Wing members treat injured soldiers in Kuwait bus collision

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Shayne Sewell
  • 459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office
Four weeks into a three-month deployment to the desert sands of Kuwait, a contingent of 459th Aeromedical Staging Squadron members responsible for patients in the contingency air staging facility got an unexpected dispatch call.

Late one evening in February at about 11:30 p.m., dispatch announced via radio that three buses collided approximately one half mile outside the main gate of Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. 

Maj. Adrienne Goodknight, 459th ASTS registered nurse and officer in charge that evening, assigned her staff to grab the jump bags full of medical supplies and head to the scene of the crash in two ambulances and one ambus as fast as they could. She left one registered nurse behind to tend to the patients in the CASF. 

"Staff Sgt. Siobhan Simon (459th ASTS medical technician) did a great job navigating through the security barriers at the main entrance in the large ambus," said Major Goodknight. "Had I been driving that big bus, I would have left marks on those walls," she said. 

Arriving on scene within minutes of the initial dispatch call, the 459th ASTS medical technicians found themselves in the middle of a real mass casualty. When Staff Sgts. William Gamble, Simon Siobhan, Holly Gaines, Duston Ashton, Senior Airman Benjamin McCaffity and Major Goodknight arrived to the scene of the crash, they discovered the base fire department had already begun triaging the patients on scene. 

Evidently, the second bus driver had fallen asleep at the wheel causing the collision. The bus was headed back from Kuwait City to Bucca, a nearby Army facility. Luckily, the members on board were asleep and relaxed, which likely helped prevent more serious injuries due to them not anticipating the crash, Major Goodknight said. 

Fifteen Army servicemembers returning from rest and relaxation were injured to various degrees. The injured soldiers were divided into three groups: walking wounded; those who did not need immediate medical attention; ambulatory; those who needed medical attention, and the hard litter patients; those who could not walk due to neck or back injuries. 

Once triaged, the patients returned to base by way of ambus and ambulance for further observation and treatment.

Senior Airman McCaffity "took control of the scene and communicated the needs of the patients back to the CASF before we got back," Major Goodknight said.
This enabled the day-shift workers who got called in for the mass casualty to get ready for the patients' arrival, and allowed an efficient transition from the scene of the crash to the base medical facility. 

Medical teams transported six of the more seriously injured patients to Camp Arifjan for further treatment. The others remained in the CASF and returned to duty within a week.
"Fortunately for the servicemembers on that bus, the accident happened right outside our base where we were close enough to respond quickly," Major Goodknight said.
It could be that luck and skill each played a part in the accident's turnout. 

"It played out like a sheet of music the way we all communicated," the major said. "We always deploy with the best medical technicians."