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 California Air Guard Airmen break language barrier during rescue mission By Air National Guard Master Sgt. Julie Avey
                California National Guard
 SAN DIEGO - Air Force Senior Airman Yaohui Chen serves in the California Air National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing as a military pay technician, which means his job is usually in a seat at a desk. But when he received a call one morning from his supervisor, he never expected where it would lead him next. "I received the call from my superintendent on ... March 10 while taking my older daughter to her gymnastics class, and shortly after receiving the call I reported for duty," Chen recalled. Soon after, Chen and Air Force Staff Sgt. Hong Zhou, a supply craftsman for the Wing, found themselves aboard one of the wing's MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft on their way to meet a fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles off the coast of Mexico. Two men aboard the small fishing vessel had been severely burned in a fire onboard. The U.S. Coast Guard had requested that pararescuemen from the 129th fly out to provide medical treatment and transport the patients to shore. "I had never had the chance to join a rescue mission, and seeing the mission in front of me was a very special memory I will remember and will be telling my grandkids when I get old," Zhou said. Zhou and Chen had passed the Defense Language Proficiency Test and as a result, the Wing was able to find them in its computer system when searching for Airmen who could speak Mandarin and/or Cantonese. Zhou, who was born and lived in China for 18 years, speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. She joined the National Guard five years ago after serving in the active duty Air Force for 4 years. Chen lived in China until he was 14 and then moved to Mexico with his family. He joined the 129th Wing in November 2007. "The rescue mission was exciting, fun and challenging at the same time," Chen said. He said he communicated to the fishing boat captain that the boat needed to be turned against the wind and set at a certain speed to enable an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter from the 129th to hoist the patients aboard. "It was my first time operating a military radio [and] the captain was yelling," he said. Mandarin, which is the national language of China, is spoken with a different type of accent depending on which part of the country you are in. "So it was confusing at first," he said. Zhou remained on the MC-130P and translated the crew's requests, such as instructing the boat to stop and informing the boat captain that pararescuemen were going to jump into the ocean, board the boat and lift the patients onto a hoist. She continued to interpret until the patients were transferred to a burn center in San Diego. "I helped with translating what the [pararescuemen] requested and explained to the patients where they were, what we planned on doing, where they were being transported to and relayed their physical needs such as needing to be turned, food, water and pain management," she said. Both Zhou and Chen enjoyed the experience and said they hope to serve as interpreters again. "I did not ever imagine myself being a part of a rescue mission," Chen said, "but I feel good knowing I was able to help the [pararescuemen] complete the mission, and I would volunteer if there [was] ever another opportunity like this."
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