Page 14 - JSOM Summer 2022

therapist, an X-ray technician, a behavioral health tech- be carried out using the MH-60S helicopters, since MV-22s
nician and two general duty corpsmen. Some of the em- are not able to land on destroyers and they do not have a
barked FST personnel are typically dual-hatted to serve as hoist capability to enable them to hoist casualties up to the
members of the Amphibious Task Force, with the Officer in aircraft. MV-22s may, however, play a key role in trans-
Charge of the FST serving as the Commander, Amphibious porting casualties from the LHA to a ground-based medical
Task Force, Surgeon. treatment facility. They may also be useful in transporting
– There is also a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) em- Casualty 6 to a hyperbaric treatment facility.
barked on the LHA. A MEU comprises approximately – The maximum operating range of an MH-60S Seahawk
2200 Marines, and is split into the Command Element, the helicopter for ship-to-ship operations without refueling is
Ground Combat Element, the Aviation Combat Element, described as approximately 380nm, 16,19 although this var-
and the Logistics Combat Element. 14 ies with the fuel load. Squadron standard operating proce-
The MEU is accompanied by a Shock Trauma Platoon dures, however, typically use a more conservative estimate
(Minus) [STP (–)]. An STP (–) has eight personnel: an Emer- of 250-280nm with a single auxiliary fuel tank (personal
gency Medicine physician, an Emergency Medicine Nurse, communications — CDR Nicholas Koetter, 19 November
and six Corpsmen. 2021; LCDR Ann Long and MCPO Todd Burkholder, 3
– There are no organic aircraft on the stricken destroyer, so Nov 2021). Thus, these helicopters have the range to fly
casualty evacuation will need to be carried out using air from the LHA to the casualty ship, 100 nm away, pick up
assets from the LHA. the casualties, and then fly back to the LHA.
– The aircraft carried on an LHA will vary according to
the mission. The US Navy website notes that the aviation The MH-60S as a Navy Ship-to-Ship Casualty
forces on board can include: “A mix of: F-35B Joint Strike Evacuation Platform
Fighter STOVL aircraft; MV-22 Osprey VTOL tiltrotors; – Each MH-60S aircraft carries a single Search and Rescue
CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters; UH-1Y Huey helicopters; Medical Technician (SMT). The Navy’s goal is to have ev-
AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopters; and MH-60S Sea Hawk ery SMT trained to the paramedic level, but that goal has
helicopters.” 15 not been fully achieved at this point in time.
– This scenario makes the operational assumption that the – MH-60S aircraft used as SAR helicopters also carry a crew
LHA has four embarked Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk he- chief and a rescue swimmer, both of whom are Basic Life
licopters (Figure 6) that would be used to carry out ship- Support-certified and could assist with ventilating casual-
16
to-ship casualty evacuation. The number of available ties, if needed, as well as with medical documentation.
helicopters may vary based on the mission and on aircraft – Each of the MH-60S helicopters can carry two litter patients
mechanical readiness. For this scenario, the assumption is or 1 litter patient and two to three ambulatory patients.
that one aircraft is not in a flight status for mechanical rea- – An extra medical person from the LHA cannot be added to
sons. There are two MH-60S helicopters available to evac- the medical team on the MH-60S to help care for the two
uate casualties from the casualty ship and a third MH-60S litter patients during transport without reducing the evacu-
is held in reserve for a possible Search and Rescue Mission. ation capacity of the MH-60S to a single litter patient, due
to space limitations.
FIGURE 6 Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk – The MH-60S helicopters are not dedicated medical evacu-
ation platforms and therefore carry no oxygen or organic
medical equipment. The medical equipment would be
brought on board the helicopter by the SMT or by the STP
medical personnel who will be traveling to the casualty ship
to assist in providing care at that location.
– The SMTs should ideally also bring two portable cardiac
monitors on board the evacuation helicopters for the two
litter patients who will be loaded onto the helicopter at the
casualty ship.
– SMTs also typically bring two D-cylinders of oxygen on
board with them for casualty transport. Although there is
ongoing concern that a compressed gas cylinder might pose
a flight hazard if it is struck with small arms fires, one of
(US Navy Photo) – The flight deck of the DDG can only hold one MH-60S at
the SMT authors on this paper asserted that bringing ox-
ygen on board is standard practice for casualty transport.
a time.
– LHAs on deployment are frequently at flight quarters,
– The LHA in this scenario also has a squadron of ten MV- which means that an MH-60S Search and Rescue aircraft is
22 tilt-rotor aircraft on board. Like helicopters, MV-22s in the air or at ready alert. This is an operating requirement
are capable of vertical takeoffs, hovering, and vertical land- in order to assist should an aircraft go down.
ings, but they have a faster cruising speed (240 knots) and – Decisions about flight operations are made by the Com-
longer range (500 nautical miles). 17,18 The embarked air mander of the Amphibious Task Force, who is embarked
component also contains Hueys for Command and Control on the LHA. Obtaining flight approval should occur
and Cobras for close fire support. quickly once a damage assessment regarding the damaged
– Despite the greater lift capacity and faster airspeed of the destroyer is made, assuming that the weather conditions
MV-22s, transport of the casualties to the LHA will need to are good.

12 | JSOM Volume 22, Edition 2 / Summer 2022