It was like a scene out of “M*A*S*H” as Airmen, Soldiers, Guardsmen, Reservists, civilians and Afghans from the Nan garhar Provincial Reconstruction Team provided assistance to the survivors of a recent suicide bombing in Jalalabad.

Tech. Sgt. Jason Williams, a mechanic for the PRT deployed out of Andrews Air Force Base, M.D., rushed into the dining facility and shouted “the birds are on their way, and there are wounded coming in.”

In a mad dash, trays, still filled with hot chow, were frantically discarded as the entire facility cleared out. The team poured out of the doors and headed for the landing zone to meet the helicopters.

Everyone used the abilities they had to assist. Even the Afghan Security Guards, which had no medical training, held tarps over patients and shooed the flies away during the two hours that the wounded lay in the 100-plus-degree heat, waiting for the ambulances to arrive.

Wounds varied in magnitude; most patients had what appeared to be bullet wounds and shrapnel. No one turned away from the blood and suffering. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and jumped in to help, regardless of skill set. Capt. Scott Carbaugh, Tech. Sgt. William Allison, Staff Sgt. Ruth Koehler, and Staff Sgt. Daniel Perry are all Air Force medics assigned to the PRT that reacted to the incident.

Sergeant Perry is an emergency medical technician assigned to the 23rd Medical Group at Moody AFB, Ga.

In addition, Army Capt. Timothy O’Donnell, civil affairs officer and Army Guard Spc. Edward Fisher, security forces member, were among the PRT-trained medical personnel, but there was also an army of qualified combat lifesavers in the crowd that were out there assisting them.

Several Reservists and Guardsmen also had medical backgrounds that came in useful during the mass casualty response.

“I was in the JOC when the initial reports came in on the explosion in Khogyani. The initial report indicated 35 local nationals were wounded,” said Capt. Gregory Rogers, operations officer.

Rogers, a Camden, S.C. native, was activated on Individual Ready Reserve status.

Carbaugh, Nangarhar PRT physician assistant, coordinated the arrival of the helicopters from the Joint Operations Center.

“Capt. Carbaugh did a great job organizing the whole thing from the JOC while keeping in contact with his medics, still rendering aid once all coordination was made,” Perry said.

Meanwhile Koehler notified the other medics that patients were coming. Perry was sent to the landing zone, Allison was positioned at the clinic, while Koehler headed to the gate to escort the ambulances to the landing zone.

“The inbound choppers radioed and said that they were bringing the routine, or less injured, local nationals here,” Rogers said. “But when they arrived, it was obvious that these patients were not routine; they were urgent surgical.”

The team was surprised when two helicopters delivered seven patients in critical condition. They had been told that they would be stabilizing walking wounded in minimal condition until they could be transported to a medical facility in Jalalabad City by ambulance.