An airman assigned to Malmstrom Air Force Base was awarded the Air Medal for heroism during a rescue operation in the Beartooth Mountains in August.
Maj. Collin Urbanowicz, an aeromedial physician assistant with the 341st Operational Medical Squadron, was presented with the award in a surprise ceremony on Thursday at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The Air Medal, generally awarded for singular acts of heroism during flight, often overseas, was presented to him for his role in an hours-long nighttime rescue mission on Aug. 25-26 where he put himself at risk to save a 75-year-old hiker who was stranded in the mountains.
According to the Air Force, the event was organized in secret by members of the 341st Medical Group and 40th Helicopter Squadron to surprise Urbanowicz, the first member of the 20th Air Force to receive the Air Medal.
The chain of events started three months earlier. Cris Hernandez, an experienced hiker in his 70s, was hiking the Beartooth Mountains on Aug. 21 with a friend. He had to pause while struggling with a climb while his friend kept going. Hernandez, who according to his own account in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, didn’t carry GPS or any type of emergency homing beacon, ended up in the wrong direction. With limited supplies, wet and windy weather and no clear way out, he was stuck. His friend was able to hike back down and started search efforts. On Aug. 24, several parties were searching for Hernandez, including a National Guard helicopter.
Eventually more help was needed. Local law enforcement contacted the Air Force for help with rescuing Hernandez. Urbanowicz joined four members of the 40th Helicopter Squadron — pilots Capt. Jacques Soto and Capt. Jaani Barclay and flight engineers Staff Sgt. Chase Rose and Senior Airman Corbin Dietrich — and they took off in the Air Force’s newest helicopter the MH-139 Grey Wolf. They took off at 5:35 p.m., quickly reaching the mountain area and spent hours searching for Hernandez.
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“We were kind of going in blind,” Rose told local media on Thursday. “There wasn’t a lot of additional information going in.”
The area was not ideal. There was almost no light, so the crew used night vision goggles and infrared sensors to search. Wind whipped through the peaks around the Grey Wolf, which were as high as 12,000 feet. Eventually they found Hernandez, who was in a narrow canyon and using a flashlight to try and signal them.
The helicopter tried repeatedly to get close to the ground, struggling with heavy winds, rough terrain that wasn’t suitable for landing and the hiker’s flashlight which impacted the crew’s vision. High mountain peaks nearby put the whole crew at risk. On the third attempt, Urbanowicz was lowered several dozen feet down via hoist, getting to the ground to reach the hiker. He was okay, but disoriented. When the helicopter attempted to lower a litter, conditions slowed the process and then the crew was alerted they were at their minimum fuel level in order to get back to base. The crew had to let Urbanowicz know: He was going to be there for some time.
“They had to peel off,” Urbanowicz told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle after the rescue. “I’m down there with him and like, ‘Well, change of plans! We’re going to be here a bit longer.’”
It was after midnight. The crew tossed down supplies before they left. So the hiker and the airman hunkered down and weathered the night and winds. Several hours later a National Guard UH-60 helicopter flying out of Helena arrived and hoisted the two up, transporting them to safety. The operation was the first search and rescue mission the 40th Helicopter Squadron had done using the Grey Wolf.
At the ceremony on Thursday, Urbanowicz admitted the surprise caught him “off guard.” AS for the work in helping rescue people, he said, “I just love doing it.”
