HS-11 rescues man overboard

A Sailor fell from one of the hangar bay elevators while Enterprise conducted operations in the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles off the Florida coast.

"It was about 11:30 p.m. when we heard 'man overboard' called," said Lt. John Roath, an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter pilot for HS-11. "Lt. Julie Dunnigan and I ran back down to the ready room, grabbed our stuff, ran up to the flight deck, and within about three minutes we were already getting in the bird and strapping in. We started going through the checklist and slowing ourselves down so we didn't miss anything."

Once the pilots had the helicopter in the air, they turned toward the aft end of the ship and headed toward the distress signals in the water. After seeing the Sailor in the water, they hovered over him and lowered the search and rescue (SAR) swimmer, AW2 Steven Muehlenbrock. As soon as the helicopter crew had positive identification of the survivor, Muehlenbrock removed his helmet and prepared to go in the water. After a few minutes of battling the ocean currents and swells, he reached the Sailor.

"When I reached him I asked him if he was all right," said Muehlenbrock, "He responded well to all my questions and was very alert. Once I established he was conscious and calm, I approached him and then he grabbed onto me from arm's length. I told him to calm down and that I was going to get him out of the water, but he had to let go and turn around so I could ensure he was not hurt or hung up on anything that might have been in the water. After a few moments of reassurance he let go and I proceeded to clear his body of anything that he could have been caught on."

From start to finish, the entire rescue took about 45 minutes. For Muehlenbrock, having the chance to save the life of one of his shipmates is what led him to becoming a SAR swimmer. "The feeling of saving a life is unreal," said Muehlenbrock. "It's one of the reasons why I wanted to be a swimmer. I wanted to help people and save them."