Dear Doc Jargon,

My bestie has deployed several times. The other day we were having lunch and he was telling me a story about his time in Afghanistan. He said they were in a situation where a vehicle in their convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device and they had to medically evacuate one of their team due to the injuries. He said they had to call for a “dust off” for the guy.

I can glean from the context of his story that he was talking about a military version of a life flight medical evacuation. But I’m curious about how that term was assigned to that kind of operation. Can you tell me how it originated?

Signed, Dustie

Dear Dustie,

The term doesn’t really sound like what it is — but you are right. It is the term we use for a helicopter that flies a medical evacuation flight. The history of the term is rumored to have started during the Vietnam conflict. The original call sign of DUSTOFF given to the first aeromedical helicopter evacuation unit, the 57th Medical Detachment, Medical Service Corps, U.S. Army.

The countryside was dry and the medical evacuation, or MEDEVAC, helicopters would kick up a lot of dust in the fields where they landed. When the conflict was over, the name had stuck. Medical evacuation by helicopter was left with the DUSTOFF nickname which is also the call sign, followed by a number to identify each mission on the aircraft radios.

I hope that shook a little of the dust off the term for you.

Sincerely,

Doc Jargon