In today's Army, the MEDEVAC request is a huge lifesaver. The US Army standardized the MEDEVAC request years ago in order to create a standard that made making a request fast and efficient.

The MEDEVAC request is used when troops in the field need to be evacuated to a medical facility for treatment of injuries or sickness. In today's modern military a MEDEVAC request can call in helicopter or ground transport to move the casualty or casualties but more often than not it is a helicopter that responds.

The MEDEVAC request has 9 lines, the first 5 get the MEDEVAC vehicles moving and the last 4 prep the MEDEVAC vehicles for the situation.

The 9-line MEDEVAC request is transmitted over a radio. As with all radio transmissions, the opening line is:

"You, this is Me, over."

For example:
White Wolf X-Ray is the callsign to contact to request a MEDEVAC.
White Wolf 4 is you.
You are in the field with two US Soldiers that have gunshot wounds to their legs. There is no longer an active engagement between US forces and the enemy.

White Wolf X-Ray, this is White Wolf 4, over.

Over is stated when you are done saying what you have to say for the time being and you are awaiting a response from the far end. It means that you have nothing else to say until responded to and that the other station can transmit.

This transmission alerts the person you are trying to reach and tells them who you are. If they receive the transmission they will respond with the following in accordance with the example above:

This is White Wolf X-Ray, over.

Which means that the station you are calling is aware that you are calling them and they are listening and that you can continue.

Now is time to state your business. You are sending a MEDEVAC request so you should state that and then continue on with your MEDEVAC request.

White Wolf X-Ray, this is White Wolf 4. I have a 9-Line MEDEVAC request, break.

Break on the radio means that you have more to say but you need to take a break from talking. Typically this break is not more than 10 seconds.

Line 1 is a 6 digit grid coordinate of the pick-up site to include the grid zone identifier. This tells the MEDEVAC where to meet you. We use a 6 digit in most cases because it provides accuracy down to 100 meters, which should be sufficient for the MEDEVAC to visually acquire the pick-up site once within range.

Line 1 would be transmitted following the above example as such:

Line 1. Mike Hotel 1 2 3 4 5 6. Break.

Line 2 is the radio frequency, call sign, and suffix of the requesting unit. In short, how the MEDEVAC team can talk to the requesting unit once the MEDEVAC request has been submitted. The reason this is done is because the radio net used to make the MEDEVAC requests is used by anyone who is going to request a MEDEVAC and having non-request transmissions on the net will only impede those trying to make requests. Once a request is made, the assigned MEDEVAC team switches to the requesting unit's radio net so if there are any updates or further transmissions needed between the requesting unit and the MEDEVAC team, they are made on the requesting unit's radio net.

An example of a transmission of line 2 following the above example would look like this:

Line 2. FRS Channel 3. White Wolf 4. Break.

Line 3 is the number of patients by precedence. This establishes for the MEDEVAC team the priority of evacuating patients based on how severe their injuries are as time can determine if a casualty lives or dies, or loses a limb or eyesight. There are four priorities of precedence:

1. Urgent is assigned to emergency cases that should be evacuated as soon as possible and within a maximum of 2 hours to save life, limb, or eyesight, to prevent complication of serious illness, or to avoid permanent disability.
2. Urgent-Surgical is assigned to patients who must receive far forward surgical intervention to SAVE LIFE and stabilize for permanent evacuation. These patients need to be evacuated within a maximum of 2 hours.
3. Priority is assigned to sick and wounded personnel requiring prompt medical care. This precedence is used when the individual should be evacuated within 4 hours or his/her condition could deteriorate to such a degree that he will become an Urgent precedence, or whose requirements for special treatment are not readily available locally, or who will suffer unnecessary pain or disability.
4. Routine is assigned to sick and wounded personnel requiring evacuation but whose condition is not expected to deteriorate significantly. The sick and wounded in this category should be evacuated within 24 hours.
5. Convenience is assigned to patients for whom evacuation by medical vehicle is a matter of medical convenience rather than necessity.

The radio transmission for line 3 would look like this following the above example:

Line 3. 2 Urgent. Break.

Line 4 is any special equipment needed by the MEDEVAC team. Special equipment can be things such as a respirator (for lung wounds), extraction equipment in cases where a proper hard landing zone cannot be established such as in the case of a jungle, and various types of litters that are used to lay the casualties onto.

The transmission for line 4 following the above example would look like this:

Line 4. 2 semi-rigid litters. Break.

Line 5 is the number of patients by type. There are two types of patients: Litter and Ambulatory. Litter patients are patients that must be laying down, essentially on a stretcher. Ambulatory patients are patients that can sit down. This is entirely determined by their wounds. The MEDEVAC team needs to know this so they know how many vehicles to dispatch as litter patients can take up more or less room than ambulatory patients, depending on the vehicle. (Litters can be stacked in some vehicles.)

The transmission for line 5 following the above example would look like this:

Line 5. 2 Litter. Break.

At this point, the MEDEVAC team can begin their movement towards the pick up site.

Line 6 is the security of the pickup zone. It is broken into 4 statuses:
1. Alpha - No enemy troops in the area.
2. Bravo - Possible enemy troops in the area. No active engagement.
3. Charlie - Enemy in the area, approach with caution. Recent or active engagement with enemy nearby.
4. Delta - Enemy troops in the area, armed escort required. Active engagement near or around the pickup site.

A transmission for line 6 following the above example would look like this:

Line 6. Bravo. Break.

Line 7 is the method of marking the pickup site. There are many methods possible. Some of the typical methods are:
-Chemlights (night time)
-Flares (night time)
-Smoke or colored smoke (day only)
-VS17 panel

NOTE: In some cases, this is not established until the MEDEVAC vehicles are in the area. This prevents the enemy in the area from eavesdropping and using the same marking method to draw the MEDEVAC team into a potential ambush.

A transmission for line 7 following the above example would look like this:

Line 7. Smoke. Break.

Line 8 is the patient nationality and status. This is presented in case there are special circumstances for different types of patients, such as a patient being a prisoner of war. The 5 nationality and statues that can be are:
- US Military
- US Civilian
- Non-US Military
- Non-US Civilian
- Prisoner of War

A transmission for line 8 following the above example would look like this:

Line 8. 2 US Military. Break.

Line 9 is the level and type of NBC Contamination. This is to prepare the MEDEVAC team for entrance into such an environment. Usually not much preparation is done in the case of helicopters because the rotorwash will usually blow away any chemical or biological agent. Typically MEDEVAC will not come if there is any chemical contamination as the vehicles need to be scrapped after use in a chemical environment. The three types of NBC Contamination are:
1. Chemical
2. Biological
3. Nuclear

A transmission for line 9 following the above example would look like this:

Line 9. No NBC contamination. How copy, over.

How Copy asks the person you are talking to how they received the last transmission. This reminds the person to look over what they received for the MEDEVAC request and if anything was not clear they will ask you to repeat the lines to insure accuracy.

The full MEDEVAC request transmission transcript using the above example would look like this:

White Wolf X-Ray, this is White Wolf 4, over.

This is White Wolf X-Ray, over.

White Wolf X-Ray, this is White Wolf 4. I have a 9-Line MEDEVAC request, break.
Line 1. Mike Hotel 1 2 3 4 5 6. Break.
Line 2. GMRS Channel 2. White Wolf 4. Break.
Line 3. 2 Urgent. Break.
Line 4. 2 semi-rigid litters. Break.
Line 5. 2 Litter. Break.
Line 6. Bravo. Break.
Line 7. Smoke. Break.
Line 8. 2 US Military. Break.
Line 9. No NBC contamination. How copy, over.

White Wolf 4, this is White Wolf X-Ray. Good Copy, over.

White Wolf 4. Out.

Note: If you know what needs to be said for each line and can say them all or a few of them without the need for a pause inbetween, you may not want to say "Break" after each line is transmitted. This can speed up the time it takes to get the MEDEVAC request through and get the MEDEVAC team moving.

Out means that you are done with the conversation on the radio. Only the station that initiated the conversation on the radio can say "Out".

Correction is a codeword used on the radio if you need to make a correction. Correction is stated and then you begin from the point where the correction is needed. For example, let's say you gave the wrong information for Line 1:

Line 1. Mike Bravo 1 2 2 3 4 5. Break.
Correction. Line 1. Mike Hotel 1 2 3 4 5 6. Break.

As you can see, this is a fast and effective way to get the necessary information to a MEDEVAC team so they can get to the pick-up site quickly and increase the chances of saving lives.

Below is Form GTA 08-01-004 that a lot of military personnel carry into the field as a reminder for 9-Line MEDEVAC requests. Click to download the form in PDF format.

GTA 08-01-004

There is a lot of additional information about 9-Line MEDEVAC requests that I have omitted for the sake of keeping this article simple. Should you wish to know more, there are plenty of resources online available. US Army Field Manual 8-10-6 (Medical Evacuation in a Theater of Operations) covers all of what was covered here and plenty more.