Jeff W.
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 p.10 #5 · Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel | |
I have a nephew in Afghanistan right now serving as an Army Ranger. So this hit home for me. I'm most grateful to the men and women who will risk all to save him and his fellow war fighters if needed. My 2-cents - John 15:13 - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. To me, these are holy people performing a sacred work...
From the video: Profound thanks to Adam Hartswick and the crew of DUSTOFF 68 for sharing their story, and to all those involved in this event. Our utmost respect and regards to the families and teammates of the fallen. We hope that this post will inspire and educate as many people as possible so that more lives are saved in the future.
***Be aware that the following footage from the incident is GRAPHIC.
Sgt. Adam Hartswick was deployed to Afghanistan with 3-41 Infantry, Alpha Company, when his life was forcefully altered by a devastating attack on his unit May 14, 2013.
"I was the company senior medic (68W) responding to an attack on our second platoon," Adam said, recalling that day. “I wasn’t even supposed to go outside the wire that day. I had guard duty, but when I heard that my guys had been hit – I had to go.” Adam jumped into the back of a responding QRF vehicle and rushed to aid his teammates.
"When I arrived at the scene I immediately discovered that my junior platoon medic, SPC Cody Towse and two other Soldiers were dead.” After the initial explosion, Cody and SPC William Gilbert rushed to aid SPC Mitch Daehling. Mitch was still alive and critically injured. As Cody attempted to treat Mitch, he placed his med ruck on the ground and triggered a second device that killed them all instantly. Cody was posthumously recognized for his heroism and awarded the Bronze Star.
Arriving on scene with the QRF, Adam worked to set up his CCP and treat the wounded.
"I was doing human-remains recovery and treating the walking-wounded when the [Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)] team showed up," he continued. "The EOD team leader Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Baker came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, and calmly told me, ‘We’re going to save our brothers.’ Moments later he went to interrogate a device and it blew up, killing him about ten meters in front of me."
Adam suffered minor injuries from that explosion but was able to continue his medic duties.
"I shook that off and went to retrieve him when I was blown up," he said. “It felt like I got hit by a truck! My body was ringing like a tuning fork, but I was still conscious, so I treated myself. I was able to get one CAT (tourniquet) on good and tight but I was missing an index finger and putting that TQ was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Thankfully the platoon leader was competent in TCCC and came to me (in spite of the danger of other IEDs) and applied a second CAT on my other leg and reassessed and tightened my initial tourniquet.” The blast from the IED had critically wounded Adam. “My body was a wreck - I had: bilateral transfemoral amputations, right index finger amputation, partial right thumb amputation, large lacerations on right arm, bilateral perforated eardrums, fractured right hip, mild TBI, various shrapnel wounds, and bruises all over my arms and legs. Somehow I had no torso trauma, no facial trauma.”
In what would later be recognized as the 2013 Dustoff Rescue of the Year, DUSTOFF 68, C/2-3 GSAB, Hunter AAF, GA (CPT Douglas Hill, 1LT Kelly Ward, SGT Robert Silva, SGT Jason Daniels, and SGT David Hixson), plucked Adam and a wounded teammate from the IED strewn battlefield and raced them to Role 3 care. Remarkably, despite having both legs being traumatically amputated, Adam remained conscious without any pain management until he reached the Role 3 OR where he continued to joke with nurses until he was anesthetized.
Six days later, Adam was back in the United States at Walter Reed Medical Center recovering from his injuries. Adam’s father, himself career Army, slept in a chair next to his son’s bed for the weeks that it took Adam to fight his way out of intensive care.
Today, ever thankful for his second chance, Adam works tirelessly to spread the TCCC gospel through his role as a TCCC instructor with Techline Trauma. As Adam puts it, “Every gunfighter needs to be trained to be a medic and every medic needs to be trained to be a gunfighter.”
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Mark, I was just thinking that this time last year, I was back there, and yup, there was snow there then as well. Snowstorm in Boston, snowstorm in Rochester the following day...
