Mid-Pacific Rescue

A California family and their extremely ill one-year-old daughter, stranded in choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean, was transferred safely aboard the USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) on 7 April 2014, enroute to San Diego thanks to the efforts of a Guardian Angel team from the 129th Rescue Wing, the California Air National Guard unit at Moffett Federal Airfield. In a complicated rescue about 900 nautical miles off the coast of Mexico, three pararescuemen and a combat rescue officer jumped from an MC-130P Combat Shadow personal recovery aircraft after a five and one-half hour flight on 3 April. The team then boarded an inflatable boat, came aboard the family’s sailboat, and then medically assessed and stabilized the baby until the Vandegrift could reach the area.