MEDEVAC Matters

Comment

David L. Bishop, Brigadier General, US Army responds to an inquiry from Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) about the death of SPC Chazray Clark. The General dutifully repeats the Army’s refrain that 98.5% of all evacuations are made within 60 minutes in Regional Command-South and claims that SPC Clark’s was completed in 59 minutes. One statement is suspect, and the other is provably false.

The general’s comment that “SPC Clark received responsive, quality medical care at each stage of his evacuation” is far from true. Responsive, quality care would not be leaving a triple,  traumatic amputee laying in an open field for over 50 minutes while being attended to only by a combat medic. Intervention by a trained trauma surgeon within the 30 minute window that was available if the MEDEVAC flight been able to respond immediately, would have been the responsive, quality medical care that would have saved SPC Clark’s life that night in September, 2011.

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
UNITED STATES ARMY CENTRAL
1 GABRESKI DRIVE
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SC 29152

Chief of Staff

December 20,2011

Honorable Jon Kyl
United States Senate
2200 East Camelback Road, Suite 120
Phoenix, AZ 85016

Dear Senator Kyl:

Thank you for your recent letter to the Department of Defense on behalf of Ms. Staci
Hodge concerning a blog written by a journalist describing the medical evacuation of
Specialist (SPC) Chazray Clark on September 19,2011.

Regional Command-South, Afghanistan, follows Department of Defense (DoD) policy
regarding evacuation of seriously wounded Soldiers. The DoD standard requires transport
within 60 minutes from point of injury to surgical facility. The mission for SPC Clark took
59 minutes, within the published standard.

Regional Command-South has met the DoD timeline in 98.5 percent of the evacuations
conducted since the United States assumed responsibility for this region in 2010. This
success is primarily based on selecting the shortest medical evacuation route of flight to a
surgical facility, irrespective of the airframe used in the evacuation. Please be assured that
SPC Clark received responsive, quality medical care at each stage of his evacuation.

Unfortunately,his injuries were so severe that medical intervention was unsuccessful.

This command stands ready to provide any further assistance required by your office.

Sincerely,

David L. Bishop

Brigadier General, US Army
Chief of Staff

———————-  end of letter  ———————-

Photocopy of original letter