While sheep-hunting up the Gerstle River about 25 miles southeast of Delta Junction, 56-year-old Michael Vogel, along with 62-year-old Melvin Iler suffered an accident when their raft overturned. When that happened, Vogel got entangled and was drug behind the raft for quite a distance through the swift-running current.

After finally retrieving Vogel from the water, Iler got Vogel to shore, set up a shelter for Vogel. Iler also lit a fire then set out to get assistance for Vogel who had suffered hand and chest injuries in the mishap and was showing signs of hypothermia.

“The victim’s rafting partner started the hike from the location at 5 a.m. to alert authorities,” said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Carte, superintendent, 11th Air Force RCC. “The individuals did not have a personal locator beacon or any other technology to call for help, so it took the friend more than 12 hours to hike out to the nearest community and find help.”

Iler contacted the Alaska State Troopers at approximately 5:50 pm on Tuesday evening. In turn, the troopers contacted the 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at approximately 6:30 pm and informed them of the situation.

In a little over a half an hour, the 210th, 211th, and the 212th Rescue Squadrons were notified of the incident and an HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter was launched from Eielson along with an HC-130 King aircraft configured for in-flight refueling from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. But, within 45 minutes, the helicopter suffered mechanical problems and was forced to return to Eielson.

“The Pave Hawk crew made it safely back to Eielson,” Carte said. “And because of our extremely skilled helicopter maintenance team, the crew was able to quickly move to an alternate HH-60 and head back out to the area.”

By 8:45 pm, the Guardian Angels aboard the Pave Hawk helicopter were on-scene. Vogel injuries were looked after by the crew. Vogel suffered a severed finger, broken ribs and was suffering from hypothermia.

During the mission, wildfire smoke threatened to hamper the operations. “Visibility was down to less than a mile,” Carte said. “The crews had to be aware of any sort of wind direction change, since that would significantly change the logistics of this rescue.”

Vogel was transported to the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital at 10:30 pm. There he was treated for serious but non-life threatening injuries.