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Air Force Reserve aeromeds showcase mission capabilities for NORTHCOM, AMC

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Collier
  • 302nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Air Force reservists in the 34th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron showed senior leaders from U.S. Northern Command and Air Mobility Command Oct. 13 how they could help civilian communites with medical evacuations.

The briefing and up-close look at C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III aeromedical evacuation capabilities and equipment gave the leaders greater insight on the Air Force's capabilities. Those capabilities help move wounded warriors from Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations to medical treatment facilities in Europe and the United States. The Air Force is looking at its aeromedical evacuation resources to determine if they can be paired with their civilian evacuation counterparts in the event of a major crisis.

"When you call on any of the Air Reserve Component, there is no spin up time," said Col. Michael Dankosky, Air Force Reserve Command aeromedical evacuation program manager and the day's main briefer. "This means (the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard) already have their proper upgrade training and skills levels, together with all other necessary training completed."

About 88 percent of the Air Force's aeromedical evacuation support comes from the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. Their resources and training could be used on a wider scale for civil support.

During Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005, military aeromedical evacuation helicopters and transports airlifted patients from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. Since then, the Air Force has been involved in other contingencies, including evacuations from Houston and Galveston, Texas, during Hurricane Rita. These successes have led officials in the White House and U.S. Northern Command to study how widely available military assets are to support civilian authorities.

Supporting civilian agencies with military aeromedical evacuations, however, presents challenges. While most evacuees from combat zones are military members with required vaccinations and medical clearance, evacuating everyday Americans is not the same. Military members must adhere to strict weight standards and be physically fit, where ordinary people being evacuated from a natural disaster may have unique medical or physical conditions that might require changing evacuation methods or procedures.

"It comes down to the difference between evacuating a healthy Marine versus a diabetic grandmother," Colonel Dankosky said.

Although Air Force reservists and Air National Guardsmen can play critical roles in evacuating civilians from natural disaster areas, they are not the only pieces of the support puzzle for disaster medical response. Other areas affected by the call up of Air Force aeromedical evacuation elements include the Army, the Department of Health and Human Services, and numerous other Air Force organizations. They must work closely together, ensuring civilians in need of evacuation can be properly processed, loaded onto an Air Force aircraft and have an emergency room waiting for them wherever the Air Force is directed to take the patients.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command, said the briefing for the senior leaders helped them better understand the complexity of applying military aeromedical evacuation resources to "unpredictable missions."

"The civilian medical system is built on a predictable, baseline demand with the ability to surge with small-to-moderate size natural disasters or man-made events," the general said. "The military could give us the ability to surge with additional care on an as-needed basis with professional teams who can enhance the capacity of the nation to respond to moderate-to-catastrophic events. That synergy created between civilian and Department of Defense medical systems is in many ways the value the DOD brings to the homeland when you have an unpredictable event, such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav."

Currently, the Air Force Reserve is supporting Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom with more than 15 aeromedical evacuations crews, providing evacuation capabilities within the United States and overseas to U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Pacific Command.