It hurts to read this article, it’s a really powerful story. Beyond being a story of tragedy and heroics, it also stands out to me that this might be a case of lowest bidder contracts. The winch line broke? Two people at one time being pulled up by a wench has to weight no more than 500 pounds. The little winch on my ATV can hold against 1,500 pounds. Winch’s on trucks have to be around 5,000 pounds. How could a wench on a HELICOPTER just snap?
To me the biggest tragedy is the medic never realizing that the winch could just snap and kill the both of them. At least the infantrymen know they are going into battle and the inherent dangers. A winch just snapping from a meager 500 pounds is jaw dropping.