Doc’s dangerous mission saves soldier Published Feb. 5, 2010 By Ed Drohan 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- It took only three days for Col. (Dr.) Steve Lamb to experience what he hopes is the high point of his six-month rotation to Iraq. It happened during a mission which saved the life of a soldier, but one which could just as easily have ended his own. Lamb is the commander of the 78th Aerospace Medicine Squadron here. At Kirkuk Air Base, he's chief of aerospace medicine at the base's Expeditionary Medical Support unit. Soldiers had brought a friend of theirs to the unit who was unable to speak clearly or walk. Doctors determined the victim had suffered a stroke and immediately began preparing him for transport by air to the medical facility at Joint Base Balad. Lamb was asked to accompany the patient. During the next 70 minutes, twice the normal flight time between the two bases, Lamb rode in a helicopter in near zero-visibility conditions. At one point, the helicopter lost contact with the air traffic control tower at Balad for more than 10 minutes. But, the team safely delivered the patient, who is now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and recovering well, said Lamb. While the flight was nerve wracking, it hasn't kept Lamb grounded. He's been on at least one flight a week since then. The flights have given him a chance to see how the joint team works, he said. "They (Army helicopter crews) literally dodge bullets every day, but they say they're just doing their job. I'm very impressed," said Lamb.