Saving lives at 30,000 feet

Published March 15, 2006
By 1st Lt Wayne Capps
315th Airlift Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Doctors, nurses and medical technicians feverishly rushing around, yelling for pain medication and working on patients in an environment that looks like controlled chaos, sounds like a familiar scene from a popular television drama or a busy emergency room.

The only difference is this scene often takes place at more than 30,000 feet as medical professionals work while flying in and out of a combat zone.

Air Force aeromedical evacuation crewmembers have conducted more than 55,000 patient moves since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, caring for a wide range of ailments ranging from gun shot wounds to sports-related injuries.

“Our aeromedical evacuation system has made it possible to move seriously injured patients in an astonishingly quick time, as short as 36 hours from the battleground to stateside medical care -- unheard of even a decade ago,” said Lt. Gen. George Taylor, Air Force surgeon general, in a recent article.

General Taylor said robust surgical capabilities at forward locations have been key to the lowest casualty rate in the history of combat.

The ultimate goal of medical teams is to get these patients to definitive care, said Col. Sharyn Roettger, a reservist and commander of the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

“I am here to do a job…I am here to move the wounded warrior. It’s a satisfying job”, said Colonel Roettger. “We all wish no one was injured, but that is just not the reality.”

Nearly 88 percent of the 400 aeromedical evacuation people working worldwide are in Air Force Reserve Command or the Air National Guard, according to General Taylor.

The 791st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the hub for patient movements in Europe and Southwest Asia, is more than 50 percent manned by reserve component people. The squadron is responsible for moving patients from hostile areas in Southwest Asia to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where many patients receive further medical care and wait to be transported to the United States.

According to Lt. Col. Robert Hix, director of operations for the 791st EAES, the squadron moves an average of 550 patients a month.

“Everybody is doing the job they came here to do. I am proud of the work we do”, he said.

Colonel Hix is not alone, Capt. Darrell Saylor, a deployed flight nurse working with the 791st EAES, is also proud of the job he is doing. Captain Saylor, an activated reservist stationed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., with the 94th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, said the best part of his job is the satisfaction he gets when the young soldiers he takes care of thank him for the care that they get.

“I don’t want them to feel like they are just a number. We all do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Captain Saylor.

“A couple months ago, we didn’t have many patients, so I could spend a little more time with each of them," he said.

Captain Saylor recalled caring for a young Soldier who lost his sight in an improvised explosive device blast.

"He was pretty helpless,” the capatin said. “His biggest concern was if his girlfriend would still love him. I spent a lot of time talking about life and trying to comfort him. It is rewarding to take them home, very rewarding.”

As the Global War on Terrorism rages in the Middle East and around the globe, aeromedical evacuation operation will continue to be one of the key factors in saving the lives of U.S. service members involved in the conflict. (AFRC News Service)