By Jason Chudy, Stars and StripesMideast edition, Thursday, January 6, 2005

BAGHDAD — Soldiers of the Camp Liberty-based 458th Engineer Battalion’s Heavy Rescue One were recently called on to dig out survivors from collapsed buildings after insurgents ambushed Iraqi police in a western Baghdad neighborhood.This was the first time that the 85-member Heavy Rescue One, which is the only military unit in Iraq trained for this mission, has been used in a rescue operation.

About 55 members of the unit deployed to the neighborhood hours after insurgents used about 1,700 pounds of explosives to blow up the raided building on the evening of Dec. 28.The resulting explosion killed seven police officers and about two dozen area residents, according to media reports, and collapsed 10 nearby homes.

Sgt. Joseph Taylor, a medic with the unit, was patrolling in the area at the time. When he arrived on the scene, he led in the rescue of four Iraqis from a collapsed building.

“Typically in situations like this there is a lot of chaos and panic until someone with some type of emergency management training and skills arrives and can begin to manage the event,” wrote Staff Sgt. Michael Medellin in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “Having one of our officers on scene from the beginning put us a step ahead of the game.”

Once the rest of the unit arrived, Sgt. Greg Renko and Medellin were told that a woman was trapped deep in the rubble.

The two soldiers surveyed the scene and led teams in the dig for the woman. After entering one of the holes, Renko found the woman pinned under the rubble. It took about 30 minutes to free her.

She was then taken for further medical treatment by Iraqi medical personnel.“Without the specialized equipment, training and rapid response that these soldiers offered I think this would have been a body recovery and not a rescue,” wrote Lt. Col. Dave Chesser, battalion commander.

Medellin said the unit’s personnel performed exactly as they had hoped they would.

“Just like with Army training, things just started to kick in and you began to perform almost automatically,” he wrote.

“We saved lives that morning. You can’t put a price on that. The training, practice, and sweat … it was all worth it, even if this is the only time we go out.”

The heavy rescue capability was created from scratch in December 2003 while the unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq from Fort McCoy, Wis.

Heavy Rescue One’s members have held a number of training exercises since their arrival in Iraq, but this was their first rescue mission.

The 458th will be replaced by another Army unit with similar training, said Maj. Adam Roth, battalion executive officer and rescue unit leader. The unit has also trained three KBR fire departments on heavy rescue techniques.

story and photos at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=26397