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E5 Staff Sgt. Nik Falcon, formerly of Port Sanilac, is a flight medic for the Air Force in Afghanistan.

"It's exciting and terrifying at the same time. Once you get your head around the concept that what you are doing there is to save lives, it is a whole lot easier to deal with," said Falcon.

"It's like a what a paramedic does here only we do it in a combat zone. And we do it in a helicopter instead of an ambulance," he explained.

"I like flying out there. I know I make a difference in some lives."

What about the war against terror in Afghanistan?

"We are making a difference out there. We really believe in what we are doing, and we'd like the people to support us even if they don't believe in the war," he said.

"You can see it is getting better. If you talk to people you can tell by the way they treat you, it is better than it was."

Although his job is primarily to evacuate injured soldiers, medics sometimes pick up Aghans and fly them to a Coalition hospital. However, because of the conservative Muslim culture, they are only allowed to treat the women if there is a female escort on the helicopter, and the injured woman's husband or father comes along.

The helicopters have room for three litters and two or three ambulatory patients and one medic. Falcon flew on average once every three days. The rest of the time he had to "sit alert", which is stressful too, Falcon said.

Falcon, whose training is equivalent to a paramedic level in the States, says it typically takes 30 minutes to get to the Forward Surgical Teams.

"They do life-saving treatment and then move them to a hospital," he stated.

Most of what he treats are wounds from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and gunshots.

Falcon was just home for a week's leave before going back for his third tour in Afghanistan.

He lives on a base in Kandahar, which is in the southern part of Aghanistan. There are some mountains and it is a desert region with climate extremes. In the summer temperatures are dry and reach triple digits, he said, while he sees temperatures below zero with snowstorms in the winter.

"I like Afghanistan. There is a lot of very beautiful country, but I wouldn't want to live there. I like electricity and running water," Falcon stated.

Falcon, who plans to make a career of the Air Force, has been in the service for six years.

He is stationed at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, although he hasn't seen much of it the past few years.

Falcon spent two years in Japan working in a hospital and then went to flight school.

"Then they asked us if we wanted to fly in a helo," he said.

For now he wants to remain a flight medic. Although he is pretty much at the top of his career in terms of his medical position, Falcon said he can continue to advance in rank.

Falcon is a Carsonville-Port Sanilac graduate and the son of Mary and Thomas Sertich of Port Sanilac.

He has two brothers in the armed forces. Damien is in the Navy and is based on the carrier George Washington where he does fueling. Bill is also in the Navy, a corpsman (medic) with the Marines at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina.