“It had to be a sickening feeling being the only one on the [landing zone] and to pull one casualty after another off of the bird in critical condition,” said Carbaugh about Perry’s experience.

Perry took each patient off of the bird and laid them out, re-triaged them to determine their wounds. Each was riddled with holes and in dire straights.

“I was a little overwhelmed,” Koehler said. “I was in the middle of trying to escort the ambulances to the LZ, and we only had one person down there with two birds and seven patients.”

Carbaugh was coordinating with the director of health to get the ambulances to the PRT from the JOC when he heard frantic calls over the radio from his team.

“It was garbled; all I could make out was ‘we need an airway,’” said Carabaugh.

It was then that he knew something was wrong. Carbaugh headed for the landing zone to assist his team, soliciting the first sergeant to gather people to help.

“First Sergeant (John) Okerson was instrumental and was everywhere; he got the people and equipment that we needed down to the LZ,” Carbaugh said.

“The team made a huge difference,” Koehler said. “Everyone was very attentive to the patients and did everything they could to make them comfortable.”

The patients who were conscious were very appreciative and understanding, he said.

“There was blood everywhere,” Rogers explained. “We carried the patients off of the bird and put them on the LZ so that the helicopter could return to the scene and get more patients.”

“You can tell a lot about people when you put them under stress,” O’Donnell said. “The people here at the PRT passed the ‘stress test’ when it counted most.”

“It was interesting to observe the dual nature of National Guard and Reserve personnel,” Rogers said. “These folks are Soldiers when mobilized, but also possess a breadth of civilian credentials; two of them are civilian emergency room nurses.”

Capt. Timothy O’Donnell, Nangarhar PRT civil affairs and registered nurse, was returning from a mission and heard over the radio that there were wounded inbound to the PRT landing zone and went straight the site to help the medics.

O’Donnell is not assigned to the PRT in the capacity of a nurse and was out on a civil affairs mission when everything happened.

“He didn’t have to be there with us on the LZ, but he jumped off of his convoy and headed straight down there with us,” Carbaugh said. “He never hesitated and he saved lives.”