A little story

first time on call. Checked the gear and equiptment. arranged it all in the helicopter. got my radio and went on my way, back to normal life until, you know; "duty calls".  It was a thursday. Already in the evening as we had already driven to the south, had our swap with the other guys from last week and, finished dinner. I was tired. Not entirely sure why, because to be honest for the last few weeks my life has been pretty relaxed, relatively. But regardless i was tired. so i went to sleep. bam! 12:36 PM the siren wails twice. thats us. Hurl myself out of bed, look around at my two friends. They are waisting no time putting on their uniforms as fast as possible, i do the same. 2 min drive to the helicopter. 2 minutes to load the equiptment onto the aircraft. "gun bag!" "check!" "night vision!" "check!" "radio!" "check!" we all load up. the wine of the engine starts to get louder and the rotar starts spinning. thum, thum thum.  you smash earplugs into your ears and grab your flight helmet. The speed of the rotor  increasing by the second.  the radio flush with voices. the pilot" we are at full power, tower one. Cleared for takeoff." the in- flight mechanic. " clear" the control room; spewing details about the event: navigational point. who's there? how many wounded. someone on the ground we can talk to." pilot;" ok guys we got a 4 minute flight lets get ready. 4 minutes. to get all your gear on. the the belly of the helicopter ready for 2 critical condition patients, to arrange all the equipment. boot up the medical equipment. then a briefing from the commander: "ok guys we got 3 patients at least two critical, lets get in there get some details and get them on this aircraft asap."  (obviously thats not the actual briefing but its something of that nature. where were going who takes what. weapons? helemets?.  bam: pilot:" we are in final...on the ground" we run forward into the night. away from the noise of the chopper and into the chaos of the event. broken wreckage everywhere. a car in a heap on the side. 3 ambulances. rescue personnel everywhere. we end up taking two patients after being told the that third is not so bad and already on his way in an ambulance. I witnessed my first intubation on one of the patients and then it was off to the helicopter. 7 people in that little space. two unconscious patients. both not breathing on their own. internal bleeding. spinal and head trauma. long story short, they needed a lot of care. i attached a blood line and oxygen while i scrambled to put on my flight helmet. "7 minute fight to level one in Soroka, the pilot shouted( level one is the highest level of trauma care)" and then we were off. the fastest seven minutes of my life. clambering to do whatever we could, attach monitors see blood pressure, keep them breathing and get them ready to depart when we landed. bam! we were there. the door opens and the wind rushees in as i step off, helping to pull the stretcher off the chopper. we walk off the heli pad and into the hospital through a few wards and then into the ICU. it was like in the movies when they are running down the halls with a critical condition patient into the OR, except it wasn't a movie and i wasn't running. we walked down the hall, swiftly but not running, holding her IV bag in my hand and then ten seconds later it was over. the 40 nurses and doctors waiting took the so called "stick" and started working. Took her off the stretcher and onto a bed and then the head Attending starting asking questions and doing checks.  psheewww. thats it. my job was done. blood on my vest and pants and all over my hands. but we made it and it was the best care she could get. i had a last look and was sent back to the choper to start cleaning up. Because even though it was over, it wasnt really over. you see its a 24/7 thing we could have been on the flight back base and without warning another mission and you have to be ready for that so even though you want to stay and check up on the person that you just tried to save you have to go back and start getting ready for the next one.