MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Within moments of a flight line disaster, station Aircraft Rescue Firefighter Marines are expected to suit up, race toward danger and save lives.
ARFF Marines make sure they are up to the challenge by running various training exercises as often as they can.
Station ARFF ran one of those exercises on the flight line here Aug. 27 to ensure their Marines can live up to what’s expected of them and be confident enough to save lives in the face of danger.
The exercise concentrated on giving ARFF Marines hands-on training while focusing their minds on their primary mission.
“Our main goal is to save pilots, to save lives,” said Sgt. Joshua Ryan Teaff, an ARFF senior rescue man. “That’s why we are doing this training. If someone doesn‘t know what they are doing, if you can‘t rely on someone, you have to worry about that. You have to worry about people getting injured.”
Though aircraft disasters aboard the station have been almost nonexistent in the past 10 years, ARFF Marines know they need to remain prepared by always training.
“We’re like the Marine Corps insurance policy for collateral damage,” said Teaff. “We would like to do our job, but not at the cost of anybody’s life. We just prepare and hope we never have to see it.”
The scenario set before them was an F/A-18 hard landing with two wounded pilots needing to be rescued.
During the scenario, junior ARFF Marines learned the mechanics of freeing pilots from their seatbelts and carrying them off to safety while the senior ARFF Marines were given the opportunity to keep their skills sharp by running through the same drill.
The ARFF Marines were broken into a threeman rescue team with two of them boarding the F/A-18 and one waiting on the ground to carry the injured pilot to safety.
A point man stood off to the side instructing the Marines on what they were doing right and what they could improve on.
The Marines, attired in their seven-piece heat-reflective bunker suits, would run through the scenario until they all had a feel for what they could be faced with in a real disaster.
Some of the Marines said they felt the training was a good opportunity and taught them what they needed to learn.
Lance Cpl. Devon McIntyre, an ARFF rescue man, said he believed the training really helped out and was a good opportunity for trial and error to see what worked and what didn’t.
“I’m now more confident than ever.” said McIntyre. “If I ever had to go up there and take a pilot out of the aircraft, I could do it safely and securely.”
Other Marines were quick to agree with McIntyre.
“It definitely does help us get perspective on what would really happen if we actually got into that kind of situation,” said Lance Cpl. David Gurney, an ARFF basic emergency medical technician.
Gurney said he believes he’d be able to do his job better after running through the scenario a few more times.
Aside from getting hands-on experience and learning a few of the technical parts of their jobs, the ARFF Marines came to understand their responsibility to the pilots better.
“If any of these birds go down, we are the ones that are here to rescue them and protect them,” said Gurney.