I know this post is old, but as I was searching for experiences and advice on SFAS and SFQC I decided to take a break and enjoy some of the other posts.
Given that the majority of my career thus far was spent as a Flight Medic, I'm confident I can answer some of your questions and disspell some of what was said...
As already stated, Army Medevac still refers to patients as patients. However, you may also hear them referred to as their patient presidence (i.e. Urgent, Priority, or Routine).
The way we flew in Iraq and Afghanistan was with Lead and Chase Medevac ships. AWT (Air Weapons Team such as AH64's, OH58's, and occassionally UH60's equiped with crew weapons) supported us when responding to TIC's. However there were plenty of times that we launched, landed at the Point of Injury, and were heading back to the FST (Forward Surgical Team) or CSH (Combat Support Hospital) before the AWT were wheels up from the FOB or OP. Often times we landed before the AWT was on scene because the number one factor in saving casualties of combat is TIME! Picking them up and getting them to the FST or CSH as quickly as possible.
If you request 'Hoist', you will NOT get a PJ. Although they are great at what they do and are absolutely amazing medics, the aircrafts that they use are not capable of accomadating hoist missions at the high altitude's hoist missions are usually conducted at. Their zero weight is much higher than the the blackhawks the Army uses due to the systems installed in their aircraft, including weapon systems and crew. More weight = less power, especially at altitude. less power = drooping the rotors and can be fatal to all the crewmembers on board. They also fly with more crewmembers than Army Medevac which limits the amount of casualties they can put in their birds due to space. All UH60 platforms can accomodate 3 litter patients (on litters) with the carousel removed (which is the way we flew in the 'stan to make our zero weight even less), and 2-3 ambulatory patients on the back wall. If you take the patients off the litters and just place them on the floor of the aircraft, more 'non ambulatory' patients can be loaded.
As someone posted before, every MOS has their Heroes and Zero's. I would like to think that in the Flight Medic world, there are more Heroes than the later. We never flew with flight nurses to Point of Injuries, and occassionally took flight surgeons with us. BUT a Flight Surgeon's role in the bird is reduced to an extra set of hands because let's face it, Regular Army Flight Surgeons are not as versed in trauma as the guys who see it All day, Every day. A caveat to that is this...Whenever we picked up any member of ODA, their 18D almost always flew back with us. In this case, I would let the 18D treat their comrade primarily and I would serve as the second set of hands. The patient was his from start to finish, and ALL of them respected this. Primarily because that was their buddy, and secondly because 18D's ARE trained to a higher level, clinically and traumatically.
Hopefully, I've either cleared up some questions or beat a dead horse even more. Either way, I feel like I've answered thuroughly enough and was able to make a post in an area that I consider myself a SME in. Also, in a forum that doesn't pertain to SFAS of SFQC.
