During the hit we were in orbit over the city – we received radio traffic in flight that a 5-ton truck was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and that a Blackhawk helicopter was down. Next, we fast-roped onto a street 50 meters north of the crash site, as the last man cleared the rope the search and rescue (SAR) aircraft was hit by a RPG. We moved to the crash site and linked up with the Rangers and established a casualty collection point (CCP) at the tail end of the helicopter. The aircraft was on its left side with the top against a wall. The USAF PJ's moved forward to locate the passengers as I prepped litters and medical equipment at the 6 o'clock position. Then a PJ linked up with another soldier to extricate the co-pilot and they moved him to the CCP – he was killed in action (KIA).

A PJ was shot while moving to the aircraft, performed self-aid and then took over triage while I moved forward to assist with the crash victims. I moved to the front of the aircraft with a team who was receiving incoming grenades from over an opposite wall and small arms fire from an alleyway. One fragmentation grenade exploded next to us – several others landed nearby but were duds. We engaged the enemy with our own fragmentation grenades and small arms. We then attempted to reach a Ranger who was in the helicopter – we did this from underneath the aircraft – but we could not reach him. I had to climb up the nose and enter through the top – which now was the right door. Upon entering the helicopter there was a significant increase in the volume of fire. While we were uncovering the crew chief, he was trapped under pieces of equipment, rounds were piercing the helicopter's bulkheads from both directions. I was grazed across the top of my wedding ring while working on the crew chief. While we were receiving fire in the aircraft, a sergeant and I took the armored floorboards from the aircraft and placed them in the front and rear bulkheads for protection. The armored boards took several hits while we continued to work on the crew chief. We then cleared a gap on the down side of the aircraft and someone passed us a litter. We placed the crew chief on the litter and slid him out of the helicopter. The sergeant followed and I passed out the armored sheets and followed him out. The sergeant placed the armored sheets up for protection at the 6 o'clock position. We then moved back to the CCP and began to assess and treat the wounded and injured.

At this time we had the following:

1. PJ – gunshot wound to the leg.
2. Crew chief – broken wrist and possible back/pelvic injury.
3. Soldier – facial lacerations from the crash.
4. Crew chief – amputated digits.

As we treated the wounded and injured we continued to receive fire from both directions. We then received a call that there were four more wounded in action (WIA) across the street. The sergeant ran through the gunfire from both directions to get to the casualties – a short time later he re-crossed the street to our position to get additional supplies – he then ran back across the road while under fire to get back to the casualties.

As we attempted to move casualties to cover we received two more WIA. A SF 56M was shot and another Ranger who was next to me got shot through the leg. A round from the same burst went through my cargo pocket. Another sergeant had a gunshot wound to his lower leg with an open fracture and arterial bleeding. I applied direct pressure to the wound with one hand and applied a field dressing with the other. I also put a pressure dressing on and then a constricting band to slow down the bleeding. While I treated the sergeant, another sergeant who was injured in the crash moved back and treated a sergeant major (SGM). A Ranger lieutenant arrived and said that we needed to move inside. I replied that we just tired that and got two people shot and that we should wait until dark. We waited until dark and moved all the injured into a house. A Ranger medic arrived and assisted in the treatment of the casualties. Shortly after, we ran out of IV fluids and morphine – I then gave Nubain and used Tylenol #3 instead.

By now we had the following casualties:

Rangers

Gunshot wound (GSW) – leg.
GSW – upper arm.
Shrapnel – buttocks and leg.
GSW - wrist/

SAR Team

GSW – pelvis.
GSW – leg and open fracture.
GSW – leg.

Crash

Facial fractures.
Facial lacerations.
Fracture wrist with possible back injury.
Amputated distal digits left hand with head injury.
2 KIA's.

We blew a hole through the wall of another (adjacent) house and moved the wounded inside. I then reassessed and treated, as needed every 10 – 15 minutes. A SF Captain recovered medical gear from the crashed helicopter and it included IV fluids. One sergeant had lost a lot of blood so I gave him about 2500cc and then saved the rest of the fluids. All patients were stable at this time.

Then armored personnel carriers (APCs) arrived and we loaded the WIA on these vehicles. The remainder of the SAR team had been attempting to recover the second pilots body throughout the night, but had been unsuccessful. We then moved to the front of a house – and then began moving house to house, block to block using the APCs for cover the best we could until we linked up with the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) – the 10th Mountain Division. We all crammed into HUMMV's and moved back to the new harbor. We stopped several times along the way at intersection – why – I don't know. We received fire several times and I at one point engaged someone down an alley.

We arrived at New Port – a SF staff sergeant (SSG) was with me – we then set up a command post (CP) and waited for additional wounded to arrive. Fortunately, we had only a few minor injuries to contend with.

Then, a Blackhawk picked us up and a short time later were at the airfield. We checked in with the triage officer at the MASF to see if they needed any help and then we moved to the hanger.

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