All in a Day's Work

 Most everyone here thinks I am the best medic out here...

Contributed by Rhett Suther, flight medic

Rhett Suther, Task Force 1, Kosovo: Email to his parents.
Suther is a flight medic with a Medevac Company. His background includes 3 years as a medic with the 3rd Ranger Bn.





29 May 2000, 4:03 AM

Subject: Hello

Hey everyone,

How is everything going? OK here. I have been very busy lately. A couple days ago I had a Medevac mission. It was to rescue a 13 year old girl who had fallen off a tractor and hit her head. When I got to her she was out of it (unconscious), she had battle signs around her eyes which is a sign of a possible Basilar Skull Fracture. I stabilized her, got her to the hospital, where they said she would be alright. Last night I had another medevac mission. When we got the call we were already flying, doing "hoist training". At the time we were pulling the 2nd UP Duty, but since we were only 5 minutes away we took the mission. It was snipers shooting up a Serbian family. When I got to the scene there were 5 dead and two still alive. One of the dead was a little girl who had been shot in the head. Her father was one of the men that I took to the hospital. I thought it was pretty sad. The two men I picked up were shot up pretty bad. One was shot once in the right arm and twice in his legs, but he seemed stable. The girls father was shot three times in the stomach/lower chest and once in the leg. While we were in flight the father went unconscious and stopped breathing, so I attempted to put a J-tube down his throat, once I inserted the J-tube he gagged. I then pulled it out and he regained consciousness and started to breath on his own. After we got them to the hospital, two of the nurses said I did a good job. That made me feel good. Most everyone here thinks I am the best medic out here. Yesterday I was interviewed by an AFN news crew. They also filmed me riding on the hoist picking up people form 100 ft.. They were doing a story on Medevac in Kosovo. I talked to Jessie last night . She is doing fine. Her Drs. appointment went well. The Doctor said she is 2 months pregnant. We decided if it is a girl we will name her "Melissa Marie". Well, I have to get back to work. I love and miss you all very much. Tell Lani that I love and miss her.

Much Love,
Rhett XOXO