Originally Posted by
212man
The first article said a severed thumb, but still in no way justifying a night MEDEVAC!
It doesn't surprise me. In my (pre-NVG) SAR days I was called to more than a few highly exaggerated, allegedly "life or death" cases. One involved going single pilot to a wire infested, unlit site in the hills on a moonless night to rescue a drunk who turned out to have a relatively minor cut on his hand, self induced on a broken beer bottle. Another involved a jungle landing to a soldier with an alleged broken spine. Having risked the aircraft and crew, the patient walked out normally with the rest of his platoon and climbed on the aircraft unaided. A third involved rescuing a "very seriously ill" sailor some 85 miles offshore from a fishing boat. On reaching him, he was stiff as a board and had obviously died the day before. We were probably called to avoid the boat having to dock or continue trying to fish with a cadaver on board, the latter being considered a bad omen.