瓢泼似的弹雨又从四面八方打来，眼看机载燃油所剩不多，他们不得不后撤补给。再度降落后，僚机机组人员才发现，直升机受到的损伤比想象中要大得多，机械系统多处被击穿，润滑油都快漏光了。
此时，还留在地面上的第二救援小组处境依然险恶，他们处于敌方优势火力下，一步也动弹不得。幸运的是，友邻部队的A-10攻击机与“阿帕奇”武装直升机及时赶到，凭借重武器暂时压制了武装分子的进逼。
为了尽快掌握战局，后方派来一支步兵分队前来助阵。糟糕的是，这群人在半途中便遭到伏击，战斗开始不久就有一名士兵中弹身亡，还有一名受重伤。这时，两架“铺路鹰”刚从基地赶回，接到步兵需要救援的通报，只得临时改变航向。他们面临的情况比刚才更棘手——步兵分队固守在一幢建筑物屋顶，四面八方都有敌人，还得小心乱如蛛网的电线。
担心伤员会因失血过多死亡，长机3次尝试强行降落，都被敌方火力逼退。直到“阿帕奇”再度加入战团，技高一筹的僚机才成功躲开电线，飞到建筑物上空，救起了受伤士兵。
在己方空中力量的威慑下，敌人的枪声终于变得稀疏起来。当布莱恩特机长小心翼翼地将起重机放低，将最后两位救援小组成员接回机舱时，时钟已走过了5个小时。
“无论情况何等险恶，我们从未想过抛弃战友。”战斗过后，参与救援行动的官兵如是说。
http://www.stripes.com/news/helicopter-crew-in-afghanistan-braves-persistent-enemy-fire-to-rescue-wounded-pilot-recover-remains-1.146610
Helicopter crew in Afghanistan braves persistent enemy fire to rescue wounded pilot, recover remains
By T.D. FLACK
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 14, 2011
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — For more than five hours during an April mission, Air Force helicopter rescue crews battled enemy insurgents in Afghanistan while attempting to recover two downed Army helicopter pilots.
Pilots and crewmembers deployed with the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Air Field put themselves in harm’s way repeatedly throughout the day. And two of the squadron’s pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, hunkered down under a fusillade of incoming fire on the ground, calling in air support on enemy forces that got as close as 50 yards.
Several men involved in the mission — deployed from the 33rd Rescue Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the 212th Rescue Squadron from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska — spoke to Stars and Stripes via phone to describe their efforts to recover the pilots: one alive and one killed in the crash. Officials say the helicopter “went down due to an undetermined cause,” and the accident remains under investigation.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon on April 23 when two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flew into the roughly mile-wide valley, with extremely steep mountain slopes, in search of the downed helicopter. Linking up with other air support, they spotted one of the pilots a few hundred yards up the mountain from his crashed aircraft.
“We were able to see his (GPS) signaling device,” said Maj. Phillip Bryant, pilot in the lead helicopter.
The second helicopter lowered a three-person rescue team — Maj. Jesse Peterson, Tech. Sgt. Chris Uriarte and Tech. Sgt. Shane Hargis — down with a hoist. Once on the ground, they learned that the body of the other pilot was still with the wreckage.
They began prepping the first pilot for rescue while Bryant’s crew dropped Staff Sgts. Zachary Kline and Bill Cenna at the crash site.
Bryant said it’s preferable — and much quicker — to land and debark the teams, but the unforgiving terrain made that impossible. He was forced to hover at about 180 feet, much higher than the normal 40-foot hoist, while his two rescuemen were lowered to the ground.
Cenna described the spot as “rugged, unforgiving, very steep.” He and Kline found the dead pilot with the wreckage and began preparing for an extraction.
About that time, with Bryant’s helo hovering overhead like a sitting duck, the enemy opened up with “very effective fire from multiple ... locations,” Cenna said.
Under the roar and rush of the helicopter blades, the pilots and crew said they heard the very distinct sound of gunfire. Bryant pulled back quickly to get out of harm’s way.
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, a door gunner in that sitting duck, said the first thing that went through his mind when he realized they were taking fire was “Am I hit, am I not hit?” Next up, “Where’s [the fire] coming from.”
He was scanning the ground for enemy when Tech. Sgt. James Davis called out that he had been hit.
Gonzalez turned around and saw Davis slumped in the seat, drenched in blood. He told the pilots he was leaving his spot on the gun and began first aid.
“I just tried to find where the wound was,” he said.
Gonzalez placed a tourniquet on Davis’ leg above the wound to stop the bleeding as the crew raced to get him back to Bagram. While refueling, they woke Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, who replaced Davis on the crew. The helicopter was headed back to the crash site within minutes.
“We can’t do anything from Bagram,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve still got our ... PJs on the ground, we still got a job to do.”
The crew of the second helicopter began putting rounds on hard-to-spot enemy positions on the ground, using tracer rounds coming at them as a guide. Heavy fire was coming from a location between the two teams of pararescue jumpers, so getting them together for one rescue was out of the question.
The crew decided to pull out the surviving pilot and their three personnel first. The pilot was in the hoist and the team was giving the hand signal to lift him when the enemy opened fire again.
Senior Airman Michael Price, flight engineer and hoist operator, hit the “shear switch,” cutting the cable so the pilot on the ground wouldn’t be dragged across the cliffs as the helicopter pulled out to evade the attack.
With no room for a normal landing, and no hoist cable, the pilots decided to come around again and use a method that they practice for mountainous extractions: a one-wheel touchdown, keeping the helo in a hover while pulling everyone aboard.
“The best option we had was to put one wheel down on a bigger boulder,” explained co-pilot 1st Lt. Elliott Milliken. “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”
That allowed them to get low enough that the terrain protected them from the incoming fire. The pilot and pararescue jumpers scrambled aboard.
They were hit again by a barrage of bullets as they pulled out. Low on fuel, they flew to a nearby forward operating base where they discovered that the incoming fire had caused more damage than originally thought.
They had lost nearly all their transmission fluid and the helo had to be grounded. Milliken hopped another flight back to Bagram so he could pick up their spare HH-60 and more pararescue jumpers for firepower.
Kline and Cenna, meanwhile, continued to coordinate with other aircraft — including A-10s, Apaches and Kiowas — while pinned down on the ground.
“We would tell them what was going on and then they would coordinate with me to try and come in and suppress the threat,” Kline said.
Pilots dropped ordnance as close as 75 yards from his position, Kline said.
“The overhead air support was very comforting,” Cenna said.
He added that the enemy forces would target them every 15 to 20 minutes throughout the day.
“There [were] rounds going off, the dirt and dust was flying up,” Cenna said. “I still do not know how we were not hit.”
At one point, the enemy gunfire blasted the downed helicopter, lighting it on fire. Cenna and Kline scrambled away as far as they could while dodging bullets. The helicopter exploded, and they were close enough that Kline later found molten metal that had landed in his gear.
As the battle ensued, the Army inserted a quick-reaction force nearby to assist Kline and Cenna, but the team was immediately hit. One soldier was instantly killed and another wounded. Both of the squadron Pave Hawks were on their way back to the area when they got the call that they were needed to medevac the wounded soldier.
The landing zone near the Army troops was extremely dangerous, Bryant explained, with heavy fire coming from all directions and hanging wire that they had to avoid clipping with their rotor blades.
As Bryant tried to maneuver the Pave Hawk under the wire, his door gunner, Gonzalez, saw the reaction force unloading on a building.
He called out “gunfire on the left,” asked the pilots to climb a bit, and let loose with his .50 caliber machine gun.
Knowing the wounded soldier was quickly bleeding out, the pilots made three attempts to land, but got “shot out” of the landing zone each time, Bryant said.
Finally, “both Apaches rolled into [the area] ... and released a lot of ordnance,” Bryant said. Milliken’s crew finally maneuvered past the wire, squeezed into the small landing zone, and saved the soldier. But it was anything but easy.
“It was pretty hairy,” said Price, the flight engineer. “We ended up having to do a two-wheel hover off of that one.”
With the wounded soldier safely en route for care, Bryant and his crew headed back to Kline and Cenna for another attempt.
By this time, the rescue jumpers had been on the ground and under fire for about five hours. Kline said he didn’t realize that it had been that long.
“It could have been an hour for all I knew,” he said. “Everything happened pretty fast and there was a lot going on all the time.”
Kline said they were sure they wouldn’t get out during daylight and were saving ammo for nightfall and the possibility that they would be overrun.
Bryant came into hover and started lowering the hoist.
That’s when the crew realized that one of the enemy rounds had damaged the helo, and the hoist was on a back-up system that meant it moved much slower than normal.
“It felt like a long time that we were sitting there [hovering],” Bryant explained.
But the expected gunfire never came, and they were finally able to pull everyone into the helicopter.
Kline and Cenna stressed that they never entertained the idea of leaving the fallen pilot behind.
“We weren’t leaving without him,” Kline said.
Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, shows where a bullet entered his helmet during a mission to recover the pilots of a downed Army helicopter on April 23 in Afghanistan. Culbertson was uninjured.
ERICK SAKS/U.S. AIR FORCE
Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Tech. Sgt. James Davis, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, on April 23, 2011, the same day Davis was wounded while on a recovery mission in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
Staff Sgt. William Gonzalez, of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, points out bullet holes in the side of the HH-60G Pave Hawk that he flew in during a mission to rescue downed Army helicopter pilots on April 23 in Afghanistan. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
Pilots fly an HH-60G Pave Hawk Staff assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron during a recent mission over Afghanistan. Squadron crews helped rescue downed Army helicopter pilots during a five-hour mission on April 23. Erick Saks/U.S. Air Force
美军士兵在检查站对通行的阿富汗人进行检查
现实版拯救大兵瑞恩。
MD对飞行员的搜救一向是很给力的
伊拉克的时候有个更动人的女兵被抓后逃脱的故事，事后证明还真是纯故事。
是不是缺少毒刺这样的东西？很好的围点打援的机会。
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
古风居士 发表于 2011-7-1 19:35 ![]()
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
这就是TG倡导的用生命捍卫纳税人的血汗钱。
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
这就是TG倡导的用生命捍卫纳税人的血汗钱。
古风居士 发表于 2011-7-1 19:35 ![]()
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
难道MD都用无人飞机来搜救，这么不怕摔的
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
难道MD都用无人飞机来搜救，这么不怕摔的
MD对这个东西，太投入了，毕竟人命天大嘛
美帝和我们的观点不同，他们比我们更重视生命
标准+AIM 发表于 2011-7-1 20:41 ![]()
美帝和我们的观点不同，他们比我们更重视生命
这么喜欢美军八股啊？美军重视士兵是因为保险！
美帝和我们的观点不同，他们比我们更重视生命
这么喜欢美军八股啊？美军重视士兵是因为保险！
共军就是 我们会坚持住的！！！
确实要向美帝学习以人为本 重视我们战士的生命
这楼蛮有意思，围观下
又是很不错的电影剧本了。
你娃算是挠到痒痒肉了。
对比一下，我们的空军搜救是不太给力
今年6月广西坠毁的J-7，飞行员跳伞重伤，也是靠当地村民抬了几小时才送到救护车上，幸好命大，否则很危险的
http://news.dayoo.com/china/201106/08/53868_17202616.htm
要是所有空军师都有救护直升机就好了
对比一下，我们的空军搜救是不太给力
今年6月广西坠毁的J-7，飞行员跳伞重伤，也是靠当地村民抬了几小时才送到救护车上，幸好命大，否则很危险的
http://news.dayoo.com/china/201106/08/53868_17202616.htm
要是所有空军师都有救护直升机就好了
老美做得不错，值得我们学习。。
主旋律电影生死豪情也是弘扬美军的古风居士 发表于 2011-7-1 19:35 ![]()
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
摔十架飞机也不死一个人？难度有点高！
TG宁愿死个把人，也不愿意摔一架飞机；
美帝宁愿摔十架飞机，也不愿意死一个人。
摔十架飞机也不死一个人？难度有点高！
pheonix 发表于 2011-7-1 23:19 ![]()
对比一下，我们的空军搜救是不太给力
今年6月广西坠毁的J-7，飞行员跳伞重伤，也是靠当地村民抬了几小时 ...
纳税人不同意呗。
对比一下，我们的空军搜救是不太给力
今年6月广西坠毁的J-7，飞行员跳伞重伤，也是靠当地村民抬了几小时 ...
纳税人不同意呗。
这篇文章一下轰出这么多JY，钓鱼贴啊
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体，如果情况紧急无法完全将遗体带回，也至少带回能证明身份的东西。我们在对越自卫反击战中就做到了不让一具烈士遗体留在越南，在这方面美军在世界上确实做得好，其他国家不同程度上都不如美军。美军也因此付出了很多比较惨痛的代价。
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体，如果情况紧急无法完全将遗体带回，也至少带回能证明身份的东西。我们在对越自卫反击战中就做到了不让一具烈士遗体留在越南，在这方面美军在世界上确实做得好，其他国家不同程度上都不如美军。美军也因此付出了很多比较惨痛的代价。
那是因为这帮土著战斗力=0，要是换了TG或者是北棒，MD救一个人得出动一个师
唉 到现在还有这么多人 逢美必反
从这里我们也可以看出,其实美国才是最讲究集体主义和牺牲奉献的,也可以看出为了国家尊严美国大兵是不计较个人得失甚至个人生命的.所以那些成天喊"个人至上""人权高于主权"的JY们可以闭上菊花了
欺负人家武器落后……
扯吧，标题应该叫 一次失败的营救及教训
sxingstar 发表于 2011-7-2 00:27 ![]()
这篇文章一下轰出这么多JY，钓鱼贴啊
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体， ...
lol, "不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“.
真敢说啊。
这篇文章一下轰出这么多JY，钓鱼贴啊
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体， ...
lol, "不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“.
真敢说啊。
tt6368 发表于 2011-7-2 09:43 ![]()
lol, "不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“.
真敢说啊。
当时越南猴子专打我们救伤兵的战士，越南猴子打MD的时候也这么干过
lol, "不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“.
真敢说啊。
当时越南猴子专打我们救伤兵的战士，越南猴子打MD的时候也这么干过
围观一下
不论是哪国军队，军人是值得尊敬的
w2w4692 发表于 2011-7-2 03:04 ![]()
那是因为这帮土著战斗力=0，要是换了TG或者是北棒，MD救一个人得出动一个师
说到点子上了。另外，这个得宣扬，继续兜售牠们的“民主、人权、自由”，同时安抚国内民众，不然谁还会让自己家的孩子上外国屠杀他国老百姓呢 ？ 话说，这到底是羊，还是披着羊皮的狼呢？
那是因为这帮土著战斗力=0，要是换了TG或者是北棒，MD救一个人得出动一个师
说到点子上了。另外，这个得宣扬，继续兜售牠们的“民主、人权、自由”，同时安抚国内民众，不然谁还会让自己家的孩子上外国屠杀他国老百姓呢 ？ 话说，这到底是羊，还是披着羊皮的狼呢？
观念不同。美国要每个军人都知道如果陷在敌后，一定尽力去救而不是自生自灭，这样军人更肯打仗。
一则美军的新闻宣传稿兼蛊惑炮灰广告炸出不少人啊，各种奇谈怪论
我军救战友遗体什么的光荣传统是决不落在美军后的，历次战争中各种抢回烈士遗体而伤亡的事迹能找出一大堆，或者应该说只要是有光荣传统的军队都具有这样特点。
我军救战友遗体什么的光荣传统是决不落在美军后的，历次战争中各种抢回烈士遗体而伤亡的事迹能找出一大堆，或者应该说只要是有光荣传统的军队都具有这样特点。
sxingstar 发表于 2011-7-2 09:50 ![]()
当时越南猴子专打我们救伤兵的战士，越南猴子打MD的时候也这么干过
这对你的论点没什么帮助。
多读点书再出来说话，而且话不要说得那么绝，给自己留点圆话的余地。
对越反击战这种文献满地的战争，现在还有小孩子乱讲话真是愁人啊。
当时越南猴子专打我们救伤兵的战士，越南猴子打MD的时候也这么干过
这对你的论点没什么帮助。
多读点书再出来说话，而且话不要说得那么绝，给自己留点圆话的余地。
对越反击战这种文献满地的战争，现在还有小孩子乱讲话真是愁人啊。
这么做对士气很有作用，应该提倡
呵呵…………说得好像我军在抢救伤员和回收烈士遗体时不上心似的，哥很想笑啊，舔菊也没必要这么猴急吧
各国的军队都是由传统的
sxingstar 发表于 2011-7-2 00:27
这篇文章一下轰出这么多JY，钓鱼贴啊
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体， ...
”我们在对越自卫反击战中就做到了不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“
就算给晚辈们提个醒吧，谈论事情，尤其是历史，千万要本着谨慎求实的原则，不要张口放炮。
另，这个跟lz的讨论无关。
引用《一军对越自卫反击战回忆》第5章记载：
”1979年3月13日，我50军150师步兵448团............清剿回撤.....遭敌阻击，由于指挥不当，造成542人失散（其中被俘219名）.......这是自180师失利后，我军历史上最为惨重的教训“。
448团2营被成建制打散，光这一仗留在异国的遗体即不计其数，（当时全军已经在撤退中，留下41军收容突围出来的散兵，找尸体就不要提了） 更不用说可以堆成山的其他史料记载的战场就地掩埋烈士的案例了。
sxingstar 发表于 2011-7-2 00:27
这篇文章一下轰出这么多JY，钓鱼贴啊
在大部分情况下，任何有凝聚力的军队都不会轻易放弃自己战友的遗体， ...
”我们在对越自卫反击战中就做到了不让一具烈士遗体留在越南“
就算给晚辈们提个醒吧，谈论事情，尤其是历史，千万要本着谨慎求实的原则，不要张口放炮。
另，这个跟lz的讨论无关。
引用《一军对越自卫反击战回忆》第5章记载：
”1979年3月13日，我50军150师步兵448团............清剿回撤.....遭敌阻击，由于指挥不当，造成542人失散（其中被俘219名）.......这是自180师失利后，我军历史上最为惨重的教训“。
448团2营被成建制打散，光这一仗留在异国的遗体即不计其数，（当时全军已经在撤退中，留下41军收容突围出来的散兵，找尸体就不要提了） 更不用说可以堆成山的其他史料记载的战场就地掩埋烈士的案例了。
正因为他们人命太精贵，所以如果两者在武器装备上差不多时，或者在力量上差不多时，其战斗意志是没法与TG比的，为了保命，会举起白旗！