Portraits in Courage features pararescue specialist

Published Sept. 21, 2011

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Staff Sgt. Daniel Warren, a pararescueman from the 308th Rescue Squadron at Patrick AFB, Fla., is one of 18 Airmen featured in the latest version of Portraits in Courage.

The reservist deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2010 as a Guardian Angel team member of the 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron.

During this deployment, he flew numerous demanding rescue missions to recover coalition personnel and local Afghans.

One of his most demanding missions came Feb. 8, 2010, after several devastating avalanches occurred along the Salang Pass. The pass is the only vehicle path in that area of the Hindu Kush.

Hundreds of Afghans were trapped in buried vehicles that had been thrown more than 600 meters into the valley. Most of the vehicles were pushed off the main road and had their windows blown out.

The terrain was treacherous along the 11,500-foot pass. Winds whipped at 30 to 40 knots per hour. The temperature had dipped to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The potential for secondary avalanches and insurgent activity hampered the Guardian Angel team's mission to rescue and recover as many stranded people as possible.

After exiting the CH-47 helicopter, Warren quickly moved to the overturned, buried vehicles scattered down the mountain. Hundreds of stranded locals swarmed him, adding to the chaos.

Under these dire circumstances, the pararescue specialist spent the next five hours battling exhaustion from the hypoxic conditions, freezing temperatures and high winds while moving from vehicle to vehicle, extricating and triaging as many people as he could.

He then began to evacuate the victims on the helicopters.

During one of the evacuation flights back to Bagram Airfield, Warren performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on an unconscious patient for approximately 30 minutes until he could pass the person to other medical-care providers.

Overall, Warren and his team directly saved 15 lives and helped 49 others with their rescue skills.

Senior U.S. military personnel praised the team's actions as a great strategic victory for the United States by pulling 282 stranded Afghans out of this deadly environment and thereby fostering civilian support for coalition forces.