NISSEN: Things are far from comfortable for the medical flight crew

NISSEN: Things are far from comfortable for the medical flight crew. Most crew members are Air Force

reservists, Air National Guard. In civilian, they are E.R. nurses, EMTs. At 30,000 feet, their work is the

same, but working conditions are radically different. The light is dim. Space is cramped. Stethoscopes are

useless in the roar of the C-141′s engines.

TECH SGT. TIMOTHY MITZEL, MEDICAL FLIGHT CREW: We all have to wear ear plugs. We can’t hear. We can’t hear

blood pressures. We can’t hear lung sounds.

NISSEN: Crew members use monitors, use informal sign language, lean in to listen to patients. For nine hours,

they work to control pain, to monitor mortar and bullet wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You’re OK.

NISSEN: To dispense comfort.

LEGERE: The kids that we see, they’ve all got still that great spirit. You don’t ever hear any of them

complaining or whining or any of the things that you really would expect seeing the disfiguring and the severe

injuries that these guys have.