By Joseph Piek, Joint Base Lewis-McChord Public Affairs.
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – A team from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Directorate of Emergency Services, Gray Army Airfield Air Traffic Control Tower and the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade were recognized Oct. 27 as the JBLM Team of the Month for their collaborative effort to rescue two persons from the Nisqually River in August.
Early in the morning of Aug. 18, JBLM Emergency Services responded to the Tank Bridge area on the Nisqually River in the southern JBLM training area on a report of two lost 60-year-old individuals who had been tubing on the river and became stranded. Initial efforts to locate the lost individuals by JBLM fire and law enforcement were unsuccessful.
Coordination was requested with JBLM’s Gray Army Airfield tower to determine if there were any available air assets flying that night. Gray tower confirmed that an AH-64 Apache from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade was on a training flight, available five minutes out, and it was diverted to assist with the search.
With the assistance of the Apache, the lost individuals were located on the Thurston County side of river about two miles from where the search was being conducted. Emergency services personnel relocated based on the information provided by the pilots and hiked to the stranded individuals.
Using a JBLM conservation law enforcement ATV, both were transported to safety where they were turned over to Thurston County EMS for medical evaluation. Both individuals returned home that night safely.
“This mutual aid incident is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when multiple agencies come together with a common goal,” said Ted Solonar, deputy director, JBLM Directorate of Emergency Services. “Without this level of interagency cooperation and coordination, the two individuals may well have died of exposure before we could have located them. All agencies did not hesitate when called for assistance. The team simply came together around that goal of saving lives and jumped into action. Nothing else mattered.”
This incident involved the JBLM Dispatch Center, Fire Department and Police Department from DES, the Air Traffic Controllers from Gray Army Airfield, pilots from the 4th Attack Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, and Thurston County Fire and Emergency Services.
I sadly must admit that government, both large and small, can often frustrate me with what I consider ignorant decisions, actions, bills, laws, bureaucratic stupidity and some politicians that should be in jail rather than in office..
Aah, but this story of government entities renews my faith in the fact that government can be intelligent and good for mankind.
Excellent decision making and work to all the award winners and their individual government entities as referenced in this report. As a citizen and tax payer, I am pround of you.
I have no idea who the two men are that you saved, but I can say with a hint of enthusiasm in my voice, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Joseph Boyle – Former Piece County Resident for 61 Years.
Earlier this year my son and daughter-in-law were hiking on a well known but difficult trail in the Olympic Mountains. It was a beautiful sunny day; perfect for hiking and climbing. After summiting the peak at 6,000+ feet, they headed down. Most hikers and climbers know that going down can be more demanding and dangerous than going up. At 5,000+ feet my daughter-in-law slipped and broke her lower leg in two places. They were stranded in the late afternoon with about 3 hours of daylight remaining. For some lucky reason, there in the wilderness, my son’s cell phone was able to connect to 911. He was handed off to the county sheriff’s office which responded immediately. A team of mountaineers was mobilized and began climbing to the site. The sun was just above the peaks to the west; not much time left.
The mountaineers quickly stabilized my daughter-in-law-law, but determined that they would not be able get her down the steepest and most dangerous part of the trail in daylight. A helicopter rescue was the only alternative to spending all night on the mountain with a victim in extreme pain and shock. They were able to connect with two commercial helicopter operators, but both declined; too dangerous with a cliff face within a few feet of the site. The mountaineers then called the US Navy rescue command on Whidby Island and asked if they could help. The response was “Hell yes, that’s what we live for.” Thirty minutes later a US Navy helicopter arrived and plucked my daughter-in-law from the mountainside. We’ve all seen those daring rescues with a lowered basket on a cable. She was taken to Harbor View Hospital for surgery and recovery. My son climbed back down the trail with the volunteer mountaineers in darkness. Happy ending.
The rescue by the Olympic Mountaineers and the US Navy was done at high risk and no cost to the victim. Yes, our government can do some things effectively and often brilliantly.
Never forget it the next time you read about lives being saved in desperate circumstances by rescuers or law enforcement officers. They put their lives on the line every day. What would we do without them?
Agreed Joseph.
Government is supposed to have one core function – to serve and protect the citizens who elect it.
The monster that it has morphed into is out of control.
This story shows what is possible when you remove politics from government.