Alaska Department of Military & Veterans Affairs
10/06/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/06/2026 13:41
Alaska Air National Guard combat rescue officer recalls rescue jump in the north Pacific
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - After traveling hundreds of miles Aug. 8, 2025, on an Alaska Air National Guard HC-130J Combat King II to the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands, five Guardian Angel rescue Airmen jumped out of the perfectly serviceable aircraft. Then the day got tricky.
Their mission was to provide life-saving care to a South Korean fishing vessel sailor suffering uncontrolled bleeding, and the hard part was safely boarding the ship.
The Coast Guard took the call, but they didn't have a cutter or a helicopter in the region able to respond. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at JBER reached out to the 176th Wing search and rescue duty officer who accepted the mission and dispatched a 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130J Combat King II search and rescue aircraft that has the speed and the legs to reach the ship and disgorge the 212th Rescue Squadron Guardian Angels, also known as GAs, who have the medical training to help the sailor and the know-how to negotiate challenging rescue conditions.
The ranking GA for the mission, Capt. Caleb Kiley, said his team conferred with a Coast Guard Arctic District flight surgeon familiar with the patient's condition who relayed the severity of the bleeding. The urgency of the situation called for a parachute jump from an HC-130J rather than boarding a helicopter for the long journey.
"Based on the flight surgeon's assessment of the patient's status, immediate evacuation was warranted, and due to the time and distance we were from the vessel, we pushed for the jump option," Kiley said.
The captain said the team procured packed red blood cells from the base hospital during mission planning, and they loaded equipment to treat a posterior epistaxis that wouldn't stop.
"Due to the circumstances of his medical condition, we identified that blood would be required for the jump, as well as a special medical device to occlude the uncontrolled hemorrhage that we requested from the JBER ER," Kiley said.
Because they couldn't simply roll up and park an ambulance next to a pitching fishing vessel, the team had to pack everything needed with them to render aid for a complex medical condition.
"You're easily jumping an 80-pound ruck, plus your parachute weighs around 60 pounds, plus all the gear you have on you," Kiley said. "So, you're usually at around 150 pounds of equipment."
Though the team had decades of combined rescue training, the team lacked one thing needed to accomplish the mission: the ability to talk to the crew.
"It's imperative that you are able to communicate with a vessel and get them to follow your instructions, and we needed them to turn into the wind and then reduce their speed," Kiley said. "And there were a lot of [requests for information] we had that we didn't get answered. We were trying to communicate with the ship via the RCC and via the Coast Guard by email to the ship. So, we had a lot of unknowns until we were overhead and able to establish comms."
Staff Sgt. Hye Rin Crowe, a member of the 176th Comptroller Flight whose family emigrated to the United States from South Korea when she was 5, volunteered to board the flight and serve as interpreter.
"She was able to talk to the ship's captain via radio and get them to do everything we needed with the vessel," Kiley said. "Thankfully we had the translator on board, because without her, there's no way that we would have been able to get them to do what we needed them to do with their vessel."
Winds were about 25 mph with a rough sea state that made jumping and boarding operations difficult. To help with boarding, the team pallet loaded a Rigged Alternate Method Boat, which is a motorized inflatable raft that can be rapidly assembled and is also known as a RAMB.
"So, they got set up for us into the wind, slowed their motors down, and they deployed their Jacob's ladder over the side for us," Kiley said. "The jumpmaster did moving-target procedures accounting for wind and drift of the ocean, and then deployed jumpers to the target, and once they were in the water, they had to de-rig [the RAMB], which can be challenging in a rough sea state."
Three of the GAs jumped with the RAMB, before two more jumped to complete the team.
"The jump operation went really smooth, and then we motored over to the ship, boarded the vessel via the Jacob's ladder, and used an Atlas Ascender, which is a powered ascension device to bring up our equipment," Kiley said.
Once on board, Kiley said the team used translation apps on their phone to talk to crew members. They were able to use a medical device to stop patient's bleeding and stabilize him.
Owing to the extensive lattice-work rigging atop the fishing vessel, extraction by helicopter was near impossible, so the decision was made to make way for land to evacuate the patient by a Coast Guard HC-130J Super Hercules.
"Because we were able to keep the patient stable, we made the call to stay on the vessel and motor into Adak and not put helicopter crews and other people's lives at risk," Kiley said. "We got clearance to go into Adak, and then a good Samaritan from Adak came out with his fishing boat, and we lowered the patient and all our equipment onto the fishing boat. They took us into port, and then a C-130 from the Coast Guard came and picked us up and flew us back to Anchorage."
The Super Hercules transported the patient to JBER where he was transferred to the Anchorage Fire Department who brought him to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage for further care.
Kiley said the mission served as proof to the value of the team's training and experience.
"Earlier that year we practiced full mission profiles in Kodiak, facilitated by the Coast Guard and did basically this same scenario," Kiley said. "We did a parachute insertion with a RAMB, movement to a large vessel and ship boarding procedures. Once aboard we went into prolonged field care on the vessel with live role players as patients. We practice this mission set frequently and got to see that training come to fruition on an operational mission where we had an injured sailor who needed immediate care.
"It's incredibly rewarding when you put all that time and effort into training for a mission, and then you actually get to go do it," Kiley concluded.
Their mission was to provide life-saving care to a South Korean fishing vessel sailor suffering uncontrolled bleeding, and the hard part was safely boarding the ship.
The Coast Guard took the call, but they didn't have a cutter or a helicopter in the region able to respond. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at JBER reached out to the 176th Wing search and rescue duty officer who accepted the mission and dispatched a 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130J Combat King II search and rescue aircraft that has the speed and the legs to reach the ship and disgorge the 212th Rescue Squadron Guardian Angels, also known as GAs, who have the medical training to help the sailor and the know-how to negotiate challenging rescue conditions.
The ranking GA for the mission, Capt. Caleb Kiley, said his team conferred with a Coast Guard Arctic District flight surgeon familiar with the patient's condition who relayed the severity of the bleeding. The urgency of the situation called for a parachute jump from an HC-130J rather than boarding a helicopter for the long journey.
"Based on the flight surgeon's assessment of the patient's status, immediate evacuation was warranted, and due to the time and distance we were from the vessel, we pushed for the jump option," Kiley said.
The captain said the team procured packed red blood cells from the base hospital during mission planning, and they loaded equipment to treat a posterior epistaxis that wouldn't stop.
"Due to the circumstances of his medical condition, we identified that blood would be required for the jump, as well as a special medical device to occlude the uncontrolled hemorrhage that we requested from the JBER ER," Kiley said.
Because they couldn't simply roll up and park an ambulance next to a pitching fishing vessel, the team had to pack everything needed with them to render aid for a complex medical condition.
"You're easily jumping an 80-pound ruck, plus your parachute weighs around 60 pounds, plus all the gear you have on you," Kiley said. "So, you're usually at around 150 pounds of equipment."
Though the team had decades of combined rescue training, the team lacked one thing needed to accomplish the mission: the ability to talk to the crew.
"It's imperative that you are able to communicate with a vessel and get them to follow your instructions, and we needed them to turn into the wind and then reduce their speed," Kiley said. "And there were a lot of [requests for information] we had that we didn't get answered. We were trying to communicate with the ship via the RCC and via the Coast Guard by email to the ship. So, we had a lot of unknowns until we were overhead and able to establish comms."
Staff Sgt. Hye Rin Crowe, a member of the 176th Comptroller Flight whose family emigrated to the United States from South Korea when she was 5, volunteered to board the flight and serve as interpreter.
"She was able to talk to the ship's captain via radio and get them to do everything we needed with the vessel," Kiley said. "Thankfully we had the translator on board, because without her, there's no way that we would have been able to get them to do what we needed them to do with their vessel."
Winds were about 25 mph with a rough sea state that made jumping and boarding operations difficult. To help with boarding, the team pallet loaded a Rigged Alternate Method Boat, which is a motorized inflatable raft that can be rapidly assembled and is also known as a RAMB.
"So, they got set up for us into the wind, slowed their motors down, and they deployed their Jacob's ladder over the side for us," Kiley said. "The jumpmaster did moving-target procedures accounting for wind and drift of the ocean, and then deployed jumpers to the target, and once they were in the water, they had to de-rig [the RAMB], which can be challenging in a rough sea state."
Three of the GAs jumped with the RAMB, before two more jumped to complete the team.
"The jump operation went really smooth, and then we motored over to the ship, boarded the vessel via the Jacob's ladder, and used an Atlas Ascender, which is a powered ascension device to bring up our equipment," Kiley said.
Once on board, Kiley said the team used translation apps on their phone to talk to crew members. They were able to use a medical device to stop patient's bleeding and stabilize him.
Owing to the extensive lattice-work rigging atop the fishing vessel, extraction by helicopter was near impossible, so the decision was made to make way for land to evacuate the patient by a Coast Guard HC-130J Super Hercules.
"Because we were able to keep the patient stable, we made the call to stay on the vessel and motor into Adak and not put helicopter crews and other people's lives at risk," Kiley said. "We got clearance to go into Adak, and then a good Samaritan from Adak came out with his fishing boat, and we lowered the patient and all our equipment onto the fishing boat. They took us into port, and then a C-130 from the Coast Guard came and picked us up and flew us back to Anchorage."
The Super Hercules transported the patient to JBER where he was transferred to the Anchorage Fire Department who brought him to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage for further care.
Kiley said the mission served as proof to the value of the team's training and experience.
"Earlier that year we practiced full mission profiles in Kodiak, facilitated by the Coast Guard and did basically this same scenario," Kiley said. "We did a parachute insertion with a RAMB, movement to a large vessel and ship boarding procedures. Once aboard we went into prolonged field care on the vessel with live role players as patients. We practice this mission set frequently and got to see that training come to fruition on an operational mission where we had an injured sailor who needed immediate care.
"It's incredibly rewarding when you put all that time and effort into training for a mission, and then you actually get to go do it," Kiley concluded.
Alaska Department of Military & Veterans Affairs published this content on October 06, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 06, 2026 at 19:42 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]