Jul 3, 2021
Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!
Today we hear the combat story of Yonel “Yogi” Dorelis, a retired and long-time helicopter pilot who served in the Marine Corps, Navy, Army, and Air Force.
While in uniform, Yogi flew a variety of aircraft and mission
profiles, but spent a considerable amount of time flying Combat
Search and Rescue for the Air Force in the HH-60, including early
in the war in Afghanistan. In fact, during this time, Yogi earned a
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) with V Device for his life saving
efforts in Operation Anaconda, a mission that’s near and dear to my
heart because I later went on to serve with several of the Apache
pilots who were there at the time.
Beyond earning the coveted DFC, Yogi also accumulated 5,500 hours of flight time, approximately 500 of that in combat. He’s credited with saving 70+ military lives and approximately 300 more in his civilian flight career as part of an EMS crew, which he does to this day.
It was a blast to sit down with another aviator and a CSAR one at that, where it remains clear that no matter what airframe you flew, all pilots experience similar mishaps, near death experiences, laughs, and red tape along the way.
I hope you enjoy this Combat Story as much as I did.
Connect with Ryan Fugit:
Follow on Instagram @combat_stories (https://www.instagram.com/combat_stories/)
Email ryan@combatstory.com
Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
If you'd like Ryan to interview you for the show or to have him
interview a family member or friend in private (not for the show)
just to have their story on the record for future generations,
email him at ryan@combatstory.com.
Find Yogi Online:
IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6260186/
Instagram - @yogifly60_ydorelis https://www.instagram.com/yogifly60_ydorelis/
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonel-dorelis-93982919/
Acronyms and Terms used in the show:
CSAR - Combat Search and Rescue.
Dustoff - Another name used for Army Medical Evacuation or MEDEVAC
aircraft.
ETL - Effective Translational Lift. This is the point at which an
aircraft basically takes flight.
FLIR - Forward Looking Infrared. One method of seeing in the dark
that uses differences in the temperature of objects as opposed to
amplifying ambient light (which is what Night Vision Googles
do).
Autorotation - A fun and scary flight profile that’s practiced
regularly by all pilots by which you either simulate or truly kill
engine power and, which descending out of the sky, maintain a
minimal amount of drag to slow your descent created by the main
rotor blade and then, when very close to touching the ground, pull
in a bit of collective to provide a slightly softer landing.
Mustang - A term to reference an officer who was enlisted before
becoming an officer.
Show Notes
0:00 – Intro
4:05 – “I knew from an early age, I wanted to be a pilot and a
military pilot.”
36:29 – Hovering and possible advantages as a fixed wing pilot
44:06 – Being stationed in the Philippines and trying to land on a
ship at sea
1:21:24 – Operation Anaconda
1:36:57 – The importance of leadership
1:40:30 – Would you go back and do it all that again?
1:41:03 – “I missed the people, the mission, and that sense of
doing something that means something.”