An Cosantóir

36 | what i do ALAN MARTIN SGT NO. 3 OPS WING I am a crewman in 301 Sqn. We operate on the EC 135 and the AW 139. We have many roles including; VIP or troop transport, fast roping, cargo slinging, Bambi Bucket fire-fighting operations, on and offshore winching, door gunnery, air ambulance, and various other tasking for Aid to Civil Power and Civil Authorities. As a result a crewman has many different responsibilities. As a crewman you are responsible for everything that goes on in the rear of the aircraft. You are also responsible for what is called 'crewing the aircraft', the crewman is essentially the pilot's eyes in the back when landing and taking off from a landing-zone. For example if we are in the Glen of Imaal area to transport troops I will visually check the landing site for obstacles such as trees or power-lines and relay this information to the pilots. They cannot see everything. If the terrain is too rugged we may do a low hover. I then give the troops the all clear that it is safe to either board or disembark the aircraft. When on board I am responsible for the troops making sure they, and their equipment is buckled in. In the case of a fire-fighting operation the pilots have control of the Bambi Bucket. We have eyes on the Bucket and target. We give what is called 'patter' to the pilots. We have eyes on the Bucket and what it is doing. We count them in over the target and then give the com- mand 'dump, dump, dump, and the pilot releases the water. We were called out last year in places like Donegal to tackle the bog fires there. The Bambi Bucket was very effective. We conduct Air Ambulance missions both on island and to the UK. Many of our missions are neo-natal. We have a special mount in the aircraft that is purposely built to an incubator. In order to crew an Air Ambulance mission you have to be a minimum standard of Emergen- cy and Cardiac First Responder certified. The medical staffs on board depend on the patient or casualty. So you may have a doctor, nurse, or anaesthetist. Our primarily responsibly is crewing the aircraft and the loading and unloading of the casualty/patient and equipment. We also operate the equipment as it is specific for the aircraft. The AW 139 can be fitted with two 7.62mm M58, it is a variant of the GPMG. There are slight differences such as a spade grip and a thumb trigger. Both pilots and aircrew are now trained in the use of Night Vision. We are equipped with the Anvis 9 Night Vision Goggles. These greatly enhance your ability to operate at night. You see everything in green. I was recently upgraded from a door gunner to a NVG door gunner. Last month I took part in a Live Fire Tactical Training exercise, part of this was at night. Recently we conducted joint operations with the Army Ranger Wing (ARW); fast rop- ing for troop insertion, providing live covering fire and troop extraction. We can fly into a scenario, identify enemy positions, give fire, ceasefire, deploy ARW by fast rope, we then move to a standby location, the ARW can then call in Emergency Close Air Sup- port, we then move in and give fire on their requested target. It is a very busy and diverse job, and a great place to work. An Cosantóir March 2012 www.dfmagazine.ie WHAT I DO

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