Grafenwoehr, Germany (June 5, 2017) -- "Since I have been here at the Grafenwoehr Training Area (GTA), we haven't received a complete 9-line medical evacuation (medevac)," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Natasha Ryan, who has been here since August 2016. "We haven't even received a complete five lines."
The GTA's aviation safety officer raised some medevac concerns during her range safety brief to a classroom full of leaders who requested range use, May 19.
The purpose of the brief was to educate and inform the range requestors on the proper procedure of handling emergencies to include medevac requests, a significant skill that units may need to retrain.
A 9-line medevac request has a specific format to follow. Anyone calling range operations to report a 9-line medevac should state the line number followed by the phonetic alphabet character or numeric symbol, which represents the information required for flight crews to conduct a speedy and proper medical evacuation.
"The answers are alpha and numeric because it's quicker for brevity," Ryan explained. "But a lot of times it ends up being a conversation that drags out for a couple minutes."
Depending on the severity of the injury or injuries, those couple of minutes can make a difference in gaining access to medical care.
During a 9-line medevac request, range operations would need at least the location of the landing zone for the helicopter, call sign of the unit, precedence of the request, special equipment required and number of patients by type. This information isn't always accurately reported.
There have been instances where units gave grid coordinates to a location they were not at, said Sgt. William Robertson, a flight medic from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment (1-214th Avn Regt). In this case, Robertson and the flight crew would have to call range operations for a confirmation of the location.
Both Ryan and Robertson has seen issues with receiving a cell phone number rather than a call sign.
"We can't utilize cell phones in the aircraft so frequency modulation is the best way to get a hold of the unit," said Ryan.
Sometimes those who report a 9-line medevac overclassify the injury of the patient such as a twisted ankle being classified as urgent, said Robertson. This is a misuse of resources because the Soldier could have been evacuated by ground instead of using air assets, which could have been used for something else.
In addition to accurate reporting of precedence, the reporting of the number of patients by type is also critical information for the flight crew.
A medevac request at the Hohenfels Training Area was reported to transport one heat casualty, but instead there was four heat casualties, said Robertson. Because the aircraft was prepared for one patient, the flight crew had to reconfigure at the last minute.
Medevac flight crews follow a time standard called the golden hour. The golden hour is the allotted time frame medevac crews have to transport patients to the next level of medical care.
The golden hour starts from the time flight crews receive the 9-line medevac request to the time the patient is dropped off at a medical treatment facility. Proper medical care and treatment is affected when Soldiers delay the golden hour standard by not accurately calling in a proper 9-line medevac request.
"Majority of the people who are calling in the 9-line medevacs are noncommissioned officers and officers," said Ryan. "But everyone in the unit needs to be trained on how to call in a 9-line medevac because you never know if you're going to be the person calling it or needing it."
Soldiers shouldn't report a medevac request any differently than how they would report in a combat zone.
"We think that since we are in a training environment, we don't have to worry about the bad things happening here," said Ryan. "But since I've been here, we've seen people lose limbs, get shot and several vehicle rollovers. These are a lot of issues you would see on the battlefield, and we can't get complacent because we're in a training area."
In addition to encouraging units to practice the 9-line medevac request, the GTA has made a Soldier's Field Card that can fit into any Soldier's cargo pocket.
The card designates the first face side to medevac procedures to include the 9-line. Also included in the card are important phone numbers, frequencies, training area Dos and Don'ts, a map of GTA and other safety measures.
The cards can be found in German, French, Deutsch and English at the GTA's range operations firing desk at building 3015, here. The Soldier's Field Card is also available on an iPhone app.
The GTA's range operations firing desk can be contacted at 314-475-8387 or usarmy.grafenwoehr.jmtc.list.jmtc-g3-gta-bldg-3015.
