Subject:
ref: UDT/SEAL HOSPITAL CORPSMEN (HM-8492)
Date:
Thu, 30 Jul 1998 01:36:32 EDT
From:
HCTJasper@aol.com
Doc Marshall (SEAL)
To:
elticitl@mi-vida-loca.com
Doc Riojas (SEAL)
just a few up-dates for you, dont know how to get in touch with r.d.
russell.
maybe you can relay to him.
Cantaloupi- ST-1
Churchill- trans to ST-1 1966
Cline - killed in private plane crash in calif. Doc Roberts will have more
info.
Hubbard - Yes, ST-1
Jones, Wayne - UDT-11 and ST-1
Marshall - UDT-12 1965, Trans to ST-1 1966
Salts - Trans to ST-1
Schrier- Trans to ST-1 about same time as Salts 1967- 68 I belive (check with
Jack)
Tusi - Discharged in 1966, Later attended Army flight school an flew Cobra gun
ships. Shot down in Nam, took a 50 cal. round through his armor seat and into
his ass. Came limping through coronado seeking sympathy but found shit
instead. Later killed in a night training exersise at Ft. Ord, Calif.
Wolf - ST-1, KIA 1969, SeaFloat, RVN with Mike plt. during helo. insertion.
Tail roter got tangled up with a tree and the main roter got him in the head
as chopper crashed. I replaced Doc Wolf in Mike plt. and when they rotated
home, I came to Camh Ranh Bay where i ran into you and made chief. I have
quiet a few pictures from C.R.B. I'll send everything when i get it all
together.
Short Hx on moi, (Barrell chested freedom fighter), ( or pot bellied
bull
shitter)
I graduated from DSDS (26+ 2 weeks) Navy Gun Factory Oct. 1962 and went
aboard USS Preserver (ARS-8) Norfolk as a 8493. Involved in laying hydrophonic
listning network from Argentia Newfoundland south. Was pulled off that project
to become the mother ship for DSRV Treaste for the search mission for the
USS Thresher off Boston. Located the site, took lots of pictures, recovered
several peices of copper pipe and some personal items. Had to abandon search
due to winter storms without locating pressure hull. the Hoist completed the
job the next spring. That spring Perserver was deployed to the Med. The first
ARS to the Med since WWII. Applied to 8492 program after med cruise in 1964.
Sent to Benning and to UWSS MK-VI (with Clark and Hammer ,east coast)
injured ankle in jump school, returned to Benning after MK-VI in Dec 1964 then
to UDT-12 as a 8492 in Jan 1965. Trans to ST-1 around june 66, BUDS in 71,
Back to Team 12 in 74 and retired in 75. Started breathing compressed gases
while at USNH Guam in 1957 at the tender age of 19 and still breathing it
today. Talk about addicited to something. I have a picture of me in a deep sea
dress up to tthe breast plate while we were in the Med. I'll get it to you as
soon as i find it along with others. I hear my pillow calling so I better go
check on it. catch you later. Doc.
Marshall
Doc
Joe Churchill (SEAL)
Med. Diving Tech. & FMF Corpsman(KOREA)
I first met Joe Churchill in Independent Duty school at Portsmouth,Va. We became
good friends there along with Red Maurath who was already a diver. Red tol
us all about Deep Sea Diving school so we both applied for DSDS in D.C. When
we arrived there we asked the training officer how assignments were made out
of school , as we both wanted to come to the West Coast. He told us that of
the open billets all assignments were made by the class standings of the
graduating divers but, not to be concerned as pecker checkers never ranked
high in the class. That pissed off Joe and I so we asked to be diving
partners in school. To make a long story shorter I graduated as honor man
and Joe was .2 of a point behind me. At that time we were the first HM,s to
graduate at the top of the class.
We were stationed either together or near
each other for the next 6-7 years. I reported to ST-1 as the 4th HM,Beaver,
Raymond & Cline were already there.
Cline also knew Joe from DSDS so we went to Capt. Del Guidice and Joe was
the 5th HM.
We both retired Joe going into the MEDEX program and me going
into law enforcement. He had an Independent
pratice in Othello,Wa. his sponsoring MD was in Moses Lake,WA. After
a couple of years he called wanting to know if there was room for another
deputy sheriff as he had a disagreement with his sponsor over Rxing healthy
patients placebo drugs and charging for them. Joe remarking for the previous
20 plus years he had ran malingering patients out of his office.
He came to
work here in the county where I was Sgt, then I got into it with the
Undersheriff about giving people of higher social standings better law
enforcement than the poor people. This ended by me quitting and taking a job
managing a wildlife refuge here in the county. I got talked into running for
county sheriff with Susanne Churchill as my campaign manager.I was elected and Joe was my
Undersheriff. We done quite well bringing the department from the bottom of
the proficiency rating to the top 10%in the state our first year.
When I told Joe I was going to retire and suggested he run for Sheriff,
he said he was going to run for District Court Judge. He challenged the
test for district cou rt judges and passed it higher than any previous
persons. He wo n the election from the encumbent judge who was an attorney.
The next 2 terms he ran unopposed, dying in his 3rd term from pancreatic
cancer.
He handled death the same way he handled life,very well. His second
wife (Susanne) was Doc Marshall's sister.
He by the way if you don't know is also living in Birmminham as a
hyperbaric chamber operator with a nursing degree.
Well, Rio that is
a nutshell of Joes life after the teams. He was a outstanding man and my
best friend.
Take Care
Doc Rich Williams
(Doc Riojas' Answer to Doc Williams)
good morning doc williams.
congratulations on your great lifetime achievements.
done like a true Corpsman warrior and with great finesse!
That freakin "Red" Maurath was an HM2 aboard the USS COUCAL (ASR-8) when i
was a diver at the Escape Training Tank in Pearl Harbor back in 1955.
I attended the ASR-ARS reunion in Panama City FL this OCT and he was there.
his hair looks like he is on chemo therapy. He seemed very happy, laughting
and telling HIS adventures as HE remembered them.
The asshole quit diving so that he would not go on a westpac cruise on the
COUCAL. THey put me on her from the Tank. I had my wife and one kid and
pregnanat wife there in Navy HOusing. I had like less than two weeks to get
the SickBay ready to go to Japan.
It was a great trip. I got tons of diving experience and that is where I
really learned deep sea diving. I was already a SCUBA, Tank trained diver
and so I got to do most of all the SCUBA diving on the COUCAL along with
another diver "Fang" that graduated from UWSS in Key West FL. Great trip.
My son was born when we where in Nagasaki, Japan treating a jap diver that
was paralyzed from the waist down. I told Maurath that he was a total asshole and
everytime he saw me at the reunion, he dee dee maud out of my sight.
Joe Churchill and I were the ST1 and ST2 counterparts. I was the senior HMC at ST2
during those years. Joe and I worked together for a while at Cam Ranh Bay RVN, at the LDNN
training camp as advisors. Good old days huh?
BTW: there was an instructor that was our class proctor named
George Stromer, all three HM's and a Hospital Corps warrant made it! He
said he was going to flunk us all. He tried!
He made chief on the USS FUlton AS-11, I was already a CPO, and did I let
him have it at the initiation! what a turd he was in DSDS.
thanks for the info.
Tu amigo
Doc erasmo riojas
submitted by "Eagle" Bob Gallagher
July 13, 2000 - e-mail this story Report cites
By JACK DORSEY © 2000, The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK - The accidental release of their rubber boat from a helicopter while it flew 167 feet above the water likely persuaded a pair of Navy SEALs to jump from too great a height, killing one and injuring another, the Navy's investigation into a March 9 accident near the Bahamas concluded.
While SEALs are trained to immediately follow their boat into the water, they normally do so from about 10 feet in the air and only after a direct command.
Rear Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander Naval Special Warfare Command and the Navy's top SEAL, said in the accident investigation that a culmination of factors led the two SEALs to believe the helicopter was flying lower and slower than it was. The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy of the report through the Freedom of Information Act.
The accident's fundamental causes, Olson said, ``were insufficient situational awareness'' and a ``predisposition by both men to exit the helicopter prior to receiving a positive `go' signal from the assigned castmaster.''
When they jumped from the helicopter, they were traveling between 20 knots and 50 knots forward speed.
The impact killed Petty Officer 1st Class Brad K. Tucker, 30, a hospital corpsman with SEAL Team Four, based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.
Petty Officer 2nd class Michael J. Brunst, who sustained serious internal injuries, continues to recover and is expected to return to full duty.
The accident occurred about 10 p.m. March 9 near the Bahamas where two Army helicopters were to have conducted a ``cast insertion'' of eight SEALs in support of Exercise Bow Drawn.
The plan called for a pair of MH-60 helicopters to drop two rubber boats into the water, followed by eight SEALs. They were to have rendezvoused with the Little Creek-based coastal patrol craft Monsoon to continue their infiltration of a beach.
SEALS term the type of maneuver the ``Kangaroo Duck,'' or ``K-Duck,'' procedure. It was developed as a rapid insertion method from that class of helicopters while they hover low over the water.
At the insertion point, the pilot orders the release of the boat and the swimmers cast out the door.
A ``cut-strap'' is used to release the boat. And a SEAL team member is assigned as the ``cut-man'' to slice through the strap on command from the ``castmaster'' who receives his instructions via a radio headset connected to the pilots.
According to investigators, the cut-man positioned himself to cut the strap by kneeling behind it.
He did not have a radio headset and his view of the castmaster was somewhat obstructed by a Bahamian observer sitting in the center of the passenger compartment.
The cut-man grabbed the strap with his left hand and held a hooked knife in his right, while balancing in the helicopter cabin, the report found.
The pilot was slowing the aircraft into a high hover, watching for the other helicopter to drop its boat first.
The report did not explain why, but the strap holding the boat was cut and the boat fell prematurely. The cut-man said he had no knowledge or recollection of the knife hitting the strap, investigators said.
Olson, in his comments about the investigation, said the inexperience of the cut-man was a contributing factor to the accident, ``aggravated by the fact that he was not wearing a headset and was therefore subject to the same misleading sequence of events that influenced Petty Officers Tucker and Brunst to exit early.
``His anticipation of an imminent `cut' signal was premature, which may have led to inadvertent severing of the shear strap,'' Olson said.
Brunst and Tucker left the aircraft immediately after the boat. Although a ``go'' signal is supposed to be given from the castmaster before the jumpers leave the aircraft, none was given, according to the report.
``Within seconds of hearing and feeling the boat depart the aircraft and getting word from the crew chiefs that jumpers had left the aircraft, an emergency was declared . . . ,'' investigators said.
``I keyed my (microphone) and announced `Stop them. Stop them. Stop them,' '' recalled Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Vanty, one of the air crewmen in the helicopter.
He told investigators it looked like a third man on his side of the helicopter was preparing to jump, too. ``I jumped from my seat,'' Vanty said, ``screamed `Stop' as loud as I could. My goggles were knocked off, and I vaguely remember landing on top of the'' third man.
The helicopter made a quick 180-degree turn and passed over the target area and immediately located the two men in the water.
Two other SEALs entered the water and immediately began giving Tucker and Brunst emergency aid. A safety boat from the Monsoon arrived within three minutes, the investigation reports.
Tucker was found face up with no pulse or respiration. Brunst had managed to swim to the rubber boat and climbed aboard. Both men were quickly aboard the Monsoon and in a race to save their lives.
The four-engine Monsoon, capable of speeds in excess of 40 mph, headed for the Navy's Autec Range, near Nassau in the Bahamas. Communications were established with a doctor. It took an hour for the Monsoon to get to the range; in total, cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on Tucker for more than two hours, the report found.
``The Monsoon did everything but destroy itself to get back,'' one officer said. ``They nearly ran it into the ground to get us back,'' said Lt. j.g. Chuck Hayes, the platoon's commander. ``The engine room was blue with smoke . . . with men pouring five-gallon buckets of oil on the diesels . . . running as fast as they could'' to get the SEALs to safety. Tucker was declared dead by a physician when the Monsoon reached the Autec Range.
Brunst was evacuated by aircraft to Miami. Olson has agreed with other investigators that two unidentified SEAL team members -- a junior officer and a chief petty officer -- who were responsible for the operation should be issued ``nonpunitive'' letters of caution for failing to ensure no one left the helicopter prior to the ``Go'' command. They were cited for making an error in judgment for providing abbreviated briefings on the day of the operation and for not being present at earlier briefings. They instead were briefing a general officer on the operation.
Olson also agreed with investigators that the crew of the Monsoon should be recommended for the Navy Unit Commendation for their actions following the accident. Its hospital corpsman has been recommended for the Navy Commendation Medal.
Reach Jack Dorsey at 446-2284 or e-mail jdorsey@pilotonline.com e-mail this story