"Hurry up! Hurry up! Get a move on it," barked a highly motivated team leader. He was directing his crew, and they were not ready for what was about to happen.
During a hot sunny day on the unforgiving flight deck in the Gulf, a minimum crew of six were assigned the task of recovering aircraft, do turnaround inspections, and change the weapons configuration. This went on for hours without a break. The team leader and crew charged on completing the repetitive tasks of recovering aircraft. All of a sudden, during a loading evolution one of the team members passed out and fell face first onto the non-skid.
The 1MC sounded, "Medical emergency! Medical emergency! Medical emergency on the flight deck." The medical team arrived on scene, and they took charge. The injured team member was conscious enough to answer questions that the medical on-scene leader asked.
They found out that the team member and crew were not drinking water and had been exposed to the heat for a very long period of time. The team member suffered from dehydration and abrasions to the face. He was out of action for 48 hours for bed rest. The team leader felt bad because he knew this incident shouldn't have happened. All he had to do was to rotate his people for water breaks and to give them a chance to rest in a cool place. Losing a sortie doesn't compare to losing a shipmate.
Chief Abad wrote this story while assigned as the ordnance chief at VFA-27. |
