The White Falcon - 30.08.1985, Blaðsíða 1

THREE RESCUES IN A WEEK
By JOC John Petersen
Photo by J03 Tim Abbott
The Iceland Defense Force res-
cue squadron,Detachment 14, 67th
Aerospace Rescue and Recovery
Squadron (ARRS), was involved in
three rescues during the last
week.
On August 21, the life of a
British man with a rupturing ap-
pendix was saved by a quick heli-
copter lift to Reykjavik City
Hospital.
During the evening of August
25 the squadron was called to
airlift an Icelandic woman who
had fallen off a horse and, a
short time later, during the
early morning hours Sunday, the
same crew responded to a call to
assist an Icelandic fisherman
with kidney stones.
All three requests came from
the Icelandic Lifesaving Associ-
ation via the Air Force Operation
and Controls (OPCON) desk.
Appendicitis
The first rescue involved a
17-year-old British tourist who
was camping at Landmannalaugar,
a popular campground near Mt.
Hekla about 95 miles from Kefla-
This photo, taken during a re-
cent Det. 14 training exercise,
illustrates the difficulties and
dangers of hoisting patients
from boats bobbing in the water.
vik. According to the flight
surgeon,Capt. Loren Turley,USAF,
"By the time we got there if the
appendix had not ruptured it was
very close."
Capt. Larry Weaver was the
aircraft commander and TSgt.
Randal Loar the flight engineer
for all three missions. In this
instance, the rest of the crew
were: 1st Lt. Richard Kleparis,
copilot; Sgt. James Pou and A1C
Byron Kelly, pararescuemen (PJs)
and Capt.Turley, flight surgeon.
The duty people at the OPCON desk
were Capt. Scott Mefford, Sgt.
Chris Hullinger and SSgt. Pat
Harris.
Broken ribs and collapsed lung
Last Saturday's rescue was of
a 25-year-old Icelandic woman
who was thrown from a horse near
Thingvallavatn. She had broken
ribs and a collapsed lung. The
rescue helicopter first picked
up the farmer who owned the land;
he directed them to the site of
the accident.
The rescuers on this mission,
in addition to Weaver and Loar,
were: Capt.Scott Sines, copilot;
A1C Doug Kestranek and A1C Byron
Kelly, PJs; and Navy Lieutenant
Patrick Russell, flight surgeon.
According to the Det. 14 pub-
Please see RESCUE page 2
Colonel Jack P. Bujalski is new IDF Chief of Staff
"I was surprised but quite ex-
cited," Col.Jack P. Bujalski re-
plied when asked how he felt when
he received orders to Iceland.
The colonel is the new Chief of
Staff for the Iceland Defense
Force.
Col. Bujalski stated that the
work of the Defense Force is a
"real challenge" but that he is
looking forward to working with
everyone here.
The Colonel and Mrs. Bujalski
came to Iceland from Greeley,
Colo, where he was Commander of
the ROTC unit at the University
of Northern Colorado. The Bujal-
ski s have three children, Shawn,
26,who lives in San Jose, Calif.;
Blane,25, and Rochelle, 24, both
of whom live in Las Vegas.
The colonel said that he is
also anxious to get involved in
the base community, particularly
in church and Boy Scout activi-
ties .
Crosby, North Dakota is the
colonel's home of record. He is
a graduate of West Point and was
commissioned in 1958. He has al-
so earned a Masters Degree in
Mathematics from North Carolina
State University.
His career has been spent in
tactical aviation, flying the
F-100 and T-28 with non-flying
tours at the Pentagon, Air Force
Academy and Air University. Hob-
bies include hiking and camping.