Third Time, Same Charm

California Air National Guard rescuers from Moffett Federal Airfield last week evacuated and treated a merchant sailor who had suffered head trauma aboard a cargo ship 300 miles off the Mexican coast. “This is the third successful long-range, over-water mission we have executed within the past nine months,” said 129th Rescue Wing Commander Col. Steven Butow. One of the wing’s HH-60 helicopters, accompanied by an MC-130P special-mission aircraft, departed Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and reached the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel on Nov. 29, according to Moffett’s release. Pararescuemen winched down to the deck of the cargo ship and recovered the sailor, treating him on the two-hour return flight to Cabo San Lucas. There, the airmen loaded the patient on the MC-130P for transfer to San Diego for further medical treatment. “This was a complex rescue mission, but our airmen were up to the task,” said Butow. (Moffet report by Capt. Donnie LeBlanc)