National Guard units work together on medevac training during Golden Coyote

RAPID CITY, S.D. — National Guard units from across the nation are within the Black Hills this week for the thirty eighth annual Golden Coyote training train.

On Tuesday, troopers spent the morning studying easy methods to safely load and unload sufferers from a LUH-72 Lakota helicopter at Camp Rapid.

“We received troopers coming out and in and on the plane, we received to ensure that they’re sustaining security, they’re away from the tail rotor,” says Cmdr. Eric Lochspeich, Delta Company 1-112th, Fargo, N.D. “We have our medics and our crew chiefs that instruct personnel that will or might not have been on a helicopter earlier than easy methods to safely get on and off of there.”

After a short training, the place they discovered easy methods to load sufferers right into a stretcher, what they name a “litter.” Soldiers then labored in groups to finish every activity.

Cmdr. Lochspeich says many of those troopers don’t get common expertise with plane, so Golden Coyote offers a novel training alternative. The crew operates the helicopter and directs troopers during loading and unloading, serving to preserve them protected from spinning rotors and different risks.

“It’s a crew of 4, and we are able to take as much as two sufferers at a time is what we do,” says Cmdr. Lochspeich.

Just as a result of they’re skilled, it doesn’t imply the air crews don’t profit from participation.

“We got here from Fargo, North Dakota; fairly flat on the market, clearly. Much more terrain out right here within the Black Hills,” Cmdr. Lochspeich says. “We received elevation that we’re climbing as much as that we’re not used to and terrain we’re not used to flying round, so it’s quite a bit totally different. So for us as air crews, that’s nice to have the ability to do this.”

Golden Coyote educating cooperation – and new expertise – getting our troopers prepared for something.