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U.S. General: Obama Paralyzed By Fear – Exclusive: Gen. Patrick Brady Explains Why President Abandoned Americans In Benghazi
By Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, U.S. Army (ret.) / WND
Now I understand! For years, many veterans and active military have been alarmed about the idiocy of the changes in battlefield aeromedical evacuation known as Dust Off. For reasons having nothing to do with patient care, Dust Off has been removed from the control of the professionals, the medics, and put under the control of amateurs, aviation staff officers, or ASOs. This is the first such change since the Civil War.
I document the unparalleled excellence of Dust Off, and the effects of the changes, in my book, “Dead Men Flying.” Needless to say, it was the most outstanding battlefield operating system of that war – some one million souls saved and unprecedented survival rates. No warrior of Vietnam is more revered than the Dust Off crews.
In the words of Gen. Creighton Abrams, former U.S. Army chief of staff and former supreme commander in Vietnam: “A special word about the Dust Offs … Courage above and beyond the call of duty was sort of routine to them. It was a daily thing, part of the way they lived. That’s the great part, and it meant so much to every last man who served there. Whether he ever got hurt or not, he knew Dust Off was there. It was a great thing for our people.”
Fast forward to current battlefields. We hear horror stories about patients waiting and dying because Dust Off didn’t launch or came too late. The launch standard in my unit in Vietnam was two minutes; today it is 15 minutes! Can anyone imagine a fire truck taking 15 minutes to get under way? I could go on and on, but one has to ask, why? Why the changes to an excellent, proven system?
The answer is the Obama-Panetta Doctrine. In response to the horrible abandonment of dying Americans in Benghazi, Defense Secretary Panetta said: “(The) basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place.”
continue at WND:
Medical planners use a “Golden Hour” factor for executing Aerial MEDEVAC missions. This hour is broken down into three different categories which take into consideration run-up, flight times, and patient load times. Once the Region Command’s Patient Evacuation Coordination Cell (PECC) receives a MEDEVAC request, they determine the quickest way to get the Category A (CAT A) casualty from the Point of Injury (POI) to a Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) that can provide the appropriate level of medical care for the injuries suffered. In this incident, if all the peices were in place the quickest and safest option was to use MEDEVAC assets stationed in close proximaty which we had none. Medical Evacuation Helicopters work when they in the AOR. We can hypothesize all we want but a MEDEVAC would have not help unless there was an entire structure in place. We the military drat the orders and SOPs not the president.
It amazes me that a General Officer out of touch with curret times wrote thsi article. As an SF Soldierl who have served more than a lifetime in special operations, I find this article elementary and politically motivated. You then attempt to deflect thsi to the POTUS policy is absurd.
I DO NOT LIKE BEING ABLE 2 POST.