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DUSTOFFER
THE DUSTOFF Association Newsletter
Fall/Winter 2008
In this issue:
DUSTOFF Reunion 2009
February 20–22
bc
First Flight Medics Earn
Combat Field Medical Badge
Mountain Rescue—The 54th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) rescued and transported
an injured mountain climber from the pinnacle of a ridge, with only the right skid on a rock, in a
significant wind. Piloted by Ken Warner and Phil House, the mission was not even considered other
than typical for the mountain rescuers of that era.
Fall/Winter 2008
PAGE 1
President’s Message
D
ear Members of the DUSTOFF Association: Our upcoming reunion marks the 30th anniversary of this event
and promises to be an event you will remember. I want to
take this opportunity to thank all of those who took the time
to vote for this year’s DUSTOFF Hall of Fame. Although
voting was not complete as of this writing, all four candidates are exceptionally worthy of selection into the Hall of
Fame. I also want to personally thank those commanders
who took the time to nominate their crews for Crewmember
and Rescue of the Year.
recently overturned. As we all know, this was long overdue.
On or after 18 September 2001, medical personnel assigned
or attached to or under operational control of any combat
arms units of brigade or smaller size, who satisfactorily
perform medical duties while the unit is engaged in active
ground combat, may be awarded the CMB. The language,
“not to include aviation” was deleted from the policy, permitting medical personnel assigned, attached or OPCON
to combat aviation units to qualify for the CMB. This good
news was well received from the field.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue on. Our
prayers go out to the troops and their family members. Rest
assured your fellow DUSTOFF crewmembers from the active and reserve components are doing a phenomenal job in
evacuating our wounded warriors to care. I am continually
amazed at the efforts of our Soldier-medics in executing this
challenging and very dangerous mission.
From its inception to where we are now, the DUSTOFF
Association has provided a rallying point for past, present,
and future Dustoffers in this truly remarkable and noble mission. However, we need everyone’s help in recruiting and
retaining those current and former crewmembers who are
not members of the DUSTOFF Association. We’ve made this
process easier for those who want to apply for membership
online. We need your help to take this important organization well into the 21st Century. Thanks for all you do for the
DUSTOFF Association.
Good news: a long-standing policy prohibiting crewmembers from receiving the Combat Medical Badge was
DUSTOFF
DUSTOFF Association
Executive Council
Bob Mitchell
President:
Robert Mitchell... [email protected]
Executive Director:
Dan Gower.......... [email protected]
Vice President:
Bryant Harp......... [email protected]
Treasurer:
Dan Gower.......... [email protected]
Secretary:
Larry Hallstrom... [email protected]
Historian:
Patrick Zenk........ [email protected]
DUSTOFFer Editor:
Jim Truscott......... [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.dustoff.org
Ronald Huether... [email protected]
uuuuu
DUSTOFFer layout & design
2
009
Susan Gower..................................... [email protected]
Printing
Ink, Spot, Ink Printing & Publishing
PAGE 2
The DUSTOFFer
Letters to the Editor
To the DUSTOFFer:
Thought you would appreciate this. We were finally able to award SSG Heathe Craig’s family his Distinguished Flying
Cross (DFC). It turned out very well and the family appreciated it greatly, both in the States and here in Germany. Here
is the note that I sent out to the old 159th alumni:
On the two-year anniversary of SSG Craig’s death, I wanted to let you all know that Judy and Heathe’s family were
presented the Distinguished Flying Cross recently in the States and here in Germany. The ceremony in Germany took place
here in Mannheim during the garrison Memorial Day Ceremony last month. A number of old 159th DUSTOFFers were
on hand to join Judy and the kids, Judy’s parents, her sister Hannah, and brother-in-law Josh. Our staunch friend and ally,
CSM Alles, also made the trip to Mannheim out of respect for Heathe. The ceremony was well done and honored Heathe
well. I included the PAO article from our local paper and a picture of Jonas receiving his dad’s award.
On the same day, Heathe’s parents were also presented the DFC at a Memorial Day Parade in Bradford, Pennsylvania.
The award was presented in front of a military and civilian crowd of over 500 people. Pretty awesome stuff.
I was able to spend some time with Judy and her family yesterday, and they are doing well. Please continue to keep
them in your thoughts and prayers.
LTC Robert Howe
Executive Officer
1-214th Aviation Regiment
Germany
To the DUSTOFFer:
I had the honor and pleasure of attending the naming of a road for MG Pat Brady at Fort Rucker yesterday. Brady
Lane is now one of the main streets in the new on-post housing area at Fort Rucker. The ceremony was very well done
and was held at the intersection of Brady Lane and Wetzel Court (Gary Wetzel was there, also a Medal of Honor recipient,
and a street was named after him). A large group of folks, mostly local, attended, and when Pat and Nancy Brady arrived
at the site, they were very surprised to see three former members of the 54th in attendance: yours truly, Dan Goody, and
Steve Hook. We had a great visit after the ceremony, and it was a good day in Lower Alabama. The Post PAO office took
pictures and are supposed to send me some of the four 54th guys standing by the new street sign. If they do, I will send
them on for possible future use in the newsletter.
We now have on Fort Rucker a Kelly Hall, a DUSTOFF Street, a Novosel Street, and a Brady Lane. In fact, I will take
pictures of all of them and send them to the Association on a disc sometime, hopefully soon.
Best wishes,
Charles L. (Charlie) Webb
Fall/Winter 2008
PAGE 3
Closing Out the Flight Plan
Otha Gayland Miles
Services for retired Army Col. Otha Gayland Miles, 64, Tyler, Texas, were at Green Acres Baptist Church with Pastor
Joe Ward and Dr. Bill Moore officiating. Col. Miles died August 10, 2008, in a Tyler hospital.
Gayland was born October 29, 1943, in Woodville to the late Otha and Leah Belle Miles. He graduated from Kirby
High School in 1962 and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Trinity University. He played semi-pro football
for the San Antonio Toros. In 1967 he entered the Army and served in the Medical Service Corps. He retired in 1994 and
worked for American Medical Response, Havenwood Caregivers, and ETMC. At his death, he was director of operations
and regional manager at East Texas Medical Center. He was a member of Green Acres Baptist Church and former member
of Walnut Ridge Baptist Church, Mansfield.
Survivors include his wife of 33 years, Kathie Lawler Miles, Tyler; son, David Gayland Miles, Dallas; daughter,
Lindsey Nicole Miles, Euless; sister, Lavelle Bush, Woodville; brother, Gary Miles, Tyler; two aunts; two uncles; and
one nephew.
Glen A. Melton
Glen A. Melton, age 67, retired U.S. Army Major, passed away on August 16, 2008, at
Select Specialty Hospital in Tallahassee, Florida. Memorial Services were conducted at Culley’s MeadowWood Chapel, Tallahassee, on August 31.
Glen was born in Galsesburg, Illinois. He graduated from Valley Senior High in Fairview,
Illinois and received a B.S. from Illinois State University and a master’s degree from Boston
University.
Major Melton had a warrior spirit but a humble and compassionate heart. He honorably
served a tour of duty as an enlisted solider, trained as a medical technician with the U.S. Army
from 1962–64. In 1969 at the height of the Viet Nam conflict, he volunteered for the most
dangerous of jobs: a medevac pilot in combat. Eighty-two percent of those who fell in Viet
Nam combat survived due to the “docs,” the combat medics, who were on-site to treat the
wounded even as bullets flew around them. From 1970 to 1971 he served as a platoon leader
with the 498th Medical Company, flying the UH-1 “Huey” medevac helicopter.
Glen Melton and daughter
Heather Harrington at
In February of 1971 he was awarded the coveted Distinguished Flying Cross for his cour2006 Dustoff Reunion
age after he volunteered for a nighttime mission to rescue a badly wounded allied soldier. He
turned on his aircraft lights so he could see the treetops and then, as he and his crew endured
their enemies’ fire, hovered over the battle for fifteen minutes as his crew lowered a jungle penetrator through the triple
canopy jungle to retrieve the wounded soldier. During this first tour, he also earned the coveted Combat Medical Badge.
Glen volunteered for a second tour to Viet Nam as a medevac pilot and served again in 1972–73 as the executive officer and then commanding officer of the 237th Medical Detachment. During this tour, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
In addition to the awards already listed, he was awarded 23 air medals for valor, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with
Palm Unit Award, the Vietnam Service medal, the Republic of Viet Nam Campaign Medal, and the Purple Heart.
After the Viet Nam conflict ended, Glen continued serving our country on the front lines of the Cold War. Stationed
in West Germany, his luck with helicopters ended in June 1976. While landing at his base hospital after transporting an
injured soldier, his medevac helicopter had an equipment malfunction that left it uncontrollable. The aircraft plunged 150
feet into the ground. He suffered a spine fracture and a permanent spinal cord injury that left him partially paralyzed.
In 1977 after months of hospitalization, Glen medically retired from the U.S. Army. He served over half his military
career oversees defending freedom from its enemies and cheating death from its victims.
Refusing to let his horrific injuries restrict, him he bought a travel agency and continued traveling the world and spending time with his family.
Glen was an active member of the DUSTOFF Association, the Distinguished Flying Cross Association, and the FSU
Boosters. He was a devoted fan of the FSU football and baseball teams. He also was a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, an avid
model builder, and he loved the theater and traveling.
On the evening of August 16, 2008, while sleeping, with his daughter at his bedside, Major Melton entered his final
battle with Death. The old soldier faded away. Those who knew him and his boundless courage and fighting spirit believe
that Death came for him in his sleep because it was afraid to try and call on him while he was awake.
(Closing, continued on page 5.)
PAGE 4
The DUSTOFFer
(Closing, continued from page 4.)
William “Bill” C. Sipes
George Mike Zuvela, Jr.
Retired CWO Bill Sipes, 67, formerly of Fort Knox, Kentucky, died on
27 October 2007 in the Philippines.
Sipes earned two Distinguished
Flying Crosses, two Purple Heart
Medals, Army Commendation Medal,
and 18 Air Medals while serving two
tours in Vietnam, first with the 101st
Airborne division (Air Assault) flying
Huey MEDEVACs, and the second
with the 138th Aviation company flying
fixed-wing reconnaissance.
Survivors include his wife, Helen
Sipes of the Philippines; a son, Richard
Sipes of Washington; and a daughter,
Sharon Ahrens, of California.
George Mike Zuvela, Jr., 62, of
Tukwila, Washington, died September
29, 2007, at Veteran’s Hospital in Seattle. He was a member of flight school
Class 68-505/68-3 and served in Vietnam as a MEDEVAC helicopter pilot
with the 237th Medical Detachment
(Helicopter Ambulance) in 1968-69.
Upon his return, he repaired cars in his
own shop, George’s Autobody. He is
survived by his wife, Carol, sons Mark
and Bill, and daughters Clare Burleson
and Susan Zuvela.
Charles M. Clapp
Charles M. Clapp, 60, of Conroe,
Texas, died 11 February in Temple,
DUSTOFF Association
Past Presidents
Chuck Mateer (1980–81)................ deceased
John Hosley (1981–82)................... [email protected]
Byron Howlett (1982–83)............... [email protected]
Ed Taylor (1983–84)....................... [email protected]
Thomas Scofield (1984–85)............ [email protected]
Joseph Madrano (1985–86)............ [email protected]
Jim Ritchie (1986–87)
Donald Conkright (1987–88).......... [email protected]
Roy Hancock (1988–89)................. [email protected]
Glen Melton (1989–90).................. [email protected]
Gerald Nolan (1990–91)................. [email protected]
Jim Truscott (1991–92)................... [email protected]
Roger Opio (1992–93).................... [email protected]
Ed Bradshaw (1993–94)................. [email protected]
Robert Romines (1994–96)............ [email protected]
Daniel Gower (1996–97)................ [email protected]
Charlie Webb (1997–98)................. [email protected]
Herb Coley (1998–99).................... [email protected]
Merle Snyder (1999–2000)............. [email protected]
Gregg Griffin (2000–01)................. [email protected]
Jeff Mankoff (2001–02).................. [email protected]
Ken Crook (2002–03)..................... [email protected]
Art Hapner (2003–04).................... [email protected]
Ernie Sylvester (2004–05) ............. [email protected]
Garry Atkins (2005-6).................... [email protected]
Doug Moore (2006-7)..................... [email protected]
Timothy Burke (2007-8)................. [email protected]
Founder
Tom “Egor” Johnson......................... [email protected]
Members at Large
Howard [email protected]
Hank [email protected]
Mary [email protected]
Scott Heintz...............................scott.heintz@enableamerica.org
Fall/Winter 2008
Texas, of complications following
surgery. He served as a MEDEVAC
pilot with the 498th Medical Company
(Air Ambulance) in 1970-71. After his
retirement from the Army, Clapp served
in aviation safety as a truck driver and
as a deputy sheriff.
Willard Gary Rusk
“Bill” Rusk died on 11 December in
Denver after battling pancreatic cancer
for several months. He was 62.
Bill joined the Army in 1966 and
earned his wings in warrant officer
flight training flight class 70-9. He
served with the 498th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) from June
1970 to June 1971. His call sign was
DUSTOFF 32.
Fort Hood DUSTOFF Subject
of Young Filmmakers
An interesting article in the August/September
2008 edition of Army Aviation
Boy Scout producers of “Believe It. Live It,” a
documentary profiling individuals who exemplify the
points of the Boy Scout Law, were “awed and amazed”
after filing medical evacuation Soldiers of company
C, 2nd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, 4th combat
Aviation Brigade, 18 July at Fort Hood, Texas. The
“Lone Star DUSTOFF” aircrews will be featured for
exemplifying the value “Obedient” by the Scouts.
The nine young film makers had the opportunity
to videotape a reenlistment, interview flight crews
and commanders, and capture shots of a Black Hawk
helicopter starting and taking off. The young men are
working under the direction of Austin-based Arrowhead Films, producers of the award-winning documentary “In the Shadow of the Blade.” “As mentors
to these young men, I want them to walk away from
this project with technical and professional skills, and
also with the realization that they can and should use
those skills to make documentaries that make a difference,” said director Patrick Fries. The BILI series
is designed to inspire young Scouts to examine the
meaning of the Scout Laws. It is a project of the Boy
Scouts of America, Austin Capitol Area Council, and
the Brock Family Foundation and will be distributed
later to Scouts nationwide.
PAGE 5
A Look at MEDEVAC Missions in Iraq
I
Leslie Sabbagh, a reporter for the Reader’s Digest, describes her experiences flying with
MEDEVAC on helicopter rescue missiosn to aid American casualties of the war.
t all starts here with the MEDEVAC
units and the 9-lines (requests for
medical evacuation in combat zones).
I was flying with C Company,
7-101st Aviation Regiment (also know
as Eagle DUSTOFF) or the 101st
Airborne Division (Air Assault). The
85-Soldier company is part of the 12th
Combat Aviation Brigade, which is
based in Balad, Iraq, about 50 miles
northeast of Baghdad. The helicopters
are specially modified UH-60 Blackhawks.
The Geneva Convention stipulates
that MEDEVAC helicopters fly missions unarmed, and while the U.S.
abides by these rules, insurgents and
terrorists in Iraq don’t. In fact, they
are known to target the choppers. That
makes flying these missions extremely
dangerous—yet all the crews volunteer
for this duty. Since Vietnam, MEDEVAC crews carry on the tradition of
DUSTOFF (dedicated, unhesitating
service to our fighting forces). To these
brave few, nothing is more honorable
than risking their lives to save others.
Although they are allowed armed escort, the MEDEVAC choppers often fly
into the pickup zones without Apache
(AH-64) gunship support. These crews
risk their lives to evacuate all the
wounded—both friendly and enemy
casualties.
At the pickup zones (PZ), the crew
chief exits the bird and pulls perimeter
security for the chopper, which is more
vulnerable on the ground than in the air,
while the flight medic exits the bird and
rushes to the ground units and casualties. The objective is to spend as little
time on the ground as necessary. Aside
from the lifesaving skills of their flight
medics, the best medicine a MEDEVAC crew can offer their patients is the
incredible speed with which they can
evacuate them to the nearest Combat
Support Hospital (CSH).
MEDEVAC birds fly in the lowest
of weather minimums and will launch
when no other helicopter will. The
crews are highly skilled, launching
within minutes of every call received,
and landing in some of the tightest
PAGE 6
PZs in Iraq. The medics are trained to
perform lifesaving skills in a very difficult environment—cramped, moving,
unstable. All this requires a high level
of expertise and fitness that is unique
in military aviation.
When the “MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC!” call comes over
the walkie-talkies, the crews race into
action. The medic runs into the flight
operations area to ascertain the number
These crews risk their
lives to evacuate all the
wounded—both friendly
and enemy casualties.
of patients and their injuries. The pilot
in command is simultaneously plotting the flight using grid coordinates
provided by the ground unit. The crew
chief and co-pilot meanwhile have run
to the bird and begun the pre-flight.
The medic then runs out to the
aircraft and briefs the pilots on the
casualties’ conditions. This begins the
crew coordination piece of the medic’s
responsibilities. En route, the medic
provides normal airspace surveillance
around the left side of the aircraft, usually from the 7 to 11 o’clock positions,
and helps the pilots land the aircraft
by looking for obstacles, calling the
aircraft and tail clear, and telling them
what’s in the pickup zone. From the
right side of the aircraft, the crew chief
also calls obstacles, looks for inflight
hazards such as wires and towers, and
keeps an eye on the second helicopter,
also known as the chase bird. In Iraq,
all aircraft launch and fly in pairs.
As soon as the aircraft lands, the
medic disconnects headset communication and rushes to receive a patient
hand-off from the requesting unit.
From this point on, the rest of the
crew has visual contact only with the
medic. Simultaneously, the crew chief
comes around to the medic’s side of
the aircraft to assist with patient loading and litter handoffs to replace those
the requesting unit uses for the current
casualty, and provides security for the
aircraft, medic, and crew.
The ground medic briefs the flight
medic on how the casualty was injured,
what treatments were given—medications, bandages, intravenous fluids, vital signs, and any pertinent paperwork
or documentation. Depending on how
hot the PZ is, all this can be going on as
they rush to load the casualties.
Once inside, the medic focuses
on the patients. Airspace surveillance
is picked up by the left-seat pilot because the medic is crouched in front
of the patients or sitting on the center
seat facing aft and not in the left side
window seat.
Inside the aircraft, the medic reinforces dressings, continually checks
vitals, replaces IV bags, and provides
appropriate levels of intervention to
keep the patient stable. The medic
briefs the pilots on the patients’ status
as they near the CSH. Based upon the
medic’s report, the pilots will increase
speed, change routes, and/or request
special clearance from air traffic control. I’ve often heard pilots request permission to fly over no-fly zones because
the patients were crashing and couldn’t
wait even a few more minutes.
Five to 10 minutes from the CSH,
the medic calls the ER staff with numbers of patients and status, estimated
time of landing, and major interventions given, such as intubation, oxygen,
medications. This entire sequence of
events is compounded when carrying
more than one patient. The aircraft can
carry up to four litters and one ambulatory patient in a normal configuration.
Once the aircraft lands, the medic
exits and assists in unloading and delivering the patients to the ER, where
the medic briefs the lead doctor. The
crew chief gathers all the necessary litters, oxygen, and blankets from the ER
staff, while the medics give the proper
handoff to the doctors.
Then the medic returns to the aircraft and assists the crew chief in preparing for any follow-on missions. 
The DUSTOFFer
MEDEVAC Crews Brave Enemy Fire to Save Soldiers
An article written by SFC Thomas Mills, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade,
the Multi-National Division Center, Baghdad, Iraq, dated 21 January 2008.
Camp Striker, Iraq—Aeromedical
evacuation crews from Task Force
Marne faced down enemy gunfire to
deliver five injured Soldiers to safety
on 18 January.
The MEDEVAC crews from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation
Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade,
3rd Infantry Division, were called in
when a patrol of Strykers from the 2nd
Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry
Division, was attacked.
The Blackhawk helicopters flew
to the site only to find that the easiest
place for them to land, the road the
Stryker vehicles were on, was not yet
cleared of possible improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The MEDEVAC
crews were unable to contact the
ground forces or an Apache team from
the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade that
was in the area.
After circling, scouting for a place
to land, the crews landed in a field
adjacent to the road, said CPT Samuel
Fricks, Operations Officer, Company
C. Fricks, from Morrow, Georgia, a pilot in the second of the two MEDEVAC
aircraft, said his bird waited until Chalk
One was down safely before approaching and landing on the other side of the
clearing and facing the first aircraft.
“After landing, my medic, SSG
Robert Congdon, departed the aircraft
and linked up with Chalk One’s medic,
SSG Aughe McQuown,” said Fricks.
The two medics went to the site
of the attack and soon returned to the
helicopters with three injured Soldiers.
When they returned to the Stryker with
the remaining two injured Soldiers,
Congdon said, they began taking fire.
“I just grabbed the patient and
grabbed McQuown and we went into
the Stryker,” said Congdon, a native of
Las Vegas, Nevada. Bullets struck the
Stryker and around them as they went
for the cover of the armored vehicle.
Congdon reset the Stryker’s radio to the
MEDEVAC frequency, then took off
his flight helmet and put on a Stryker
crewmember’s helmet so he could talk
to the aircraft.
When the call came over the radio
Fall/Winter 2008
that his medics were taking fire, Fricks
wasn’t sure what to think. He didn’t
know where the fire was coming from.
He figured that since the helicopters
were down below the level of the road
in the field, he wasn’t in too much
danger.
Bullets struck the
Stryker and around
them as they went
for the cover of the
armored vehicle.
“The only thing we knew was that
SSG Congdon was taking fire,” said
Fricks. As they waited for the two medics to come back with the remaining
patients, a third medic, SGT Donald
Dedmon, from Foreman, Arkansas,
who was being trained as a flight medic,
ran back and forth between the two
aircraft to treat the injured Soldiers
already on board.
Dedmon was half-way through
his training to be certified to operate
as a medic on a MEDEVAC when he
found himself in the position of being
responsible for patients on two different
MEDEVAC aircraft.
“I was keying on the patients,” Dedmon said. “Afterward it kind of came
into perspective.”
Fricks had been linked up via radio
to the circling Apaches, and he relayed
Congdon’s directions to bring in some
30mm machine cannon fire to suppress
the enemy shooter.
Back at the Stryker, Congdon and
McQuown were still trying to get back
to the aircraft with their patients.
“We lowered the ramp of the
Stryker to get out and be able to get
to the aircraft, and the sniper started
shooting,” said Congdon. “McQuown,
a native of Florida, picked up one patient, while Congdon and an Infantry
Soldier helped the other patient and
they broke for it.”
It was a combination of running
out of litters and the guy was shooting
at us, said Congdon. “The longer we
wait on the ground, the worse it is on
the patients; at some point, we had to
just leave and get the patients to the
hospital.”
The medics loaded the remaining
two patients on the MEDEVAC birds.
After a quick count of heads to make
sure no one was left behind, they departed while the Apaches continued to
lay down suppressive fire.
“The five patients all survived,”
said Fricks. He said watching the two
medics struggling to bring their patients
to safety, was almost like something
you’d see in a Hollywood production.
“I just thought it was awesome.” 
Wanted!
100 DUSTOFFers—
each with $100—who
are willing to donate
the money to the
DUSTOFF Association
At the 2007 Reunion, the membership voted to pay itself back for the
$10,000 placed into the Quad-A
Annuity for our DUSTOFF Scholarship.
These donations will be taxdeductible and help fund necessary programs of the Association,
primarily the funding of DUSTOFF
Association Coins, given to units
returning from combat operations.
At the Reunion we raised almost
$1,000 toward that goal. Be a
sustaining part of the DUSTOFF
Association. Mail your donation
to the DUSTOFF Association, P.O.
Box 8091, Wainwright Station,
San Antonio, TX 78208. On the
“for” line note “100/100.”
PAGE 7
First Flight Medics Awarded CMBs
CAB PAO Maj. Enrique T. Vasquez
Tikrit, Iraq – Seven U.S. Army flight medics assigned to
The battles of today have no distinct lines, as any area
Company C, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st can become a combat zone without warning. This type of
Aviation Regiment, received the first Combat Medic Badges warfare has dramatically altered the traditional support role
awarded to MEDEVAC crews for their actions during com- of MEDEVAC companies, placing their medical personnel
bat operations in northern Iraq, while flying in support of into more multiple direct combat situations than any previTask Force Iron, 1st Armored Division.
ous American conflict.
Staff Sgt. Kory Werts, Staff Sgt. Lanier Patterson, Sgt.
“They are willing to go anywhere, anytime to do the hard
Ethan Rogers, Sgt. Jovan Salazar, Sgt. Tyrone Jordan, Spc. work, and it’s just impressive,” said Farrington
Nathaniel Northrup, and Spc. Stacey
“When they get the call, they don’t
Dill received the CMB in a ceremony at
know what they are going into. All they
Contingency Operating Base Speicher The battles of today know is that they are going to save a Solon July 28. The seven awardees are all have no distinct lines, dier’s life, or any human being for that
based out of Fort Riley, Kansas, and de- as any area can become matter. These guys are truly angels of
ployed to Iraq with the Combat Aviation
mercy,” said Farrington.
Brigade, 1st Infantry Division during the a combat zone without
Both male and female flight medics,
warning.
fall of 2007.
previously regarded as strictly medical
The Combat Medic Badge recognizes
support personnel, are now drawn into
the unique service and selfless sacrifices
the fight against terror and extended the
of medical personnel while in contact with enemy or under opportunity to be awarded the CMB.
fire.
“It is sort of a thankless job. Most people think all we
“This is a big deal when you think about the magnitude do is pick up and drop off patients and only give us credit
of this because it is the first time flight medics have received for that. We don’t get credit for the times when we retrieve
the CMB. It is an interesting point in history,” said Col. Jes- patients under fire or treat them while in flight,” said Rogers.
sie O. Farrington, commander CAB 1ID.
“It is very special that we are finally being recognized for
Previously, medical personnel serving in division-level that time when we actually work to save a patient’s life.”
medical companies, ground ambulance, and medical clearThe effort to award the CMB to flight crews gained moing companies, Mobile-Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), mentum through the recent involvement of Army leadership,
Combat-Support Hospital (CSH), and aero-medical evacua- who played a major role in pushing for the badge.
tion units were not eligible for the CMB. According to Army
“Several months ago I was approached by Lt. Col. Miregulations, flight medics could not receive the CMB.
chael Tetu, 2-1 commander, and we discussed the need to
“In the past the Combat Medical Badge was only awarded do something to recognize MEDEVAC flight crews, since
to those medics serving with ground units. For one reason or they did not qualify for the CMB,” said Maj. Gen. Mark P.
another, flight medics were unable to qualify for the badge,” Hertling, the Task Force Iron commanding general.
said Rogers.
“These air [flight] medics go into some very tough conditions and probably face conditions ten times tougher than
medics on the ground. What makes this so special is the fact
that these flight crews treat patients in the air and to this day
these medics and medics like them have never lost a patient
in flight,” said Hertling.
During the ceremony Hertling recounted how he wrote
a letter to Lieutenant General Michael D. Rochelle, Deputy
Chief of Staff G-1, United States Army, to see if Army regulations could be changed to allow flight medics to receive
the CMB.
“This isn’t right. We need to do something to change
the regulations. We have to do something to get these flight
medics the recognition they deserve,” Hertling wrote to
Rochelle.
The end result caused a change to current Army regulations that now allow CMBs to be awarded to flight med(Top row) Staff Sgt. Lanier Patterson, Spc. Stacey Dill,
ics.
Sgt. Ethan Rogers, Spc. Nathaniel Northrup , (bottom row)
“So these seven people are the first, and I am very happy
Staff Sgt. Kory Werts, Sgt. Jovan Salazar, and Sgt. Tyrone Jordan
assigned to Company C, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion,
to be here to see the ‘Duty First’ brigade, 1st Infantry Divi1st Aviation Regiment, pose with Combat Aviation Brigade,
sion, be the first to award the Combat Medic Badge to air
1st Infantry Division Surgeon Col. Arthur Wittich (right).
MEDEVAC medics,” said Hertling. 
PAGE 8
The DUSTOFFer
Vietnam Veteran Recalled As Hero
by Family, Friends
On Memorial Day 1999, DUSTOFFER Timothy Cole was remembered in a ceremony in his home town, Newnan,
Georgia. Penned by W. Winston Skinner, Assistant News Editor of the Newnan Times-Herald.
L
ouise Cole lifted her glasses and
dabbed at her eyes with a tissue
while a trio sang “Near the Cross,” her
son’s favorite hymn.
An elderly veteran silently mouthed
the words of “The Star-Spangled
Banner” as it was sung, and a woman
spontaneously placed her hand over her
heart as the names of Cowetans killed
in World War I, World War II, Korea,
and Vietnam were read.
Monday’s Memorial Day program
focused on the life of Timothy Cole
Jr., a native Cowetan who lost his life
in Vietnam in 1968—two months shy
of his 22nd birthday. It was a time of
smiles, of tears, of remembrance—of
what was and what might have been.
“I know if he were here today, he
would be doing other great things,”
Army buddy Willie Boyd said of Cole,
speaking before a record Memorial
Day crowd of about 350 in the park at
Temple Avenue and Jackson Street.
Louise Cole was presented with a
flag—folded with military precision
by local veterans—to replace the one
from her son’s casket that burned in
a fire several years ago. She also was
given a photo of her son, altered by
computer wizardry to show him as a
warrant officer, the rank he held when
he lost his life on the last of his more
than 800 medical evacuation missions
in Vietnam.
John Davis recalled his boyhood
friend as the kind of person “who
doesn’t come along very often.” He
said Cole, known as “Skip,” was a
leader.
Davis remembered falling and
breaking his arm when he was about
10 while playing king of the hill at
Cole’s home. “He was king of the hill
in everything he did,” he said. “Skip
was always popular in school because
of his engaging personality. However,
don’t think for a minute that he didn’t
know commitment, sacrifice, and family values,” Davis said.
Cole’s father died before he was
grown, and he helped keep the famFall/Winter 2008
ily farm going while attending high
school. “Quitting school—abandoning
his goals and his dreams—was not a
possibility for him and his mother,”
Davis said.
Willis Potts also grew up with Cole
and then went to the Georgia Institute
“From my point of view,
he deserved a medal for
every mission. . . .”
of Technology 10 days after their high
school graduation. He remembered
enduring the rigors of freshman life,
their joint involvement in the Tech Glee
Club, and Cole’s interest in the Baptist
Student Union. He recalled Cole’s
decision to leave school and enter the
Army. “This country didn’t really know
what they stood for, but Skip wanted to
serve. It shocked me,” Potts said.
Searcy Jackson was serving as pastor at Macedonia Baptist, the Cole’s
family church, when Tim Cole was
killed. He remembered “how much he
loved his God.”
He spoke of Cole’s 800-plus
MEDEVAC missions. “If you knew
Tim, you could understand that. He
did that simply because of his deep
love not only for his fellowman, but
his deep love for God,” Jackson said.
“Tim Cole had a deep love for his God
and his church—and certainly for his
family and his friends,” Jackson said.
He recalled that on Tim’s last trip to
Macedonia, he taught the married Sunday School class. “He wanted to say a
word for God,” he said.
Al Michaels was in the Army with
Cole and brought is body back from
Vietnam. They met in basic training
at Fort Polk, Louisiana, where Cole
helped some of the other new Soldiers
read and write letters. Cole “graduated
near the top” in flight training, Michaels
said. “He was an exceptional young
man.”
He recalled sharing quarters with
Cole in Vietnam. They painted them
with the only paint they could find—
some walls red, others black. They got
a spider monkey and a parrot to keep
them company.
Speaking of Cole’s medical evacuations, Michaels said that fatalities were
particularly high in World Wars I and II
because there was no organized effort
to get the wounded off the battlefield.
“Timmy evacuated a tremendous
number of GIs. He saved a lot of lives.
There is no doubt in my mind, the day
Timmy was taken away from us, he
never gave that a second thought,” said
Michaels, who traveled with his wife,
Nancy, from Virginia for the program.
Boyd, who flew with Cole in Vietnam, recalled him as “very efficient
and very courageous.” He said that
Cole put his life on the line every time
he flew in Vietnam. “From my point
of view, he deserved a medal for every
mission he went on,” he said.
Sam Hudson, who in 1968 was dispatched by the Army to tell Louise Cole
that her son had died, also returned to
Newnan on Monday from his Alabama
home. He spoke of Mrs. Cole’s calm
faith. “She was an inspiration to me,”
he remembered.
Carol Gulatt, Cole’s sister, said that
Monday’s program had given Tim Cole
back to his family for a time. For the
first time, she said, her husband and
daughters got to meet her big brother.
“You have confirmed my memories and
given me some new ones to cherish,”
Gulatt said. “You have allowed me to
have the release that I have so desperately needed for the past 31 years.”
Both Potts and Davis named sons
after Tim Cole. “His legacy lives on,”
Potts said.
Gulatt spoke words of hope, grounded in the faith she and her brother
shared. “I will see my brother again, not
because he was a good man or because
I am a good person. Because of his example in his walk of faith, I also know
Christ personally,” she said. 
PAGE 9
First Production HH-60M MEDEVAC Helicopter
Enters Final Assembly
Steve Flood, Project Manager, provided the status of the new Black Hawk MEDEVAC version
in the Q2-2008 issue of the Sikorsky Frontlines.
The first production HH-60M
MEDEVAC helicopter started final
assembly at the beginning of April,
marking the next stage in the delivery
of “M” model Black Hawks. Deliveries of the HH-60M will commence in
July 2008.
The HH-60M share the same basic
airframe as the UH-60M helicopter
but is outfitted with specific systems to
support MEDEVAC missions.
“Features such as the Aircraft
Medical Oxygen Generating System
(AMOGS), Downed Pilot Locator
System, Medical Interior, and ForwardLooking Infrared Radar (FLIR), help
air crews locate and care for wounded
soldiers as they are being transported
from the battlefield to a medical facility,” said HH-60M Helicopter Project
Manager Steve Flood.
HH-60M MEDEVAC cabins are
built in the new Structures Facility in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the aircraft’s major structures are joined, and
all MEDEVAC unique structural buildups are incorporated. Joined airframes
are transported to the Military Aircraft
Completion Center in Stratford, where
they are inducted into the four-position
final assembly line, where they are
assembled and then flight-tested and
delivered to the customer.
“There is a real commitment to get
these aircraft completed and out to the
field, and the team is passionately working toward this goal,” said Flood.
Deliveries are scheduled to occur
at an average rate of two aircraft per
month. The first 12 HH-60M aircraft
will be delivered to the 3-126th General
Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB),
an Army National Guard MEDEVAC
Company shared by Massachusetts
and Vermont. A total of 96 HH-60M
MEDEVAC aircraft will be delivered
in the next five years. 
LESSONS LEARNED BY HELICOPTER PILOTS IN COMBAT
• There is no such thing as a “fun” hot LZ
• The madness of war can exact a heavy toll. Please have exact change.
• Always remember that helicopters are different from airplanes. Helicopters are thousands
of pounds of parts flying in loose formation often in opposition to each other, and unlike
airplanes, they fly by beating the air into submission.
• Decisions made by someone over your head will seldom be in your best interest.
• “Chicken Plates” are not something you order in a restaurant.
• The sole purpose of our helicopters is to support our grunts. Anyone who forgets that
has forgotten their purpose in life.
• Eat when you can. Sleep when you can.Visit the head when you can.The next opportunity
may not come around for a long time, if ever.
• Combat pay is a flawed concept.
• Air superiority is NOT a luxury.
• Everybody’s a hero on the ground in the club and after the fourth drink.
• The farther you fly into the mountains or over water, the louder the strange engine noise
becomes.
• In helicopters, there is no such thing as a “good vibration.”
• If every one of us does not come home, none of the rest of us can ever fully come
home.
• Do not fear the enemy, for the enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear
the media, for they will steal your HONOR.
PAGE 10
The DUSTOFFer
Air Ambulance Crashes Trigger FAA’s “Full Attention”
W
An article written by Alan Levin in the 10 June 2008 edition of USA Today
focused on civilian aviation concerns about the ambulance programs.
ashington, D.C.—Federal aviation officials said Monday that
they are concerned medical helicopter
accidents may again be on the rise now
that four fatal crashes have happened
in less than six months.
“The recent spate of accidents has
the FAA’s full attention,” said Alison
Duquette, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
A helicopter carrying a 58-yearold patient, along with a flight nurse,
paramedic, and pilot, crashed into a
wooded area near Huntsville, Texas,
early Sunday, killing all aboard. The
helicopter struck trees, spreading debris
over 600 feet, according to preliminary
data from the National Transportation
Safety board (NTSB).
The accident and three others since
December 30 have killed 13 people and
are similar to a pattern that prompted
the NTSB to conduct a special safety
review of the air ambulance industry in
2006, according to preliminary reports
and an industry association.
All four of the recent fatal crashes
happened at night and in places where
pilots had little or no visual reference
on the ground, such as a forest or over
water, according to NTSB files.
“We’re monitoring all these recent
investigations with an eye toward
whether they are related to previous
recommendations we made,” said Jeffrey Guzzetti, deputy director of the
NTSB’s aviation division.
The NTSB said in 2006 that most
crashes were preventable. It issued
recommendations for better technology and new rules to force pilots to be
more cautious, especially at night and
in poor weather.
The FAA, which regulates the air
ambulance industry, has taken numerous steps to improve safety in recent
years but has balked at the more stringent suggestions of the safety board.
“No accidents are acceptable on
the helicopters that increasingly ferry
the nation’s sickest patients from remote locations to top trauma centers,”
said Tom Judge, program director for
Fall/Winter 2008
LifeFlight of Maine and a safety adviser to the Association of Air Medical
Services.
“There is no evidence that the
crashes are anything more than an ‘unfortunate cluster,’” Judge said. “I think
that all of us are puzzled and are trying
to understand what this is.”
All four of the recent
fatal crashes happened
at night and in places
where pilots had little
or no visual reference
on the ground. . . .
After a flurry of attention from crash
investigators and regulators, the number of fatal air ambulance helicopter
crashes fell to two in 2006 and two in
2007, according to NTSB data. In 2008,
there have been three fatal crashes.
Recent crashes include:
• On December 30, in Cherokee,
Alabama, an air ambulance helicopter, assisting in the search
for a missing hunter, crashed in
a wooded area at night, killing a
pilot, paramedic, and flight nurse.
• On February 5, a pilot and two
medical workers died when a helicopter crashed in a bay near South
Padre Island, Texas.
• On May 10, an air ambulance helicopter crashed into trees near La
Crosse, Wisconsin, shortly after
dropping a patient at a hospital.
The pilot, a physician, and a nurse
died.
• An FAA inspector and a pilot suffered serious injuries on May 29
when a helicopter crashed on top
of the Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. The pilot was receiving
a routine check by the inspector.
The crash prompted the evacuation
of some hospital patients.
The NTSB recommended that
air ambulance companies adopt new
technology to warn pilots when they fly
too close to the ground and pay more
attention to high risk factors, such as
poor weather, before departing. The
NTSB also voted to encourage the
FAA to approve the use of night-vision
goggles.
“The new technology has proven
difficult to put in place, according to
FAA documents,” said Judge.
None of the pilots on the four recent
crashes at night was using night-vision
goggles, according to Guzzetti. 
Al Michaels, DUSTOFF 8 at the 45th
Medical Company (Air Ambulance) in
1968–69, shown in the BO-105 he flew
in Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s.
PAGE 11
Maine Trauma System
An article in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, written by Kevin McGinnis, the manager of the Maine
Trauma System, published 21 May 2008. The article highlights aeromedical evacuation and its life-saving effect
on emergency medical services in America—A legacy of which DUSTOFFers can be appropriately proud.
T
his week is recognized as Emergency Medical Services Week. This
week also marks the 15th anniversary
of the inception of the Maine Trauma
System, a program for emergency
injury care.
So, what difference has that
made?
Some of you may have heard of
the “Golden Hour.” That’s the time
from a life-threatening injury to the
last moment possible for that injury
to be surgically repaired so the patient
survives. It is not, strictly speaking, an
hour in all cases, but that time has held
up as a useful indicator of the urgency
involved.
Regional and statewide trauma
care systems save lives by accurately
identifying, as soon after the injury as
possible, patients for whom the Golden
Hour has begun to tick down. They
then provide appropriate on-site care
to the patient and take the patient to a
specialized trauma center as quickly
as possible. (The majority of injured
patients, for whom the Golden Hour is
not a factor, are better served by their
local facilities.)
In Maine, the three regional trauma
centers are in Portland, Lewiston,
and Bangor. These sites, all available
around the clock, have invested in
trauma surgeons and other specialists
and in surgical and critical care facilities tailored to trauma patients.
Medical helicopters are often the
fastest means for taking a patient to
one of these facilities, and LifeFlight
helicopters are based at the trauma
centers in Bangor and Lewiston. Lifeflight also includes a statewide system
of helipads, including ones at Maine
Medical Center in Portland and Inland
Hospital in Waterville. By the end of
this year, all but four of Maine’s 38
acute-care hospitals will have built or
improved helipads.
How is the Maine Trauma System
and technology making a difference?
Let’s look at a car crash in central
Maine 10 years ago and that same crash
PAGE 12
10 years from now. Maine’s Trauma
System, at 15 years of age, provides
much of what will be available 10
years from now. Remember the Golden
Hour.
Regional and statewide
trauma care systems
save lives by accurately
identifying . . . patients
for whom the Golden
Hour has begun to tick
down.
Ten years ago
00:00—(midnight) After the driver,
who is wearing a seat belt, falls asleep,
a car crashes over a 25-foot embankment into the woods below, rolling over
once. The patient suffers internal injuries with bleeding and is unconscious.
00:26—A passing motorist sees headlights in the woods below, checks on
the crashed car, and calls for help on
his cell phone.
00:35—The local ambulance is dispatched. The emergency medical technician and paramedic travel 20 minutes
to the reported accident site.
Unfortunately, the information is inaccurate and they end up a mile away.
Five minutes are lost while they drive
around looking for the site. They happen upon the car of the emergency
caller.
01:05—The paramedic reaches the
crashed car and determines that the
patient is seriously injured, with a low
blood pressure. He asks the EMT to
call fire rescue to bring the “jaws of
life,” a tool to open the jammed doors
to extricate the patient. He starts an
intravenous fluid line in the patient’s
arm and applies oxygen.
01:20—The “jaws” arrive and are applied.
01:30—The patient is extricated, is put
in a neck collar, and placed on a rigid
board for travel. The ambulance leaves
the scene.
02:00—The ambulance arrives at the
local hospital with the paramedic and
a firefighter doing cardiopulmonary
resuscitation on the patient, whose
heart has stopped. The patient can’t
be revived.
Ten years from now
00:00—Same crash and same circumstances; only the vehicle is different.
An automatic crash notification device
in the car sends a signal to a dispatch
center. It tells the dispatcher that the
car has rolled over at high speed, and
there is a high likelihood of injury and
entrapment. Established protocol for
such crash notifications dictate that
the dispatcher automatically sends an
ambulance, fire rescue extrication responders, and a medical helicopter.
00:01—Fire rescue, EMS, and the helicopter are notified and head to the exact
location identified by the vehicle’s
Global Positioning System (GPS).
00:25—All responders are at the scene.
The patient is extricated, treated, and
loaded into the helicopter.
00:30—The helicopter lifts off for the
hospital. En route, the patient receives
blood replacement and a portable imaging device reveals a bleeding injury in
his abdomen. The images are radioed
to the trauma center.
00:45—The helicopter lands at the
regional trauma center and the patient
is wheeled to the trauma operating
suite.
00:55—The patient’s abdomen has
been opened and the major bleeding
injuries clamped. The patient will
survive. 
The DUSTOFFer
A Diamond in the Rough no More
An account by David May published in the Mineral Wells Index, October 7, 2008, recounts
how DUSTOFFer and Aggie Tommy Mayes was reunited with something he thought he’d never see again.
T
hirty-five years ago, Army pilot-intraining Tommy Mayes landed his
TH-55 helicopter in a clearing in the
scruffy Palo Pinto Mountains northwest
of Mineral Wells.
He stepped out of his whirlybird
trainer and surveyed the area before
preparing to lift off. At some point, he
apparently bent over and something
important fell out of his shirt pocket.
About a year ago, Peggy Harvey
found that item. On Sunday, she was
able to hand Mayes his Texas A&M
class ring.
This wasn’t just any class ring.
It was special because it contained a
diamond from the wedding ring of his
mother, who died about a year ago.
“I’m sorry she’s not still alive to see
the ring again,” Mayes said.
Having made the drive from San
Antonio to Mineral Wells to be reunited
with his sentimental piece of jewelry,
Mayes smiled widely as he slipped off
his replacement Aggie ring and slid,
twisted and slightly forced on the ring
he long ago figured he’d never see
again.
He gazed in wonderment at the
ring’s excellent condition, with the
small diamond still intact.
He said one of his friends told him
years ago that, “At some point, when
you least expect it, you will get a call
out of nowhere” from someone claiming they had found his ring.
It wasn’t a phone call out of nowhere, but rather an e-mail out of
nowhere. Mayes said he and his wife,
Gretchen, had returned from a recent
vacation when he had an e-mail in his
inbox from Harvey, a Mineral Wells
High School math teacher, asking if
he had lost a class ring near Mineral
Wells.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “This
wouldn’t happen to just anybody.”
He was able to describe the ring to
a Texas (A&M) T to Harvey.
Harvey began investigating to find
the lost ring’s owner first by looking at
the ring with its A&M insignia, noting
Fall/Winter 2008
it belonged to a Class of 1972 graduate,
and reading the name, a cursive inscription, on the inside of the 10-karat gold
ring. She said she could clearly read the
owner’s first name, but the last name of
Mayes was not as easy to determine.
“I was in a hurry, and I
took it off and dropped
it in my pocket . . . I
forgot to zip it up.”
She eventually got in touch with
Don Crawford, executive director of
the Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets Association. Texas A&M has a large and
active alumni base, and with his help
they were able to make an educated
guess as to who the owner of the ring
would be. Through a friend of Mayes,
Harvey was recently able to make contact with Mayes.
Harvey and her husband, James,
live near the end of Devil’s Hollow
Road off State Highway 377 between
Mineral Wells and Possum Kingdom
Lake, where the Palo Pinto Mountains
rise and fall all around them.
Harvey, who said she “finds things,”
said one day she was walking on the
property in an area she had walked
hundreds of times of before. This time
she happened to see something shiny
barely sticking up through the sand and
small rocks.
“Out of curiosity I dug it up,” she
said. “It had sand and dirt and rocks
all around it. I took it in and cleaned
it up.”
Once realizing what she had, she
began the task of trying to find its
owner.
It was with even more luck the ring
was undamaged. The Harveys had cut a
road across the property just feet from
where the ring was partially buried.
She said when a septic system was
put in, the dirt could have easily been
dumped on top of the ring, permanently
burying it.
She said seeing the expression on
Mayes’ face when she handed him the
ring “made it all worthwhile.”
Harvey said she persisted in finding the ring’s owner for the past year
because, “I felt he’d like to have the
ring back.”
Maybe it was a payback of sorts.
Harvey said in college she lost her high
school ring. She said a man found it,
tracked her down and returned it.
Mayes, a 1972 graduate of Texas
A&M, was stationed at the former Fort
Wolters Army base in Mineral Wells in
early 1973. Fort Wolters at the time was
a primary helicopter pilot training base
during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Training helicopters in those days
filled the surrounding North Texas
skies, and one of the tasks the young
pilots had to do at times was land and
take off in certain areas. Colored tires
marked certain zones, and pilots had
to properly land in areas that carried
different degrees of difficulty.
On this day, Mayes was to land near
a yellow tire in a clearing about 6 miles
northwest of Mineral Wells.
“The different colors of tires signified different degrees of difficulty,” said
Mayes. “A yellow tire area was a pretty
difficult landing area.”
One day in 1973 — Mayes thinks it
was probably in April — he was about
to take off from Fort Wolters when he
noticed he was still wearing his class
ring. Pilots were instructed not to wear
jewelry when flying. Mayes said he
would usually remove his ring and
place it in a zippered cargo compartment on his flight pants.
“I was in a hurry, and I took it off
and dropped it in my shirt pocket,” he
said. “I forgot to zip it up.”
After finding his yellow target and
landing, Mayes said he got out and
walked around.
“I was probably smoking a cigarette
(Diamond, continued on page 14.)
PAGE 13
Rules
A
lthough flying a helicopter may
seem very difficult, the truth is
if you can drive a car, you can, with
just a few minutes of instruction, take
the controls of one of these amazing
machines. Of course, you would immediately crash and die. This is why
you need to remember:
RULE ONE OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: Always have somebody
sitting right next to you who actually
(Diamond, continued from page 13.)
and throwing rocks,” he said. “I guess
I bent over and it fell out.”
After returning to the base, Mayes
realized his ring was gone.
“I felt really bad about losing it, for
a lot of different reasons,” he said.
He went back to the landing site
looking for it. He asked other pilots
landing there to look around for the
ring, but no one could find it.
About a month later Mayes was
sent to Fort Rucker in Georgia to advanced helicopter pilot training, and
he figured he left behind forever his
cherished ring.
Mayes served in the U.S. Army
for 22 years, eventually commanding a medical battalion supporting
the Army’s 101st Airborne during the
Persian Gulf War. He told a story of
saving the lives of himself and his crew,
as well as people on the ground, in a
helicopter crash in Germany. He retired
with the rank of lieutenant colonel and
now works with a San Antonio “home
infusion” company that helps people
receive therapy and medical treatments
at home.
He is a 1968 graduate of Richland
Hills High School in Fort Worth, where
was a member of junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps.
He said he regretted that his mother
did not live to see the ring again. Mayes
said his father died when he was 14.
His mother remarried, but gave him a
diamond from the wedding ring that his
father gave her, so he could include it
in his A&M ring. 
PAGE 14
of
Helicopter Flying
by David Berry
knows how to fly the helicopter and can
snatch the controls away from you.
Because the truth is that helicopters
are nothing at all like cars. Cars work
because of basic scientific principles
that everybody understands, such as internal combustion and parallel parking.
Whereas scientists still have no idea
what holds helicopters up. “Whatever
it is, it could stop at any moment,” is
their current feeling.
RULE TWO OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: Maybe you should forget
the entire thing.
This is what I was thinking on a recent
Saturday morning as I stood outside a
small airport in South Florida. I was
about to take my first helicopter lesson.
This was not my idea. This was the idea
of Pam Gallina-Raisstguier, who flies
radio reporters over Miami during rush
hour so they can alert drivers to traffic
problems (“Bob, we have a three-mile
backup on the interstate due to an
overturned cocaine truck”). Pam is active in an international organization of
women helicopter pilots called (Gloria
Steinem, avert your eyes) the ”Whirly
Girls.” She thought it would be a great
idea for me to take a helicopter lesson.
I began having severe doubts when I
saw Pam’s helicopter. This was a small
helicopter. It looked like it should have
a little slot where you insert quarters
to make it go up and down. I knew
that if we got airborne in a helicopter
this size in South Florida, some of our
larger tropical flying insects could
very well attempt to mate with us.
Also, this helicopter had no doors. As
a Frequent Flyer, I know for a fact that
all your leading U.S. airlines, despite
being bankrupt, maintain a strict safety
policy of having doors on their aircraft.
“Don’t we need a larger helicopter?” I
asked Pam. ”With doors?” “Get in.”
said Pam. You don’t defy a direct order
from a Whirly Girl. Now we’re in the
helicopter, and Pam is explaining the
controls to me over the headset. But
there’s static, and the engine is making
a lot of noise. “your throttle (some-
thing),” she is saying. “This is your cyclic and (something) your collective.”
“What?” I say. “(something) give you
the controls when we reach 500 feet,”
Pam says. “What?” I say. But Pam is
not listening. She is moving a control
thing and WHOOOOAAAAAA we are
shooting up in the air, and there are still
no doors on this particular helicopter.
Now Pam is giving me the main control
thing.
RULE THREE OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: If anybody tries to give
you the main control thing, refuse to
take it.
Pam says: “You don’t need hardly any
pressure to...” “AIEEEEEEEEEEE!”
“That was too much pressure,” Pam
says. Now I am flying the helicopter.
I AM FLYING THE HELICOPTER.
I am flying it by not moving a single
body part, for fear of jiggling the
control thing. I look like the Lincoln
Memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln,
only more rigid. “Make a right turn,”
Pam is saying. I gingerly move the
control thing one zillionth of an inch to
the right and helicopter LEANS OVER
TOWARD MY SIDE AND THERE IS
STILL NO DOOR HERE. I instantly
move the thing one zillionth of an inch
back. “I’m not turning right.” I inform
Pam. “What?” she says. ”Only left
turns.” I tell her. When you’ve been
flying helicopters as long as I have,
you know your limits. After a while it
becomes clear to Pam that if she continues to allow the Lincoln statue to pilot
the helicopter, we are going to wind
up flying in a straight line until we run
out of fuel, possibly over Antarctica, so
she takes the control thing back. That is
good news. The bad news is, she’s now
saying something about demonstrating
an “emergency procedure.” “It’s for
when your engine dies,” Pam says. “It’s
called ‘auto-rotation,’” Do you like
amusement park rides?” I say: “No, I
doooooooooonnnnnn’t!”
(Rules, continued on page 15.)
The DUSTOFFer
Sikorsky Aircraft Lifts Off in Inaugural Flight
Reprinted from Sikorsky Frontline, Q3 2008
T
he first production HH-60M
MEDEVAC aircraft flew for the
first time on August 20, 2008, in Stratford, Connecticut.
“This is a significant milestone for
this aircraft and what it represents in
terms of lifesaving mission capability,”
said Steve Flood, HH-60M MEDEVAC
Program Manager.
The HH-60 MEDEVAC is the
most advanced combat MEDEVAC
helicopter in the world, sharing all the
performance improvements incorporated into the BLACK HAWK “M”
series helicopter.
Stratford Observes
HH-60M Flight
On August 12, Sikorsky delivered
the HH-60M aircraft to the Army National Guard. With a MEDEVAC helicopter serving as the backdrop, more
than 200 Sikorsky employees gathered
in the Stratford Military Aircraft Hangar to commemorate the delivery.
Government Programs Vice President Scott Starrett opened the ceremony
and was accompanied by COL Garrett
Jensen, Chief of Aviation and Safety,
National Guard Bureau, and COL Neil
Thurgood, U.S. Army Project Manager
for Utility Helicopters.
COL Thurgood praised Sikorsky
employees and thanked them for their
continued commitment to excellence
and quality. “Each one of you is just as
much a part of the fight as any soldier
serving overseas. Your mission is to
deliver a dependable product, which
you continue to provide each and every
time. On behalf of each Soldier, I thank
you. Continue the great work.”
In a separate ceremony held September 21 in Baltimore, Maryland,
the aircraft was presented to the Army
National Guard. 
(Rules, continued from page 14.)
RULE FOUR OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: “Auto-rotation” means
“coming down out of the sky at about
the same speed and aerodynamic stability as that of a forklift dropped from a
bomber.
“Now we’re close to the ground (although my stomach is still at 500 feet),
and Pam is completing my training by
having me hover the helicopter.
RULE FIVE OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: You can’t hover the
helicopter.
U.S. Army and National Guard leaders accept models of the HH-60M MEDEVAC helicopter
during a delivery ceremony on August 13, 2008.
The idea is to hang over one spot on
the ground. I am hovering over an area
approximately the size of Australia.
I am swooping around sideways and
backward like a crazed bumblebee. If I
were trying to rescue a person from the
roof of a 100-story burning building,
the person would realize that it would
be safer to simply jump. At times I
think I am hovering upside-down. Even
Pam looks nervous. So I am very happy
when we finally get back on the ground.
Pam tells me I did great, and she’d be
glad to take me up again. I tell her that
sounds like a fun idea.
RULE SIX OF HELICOPTER
PILOTING: Sometimes you have to
lie. 
Fall/Winter 2008
Tom Nicolett, Sikorsky Director of National Guard Business Development, presents a banner
to Major Gen. Mike Dubie, the Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard. The banner
was signed by Sikorsky employees who designed and built the HH-60M helicopter.
PAGE 15
Sikorsky Aircraft Supports
Co. A, 5-159th Aviation “Ghostriders”
Submitted to Sikorsky Frontlines, 3rd Quarter, 2008, by Mike Mudd, Government Business Development
T
he first two HH-60L MEDEVAC
helicopters were delivered June
7, 2008, to A Company, 5-159th
Aviation Regiment “Ghostriders,”
stationed in Clearwater, Florida.
Four additional aircraft are expected
to be delivered in the near future.
Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, the Commanding General and Chief of the
Army Reserve, hosted the delivery
ceremony, which was attended by
U.S. Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young of
the 10th Congressional District of
Florida, as well as several former
pilots from the last Army Reserve
MEDEVAC unit, deactivated some
20 years ago.
Lt. Gen. Stultz and Young were
instrumental in the allocation of these
helicopters to the 5-159th Aviation
Regiment and in the overall expansion of MEDEVAC capability in the
Army Reserve. As a follow-up to
the delivery event, Lt. Gen. Stultz
visited Sikorsky headquarters in
Stratford, Connecticut, on June 10 to
tour the facility and receive an update
on the BLACK HAWK helicopter
program.
Lt. Gen. Stultz spent most of his
time touring the HH-60M and UH60M helicopter production lines.
Stultz interacted with and complimented the production team on its
dedication and support to the Army
Soldiers from A Company “Ghostriders” proudly stand by one of the new HH-60L MEDEVAC helicopters
delivered to the Clearwater Aviation Support Facility in Clearwater, Florida.
Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz (right) views a new UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter along with Sikorsky Test
Pilot Vince Vannoorbeeck and Doug Shidler, Vice President for Army Programs (left).
PAGE 16
The DUSTOFFer
New Mexico National Guard Black Hawk Crew
Rescues Dolly Flood Victims
Reprinted from Sikorsky Frontlines, 3rd Quarter, 2008.
W
hen Tropical Storm Dolly hit
New Mexico on July 27, 2008,
it brought heavy rains, severe flooding
and damage, but the 1/171st General
Aviation Support Battalion New Mexico Army National Guard was ready to
spring into action.
The Guard responded to a call to
rescue a group of stranded campers and
to rescue personnel from rising flood
waters in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
The crew of Lobo 599, Capt. Daniel Purcell, PI CW2 Chuck Boehler,
Flight Medic SFC Greg Homes, and
Crew Chief SSG Ian Weiger, with its
UH-60A BLACK HAWK helicopter,
rescued 57 women, children, and elderly adults. Their missions included
32 night rescues requiring night vision
goggles. That day the crew set a new
state record for the most hoist rescues
using night vision goggles.
The following day, the crew hoisted
49 more victims to safety. During the
two days of flying rescue missions, the
Lobo 599 crew rescued 106 victims,
once again setting a state record.
In August, Sikorsky proudly recognized each member of the Lobo 599
crew with a Winged S Rescue Award
for using Sikorsky aircraft in humanitarian efforts.
To learn more about the Winged
S Rescue Award or complete an
application, visit the Customer
Awards page on the Sikorsky Web site
www.sikorsky.com. 
2008 DUSTOFF Association Mike Novosel Scholarship
The DUSTOFF Association Scholarship is administered for the DUSTOFF Association by the AAAA (Army
Aviation Association of America). The
DUSTOFF Association Memorial
Scholarship is open to DUSTOFF Association members, spouses, children,
and grandchildren of DUSTOFF Association members. Each year we have
had several high quality candidates
who compete for our Scholarship. This
year’s winner is Matthew Dobbertien,
son of CDR and Mrs. Mark Dobbertien. Along with the $1,000 scholarship from the DUSTOFF/AAAA
Heritage Scholarship Fund comes
an additional $1,500 from the Mike
Novosel Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Our congratulations go out to this fine
young man in his pursuit of a degree
in engineering.
Matthew wrote us a letter thanking
us for our support.
Dear Scholarship Committee,
Thank you so much for the scholarship award you have given me. I cannot
express how much I appreciate your
generosity and kindness. Without your
Fall/Winter 2008
aid, my pursuit of an undergraduate
degree in engineering would not be
possible. It gives me hope and brings a
smile to my face when people like you
are so willing to help someone who you
do not even know personally. It is truly
a tribute to your character and the altruism of the organization as a whole.
I am humbled to receive such a distinguished award and to be considered
qualified for such a great honor. Again,
I thank you for your generosity, and I
wish you the best in all that you do.
Humbly Yours,
Matt Dobbertien
His father added a note:
Dear DUSTOFFers
The entire Dobbertien Family thanks
you and the Mike Novosel Chapter of
the Viet Nam Veterans of Harrisburg,
PA, for your generous award. We
could not continue to educate our four
boys without your help. Best wishes
always!
bers of both the DUSTOFF Association
and the Army Aviation Association of
America (Quad-A). Information about
applying is on our website at: http://
dustoff.org/Scholarship/default.htm.
­—DUSTOFFer—
Mark and the Dobbertiens
Remember, applications must be
received by 1 May of each year and applicants or their parents must be memPAGE 17
DUSTOFF Reunion
Start Planning Now for #30!
We’ll dance
the night
away . . .
The Tailpipes
will play . . .
We’ll honor
our heroes . . .
We’ll make
new friends . . .
PAGE 18
We’ll reconnect with our
buddies . . .
The DUSTOFFer
Top of the Schoolhouse
by 1SG Michael Stoddard
I
t has been a great six months since
the last time I was able to update you
on USASAM. We have welcomed back
COL Carnazza, who has just recently
graduated the War College and assumed duty as the Assistant Dean for
USASAM. It is truly great to get this
dedicated professional back into the
fight, and the DUSTOFF community
will benefit from his presence here at
Ft. Rucker.
I am also pleased to announce that
we have a continued a tradition of
excellence by maintaining the United
States Army Aviation Center of Excellence Instructor of the Quarter, SSG
Jordan (3rd Quarter) and SFC Gatton
(4th Quarter), and shown the Aviation
community the outstanding, dedicated,
professionals we have in the Flight
Medic community.
USASAM has also been a place for
promotion potential, as SFC Burbach
and SFC Robinson were selected for
promotion to Master Sergeant. I personally want to thank and congratulate
these NCOs, who truly represent the
best the DUSTOFF community has
to offer.
The Joint Enroute Care Course
(JECC), which is considered to be
the follow-on course for Flight Medics, has been undergoing change. The
JECC has just been approved to go
into the Interservice Training Review
Organization (ITRO) process that
will involve the Army, Navy, and Air
Force to review the current curriculum
and approve it for all services to be
trained on. The ITRO process is key in
ensuring USASAM stays current and
relevant in training Nurses and Flight
Medics in post-surgical care, which
equates to being a combat multiplier
for commanders.
I still would like to see our student
population of Flight Medics increase;
this is vital to the ultimate success of
this course. This course trains providers
and Flight Medics to work as a team by
understanding capabilities and limitations and work in a confined space of
a MEDEVAC platform for the care
Fall/Winter 2008
of a post-surgical Warfighter. I would
highly encourage Commanders to take
into serious consideration allowing
Flight Medics to attend the JECC.
The Warrior Track has introduced
the Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device
(ROBD) to the Aviation Community.
The ROBD is used for Senior Aviators who have met requirements for
The true benefit of this
training is that an aviator
can run through more than
one senario, and it utilizes
a lot less staff. . . .
their initial exposure in the Hypobaric
Chamber.
The ROBD provides Senior Aviators the ability to experience hypoxia
signs and symptoms while actually
flying a computer-generated program.
This highlights the effects hypoxia has
on an aviator and the dangers associated with not properly recognizing and
correcting hypoxia. The true benefit
of this training is that an aviator can
run through more then one scenario,
and it utilizes a lot less staff to execute
training.
The ROBD was just highlighted at
the ALSE conference and is available
for MTT. For questions in reference to
the ROBD, please contact MAJ Mendenhall at 334-255-7409 or michael.
mendenhall @amedd.army.mil.
The Flight Medic course has
changed in the last year. The Flight
Medic course is in the pipeline of training Navy Search and Rescue Corpsman
and is used to award the NEC 8401.
With the addition of required training
for Navy Search and Rescue Corpsman,
we have seen an influx of Navy students
going from five to nine seats a class.
This is truly a sign of changing times,
and we very much appreciate the work
our Navy brothers and sisters are doing
in the DUSTOFF community.
The course curriculum is also
changing from Basic Trauma Life Sup-
port to International Trauma Life Support, and we have added Navy Search
and Rescue equipment familiarization,
as well as hand and arm signal familiarization.
I want to commend SFC Bucklin,
Flight Medic Course Director, HMC
Dominguez, SSG Hildebrandt, and
SSG Ocon for making the seamless
transition of these changes and the
continued professional excellence and
dedication to duty that is instilled in all
our Flight Medic graduates.
I would like to recognize the Distinguished Honor graduate, SGT
Christopher Skidmore from the Oregon National Guard, and the Honor
Graduate, SSG Matthew Harmon of
the Wyoming National guard, from
Class 08-04. I would like to personally
thank CSM Mike Kelley, who blessed
the USASAM Staff and Class 08-04 as
the guest speaker.
In closing, this will be my last article as the First Sergeant for USASAM.
I am moving on to Ft. Hood, Texas,
where I will serve as the First Sergeant
for C.CO 2-227th (OLD 571st). I have
truly been blessed with this assignment
to USASAM, and I cannot begin to put
into words the complete appreciation I
have for the dedicated, professional Officers, NCOs, and Civilians with whom
I have had the pleasure to serve over
the last two years. I just want to say
THANK YOU, and it has been truly a
great experience serving with each and
every one of you. I want thank all those
who continue day in and day out to live
the legacy and continue to develop the
road ahead for the community I truly
love, which is known as DUSTOFF!
Dedicated Unhesitating Service to
our Fighting Forces . . . not a saying but
a Promise made.
DUSTOFF . . . ATW
—DUSTOFFer—
PAGE 19
From the Consultant
by COL Bob Mitchell
As the new Aviation Consultant to
the Surgeon General, I want to take
this opportunity to personally thank
the former Consultant, COL Dave
MacDonald, for his extraordinary 25
years of devoted service to the United
States Army and the Army Medical
Department. I know he is enjoying his
retirement ranch in Tennessee as we
speak. I am confident that we will see
this combat-warrior on the DUSTOFF
Hall of Fame someday.
One of the hot topics circulating
within the DUSTOFF community
was the future of the 67J Aeromedical
Evacuation Officer. There is no doubt
that Aviation Branch wants the 67J
community to branch transfer if not
for the only reason being a downward
slide in the retention rates of their Captains and Majors. Earlier this month, I
formed a Tiger-Team that met at HRC
in Alexandria to specifically examine
several courses of action on the future
of the 67J. We looked hard at the pros
and cons of integrating into Aviation
Branch; however, the team came to
an agreement that retaining AMEDD
influence and creating more strategic
aviation positions at the O5 and O6
level would enhance the relevancy of
the 67J for the future. The team identified several key aviation positions for
enhanced career development at the
O5 and O6 level that ultimately will
provide strategic vision for the future of
Medevac. Ultimately, the Corps Chief
(MG Rubenstein) will have to concur
with the recommendations, followed by
a re-write of DA PAM 600-4.
Medical Evacuation Proponency
continues to staff the proposed organizational change of the Medevac
Company. Clearly, the structure is
inadequate for the current and future
fight. Numerous Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) reports indicate
that the lack of aircraft (15 vs 12),
flight medics (12 assigned 68WFs not
adequate for 24-hour sustained operations), and an E-7 Platoon Sergeant
place this unit at risk in order to conduct
its doctrinal mission.
Additionally, Medical Evacuation
Proponency Directorate was chartered
as the lead agency for the MEDEVAC Requirements Working Group
(MRWG) to determine MEDEVAC aircraft-specific requirements and develop
appropriate requirements documents
for the UH-60 MEDEVAC aircraft in
support of the “A” to “L” model cascade to the Reserve Component (RC).
These identified aircraft requirements
will ensure that the legacy Medevac
fleet will be functional and relevant in
future war fights.
Finally, I will be traveling to Afghanistan in November as part of a
CALL team to look specifically at
Medevac operations in country. I’m
optimistic that some of the issues that
have VCSA and SecArmy visibility
will be addressed with recommended
courses of action.
DUSTOFF
—DUSTOFFer—
Why Aviators Prefer Aircraft Over Women
Forwarded by infamous DUSTOFFer Colbert Flanery, some “apparently obvious” comparisons on relationships
• Aircraft will kill you quickly; a woman takes her time.
• Aircraft can be turned on by the flick of a switch.
• Aircraft don’t get mad if you do a “touch and go.”
• Aircraft don’t object to a pre-flight inspection.
• Aircraft come with a manual to explain their operation.
• Aircraft have strict weight and balance limitations.
• Aircraft don’t come with in-laws.
• Aircraft don’t care how many others you’ve flown before.
• Aircraft and pilots arrive at the same time.
• Aircraft don’t mind if you look at other models.
• Aircraft expect to be tied down.
• Aircraft don’t comment on your skills.
• However, when aircraft go silent, just like women, it’s usually not a good thing.
PAGE 20
The DUSTOFFer
Nominate Your Hero
for the
DUSTOFF Hall of Fame
DUSTOFFers, don’t let our legacy go untold.
The Hall of Fame honors those who exhibited
our ethics and standards in their actions and their
New Entries on the
Flight Manifest
SFC Darren Bartoe
SSG John Meeks
2LT Michael Brisson
SSG Bryan Miles
CW4 Michael Carson
CW4 Doug Miller
SGT Adam Connaughton MSG (R) Thomas Miller
CDR Mark Dobbertien
MAJ Bran Ninness
SSG Lisa Engelmeier
CPT Richard Palmer Jr.
Mr. Brian Fisher
SGT Justin Petrutis
SGT Johnnie Franks
SFC Vernon Rasmusson
SGT Wayne Gordon
CW2 John Russell
COL Jeffrey Haugh
SGT William Sellier
tab at the left of the opening page for information.
LTC Joe Howard
SSG Joel Wagner III
It’s OUR Hall of Fame; let’s make it complete.
WO1 Owen Kelsch
SPC Christopher Webster
SP5 Glenn Knight
SFC Ralph Wilson III
contributions to DUSTOFF. Do your homework. Find out about that man or woman who
made a difference in your career by his or her
inspiration. Research your hero and nominate
them. Deadline is May 1. Details are on the
dustoff.org homepage. Click on the Hall of Fame
SGT Thomas McNamara
How to Contribute Articles
to The DUSTOFFer
The DUSTOFFer would like to publish
your article. If you have a recollection of a
particular DUSTOFF or MAST mission, please
share it with our members. If your unit has
been involved in an outstanding rescue mission
or worthwhile program, please submit your
essay about it to The DUSTOFFer. Don’t
worry about not being the best writer. We
will edit your material professionally. Send
photographs with your article or attach them
to your e-mail.
Send typed, double-spaced hard copy to the
address below, or e-mail your article to [email protected] or [email protected].
Please send your submissions to:
The DUSTOFFer
P. O. Box 8091
San Antonio, TX 78208
Fall/Winter 2008
Treasurer’s Report
as of 31 Oct 08
Interest Income
Membership Dues
Donations
Sales Income
Scholarchip Income
Total Income $119.85
$1,950.00
$200.00
$1,883.64
$1,500.00
$5,653.49
Newsletter Publishing
Operating Expenses
Scholarship Expenses
Sales Expenses
Total Expenses $856.36
$422.73
$1,500.00
$3,816.63
$6,622.22
Store Inventory
(retail value)
$31,202.00
Bank Balances
Checking
Savings
Passbook
$33,287.56
$9,940.22
$375.33
PAGE 21
30th Annual DUSTOFF Association Reunion
February 20–22, 2009
Schedule of Events
Friday, 20 February 2009
1200–1900 — Registration
0900–1000 — Registration for Chuck Mateer Golf Classic (Fort Sam Houston Golf Course)
1000–1500 — Chuck Mateer Golf Classic (Fort Sam Houston Golf Course)
1400–1800 — Hospitality Room open
1900–2200 — Reunion Mixer
2200–0200 — Hospitality Room open
Saturday, 21 February 2009
0900–1000 — Professional Meeting
1000–1100 — Business Meeting
1100–1300 — Spouses’ Luncheon—Citrus Restaurant
1430–1600 — Hall of Fame Induction, Rescue of the Year, and Crewmembers of the Year Awards—AMEDD
Museum, Fort Sam Houston
1500–1800 — Hospitality Room open
1800–1900 — Cash bar at Banquet
1900–2200 — Banquet: Welcome
Invocation
Dinner
Entertainment/Dancing
2200–0200 — Hospitality Room open
Sunday, 22 February 20098
0900–1000 — DUSTOFF Memorial Service—Holiday Inn Riverwalk
You may register online using your credit card at <http://dustoff.org/reunion/registrationform.htm>.
You may reserve your room at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk at <http://events.ichotelsgroup/DPRD7DBQU9/SATRW>.
PAGE 22
The DUSTOFFer
30th Annual DUSTOFF Association Reunion
February 20–22, 2009
Registration Form
Member’s name __________________________________ Spouse’s name ___________________________________
Home address ____________________________________________________________________________________
Military address _______________________________________ e-mail address ______________________________
Dues:
Totals
Life Member Dues
$100 (one-time payment) (Enlisted—$50)
$ __________
Member/Spouse
$30/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Non-member/Spouse
Single-day Registration
$35/person
$15/person
_____ persons
______persons
$ __________
$___________
Late Fee (if after 31 Jan 09)
$15/person
______persons
$___________
Reunion Registration:
You may register online using your credit card at <http://dustoff.org/reunion/registrationform.htm>.
Hotel Reservations:
Call the Holiday Inn–Riverwalk at 800-445-8475 or local (210) 224-2500 to reserve your room. Mention you are with
the DUSTOFF Association to get the special rate of $129/night.
You may book your hotel room online at <http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-7DBQU9/SATRW>. The Group
Code is “DUS” These rates apply for February 19–23, 2009. If you would like to stay longer at that rate, call Dan Gower,
210-379-3985, and he’ll try to arrange it with the hotel.
Chuck Mateer Golf Classic:
Ft. Sam Houston Club Member
$20/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Non-member Military
$32/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Non-member Civilian
$37/person
_____ persons
$ __________
$33/person
_____ persons
$ __________
$25/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Beef
$33/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Chicken
$33/person
_____ persons
$ __________
Friday Night:
Mixer Buffet
Spouses’ Luncheon:
Citrus Restaurant
Saturday Night Banquet:
Please send registration form and check to:
F ALL /W INTER 2008
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
Wainwright Station
San Antonio, TX
PAGE 23
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
San Antonio, TX 78208-0091
Presort STD
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 3017
San Antonio, TX
Address service requested
DUSTOFF Association
Membership Application/Change of Address
q
I want to join the Association as a Life Member
Officers and Civilians
E-9 and below
q
Check here if change of address, or e-mail change to [email protected]
$100.00 One-time fee
$ 50.00 One-time fee
Rank ____ Last name ___________________ First name ___________________ M.I. _____
Mailing address ________________________________________________________________
E-mail _________________________ Spouse’s name _______________________________
Home phone __________________________ Work phone___________________________
Send check or money order, payable
to DUSTOFF Association, to:
DUSTOFF Association
P. O. Box 8091
Wainwright Station
San Antonio, TX 78208
You may register online using your credit card at <http://dustoff.org>.
PAGE 24
The DUSTOFFer