Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
7:00 | While serving on medical aviation command, Stan Marcieski and his company picked up a huge quantity of patients in the South of Vietnam. Taking fire, they had to be very efficient with their pick-ups.
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Growing up in the steel country of Pennsylvania, Stan Marcieski was always interested in aviation. When he graduated from the ROTC flight program, he got a deferment to medical school, sending him down a different path than he thought.
Before getting settled in his company, Stan Marcieski was hastily brought on a mission over the jungle to try to help out a company that had been ambushed by NVA forces. After they had some issues with the plane, they had to think quickly to be able to save some casualties.
Stan Marcieski remembers later hearing the reason that his plane flipped on its nose and how close they were to being shot down. On a dicey mission, his friend Fred had a close call that required him to act quickly in order to save him.
When classifying a mission, urgency of the casualty was portrayed to indicate how quickly the goal needed to be executed. In order to efficiently get in and out, there was a set protocol for how to land, pick patients up and get out of there.
During the last 30 days of deployment, things got a little more lax for Stan Marcieski, leading him to make a funny but unadvisable decision. Shipping home, he felt relieved but confused to be back on American soil.
After returning home, Stan Marcieski decided to continue military work, serving in a fire safety role to mitigate aircraft crash damage. After getting the offer to go abroad, he got the orders to move to Bangkok, Thailand with his wife.
