The call came in, March 18, from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower that eight Sailors were injured on the flight deck when an arresting gear cable parted during a routine landing of an E-2C Hawkeye aircraft.

Merely 24 hours later, nine members of the Naval Medicine East Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team were on board IKE and ready to provide counseling for the crew.

The team is composed of mental health professionals who provide short-term counseling for service members in the wake of traumatic events. Team members can be psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, hospital corpsmen, chaplains and religious program specialists.

SPRINT members received a brief from IKE's leadership about the mishap and who was impacted, as well as the command's upcoming operational tempo.

"This brief gives us a frame of reference to understand how long we will be on the ship and how we can move forward, said Lt. Cmdr. Craig Tyson, SPRINT team lead and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Branch Health Clinic Norfolk Naval Station Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.

"Usually if we respond to a suicide or an accident, we focus on the area that was affected, but with this happening on the flight deck - there were stretcher bearers from every department on that flight deck - we had to try to get our hands on everyone."

Due to the large number of personnel psychologically affected by the mishap, SPRINT members focused on individual Sailors rather than large group sessions.

"We decided to do deck-plating - where we go to the Sailors to talk, instead of having them come to us," Tyson said. "The missions we do are very diverse. When incidents like this happen the command will usually put out over the 1MC or CCTV that our team is on board and where we are at so they can find us. But we didn't feel that was the best way to handle this situation."

Tyson mentioned that IKE's chiefs mess had identified specific Sailors as high priority for the team to speak with first.

"With us only having a short time on board during any mission, the big thing that we like to leave them with is direction on where they can go for help," Tyson said. "Conveying this not only to the leadership, but to everyone that they need to be looking out for each other."

According to Tyson, the team helped the Sailors process their fears, listened to their concerns, and then explained to the crew the various range of emotions they may be experiencing is normal. "We let them know there is no cookie-cutter method for how somebody processes something that is traumatic," he added.

Another issue addressed by the SPRINT team was the fear of returning to the flight deck by some of the Sailors.

Lt. David England, SPRINT assistant team lead and NME Staff Psychologist, said the leadership aboard IKE played a tremendous role in helping Sailors begin to overcome their fears.

Flight operations were delayed for a day and a half, but what the IKE chiefs did when flight operations resumed made a big impact on junior Sailors.

"The khakis got up there and worked with their junior enlisted," England said. "Working side by side with them, and I thought that was outstanding."

Not only did the chiefs show their support and concern for Sailors, the ship's commanding officer and air wing commander wanted to ensure their Sailors' trust as well.

"After the cable was repaired, the CO and CAG flew the planes that were the first off the deck, and the first to take a trap. They wanted to show their Sailors it was safe to go back on the flight deck," England said.

"A lot of times, when stuff like this happens, if there are command climate issues, it comes out during a situation like this," Tyson added. "That didn't happen this time because there was such a level of engagement; even the admiral had gone down and done some deck-plating with the Sailors."

Before departing the ship, SPRINT team members prepared a debrief for the chain of command informing them how many people they had seen, how they felt everything was upon departure, how everybody is doing and the impact this may still have on some of the folks doing the job.

Normally when the team arrives safely back home, they also take a minute to check on one another.

"We do a little bit of our own caregiver operational stress control because sometimes these missions can hit close to home for some of the team members," Tyson said.

While the SPRINT professionals perform normal work schedules at medical centers or medical treatment facilities, they remain vigilant to depart at any time. The SPRINT team was able to reach out to more than 1,300 IKE Sailors in a short period time thus making a tremendous contribution to the crews' ability to successfully return to the ship's operational schedule.

For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/