News

McChord Reserve medical unit to receive crucial, limited training

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jake Chappelle
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  A team of 16 Reservists from the 446th Aeromedical Staging Squadron here, will head to Camp Bullis, Texas during the August Reserve weekend for a week-long training course. This training will also shape the future of the ASTS mission as a whole.

The McChord team consists of health services management technicians, health administrators, nurses, biomedical equipment technicians and medics and will be joining about 12 other Reserve, Air National Guard and active-duty medical units to receive Expeditionary Patient Staging System training.

"The functionals from both (Air Mobility Command) and (Air Force Reserve Command) approached us for this training, because of our reputation of being subject-matter experts and our deployment experience," said Col. Rob Richardson, 446th ASTS commander. "They came to us with confidence based on our performance, and our 16 Reservists will be SMEs in the new ASTS mission, which ensures our people are war ready and ready to execute our newly Designed Operational Capability statement mission."

E-PaSS, formally known as the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility Course, umbrellas all the formal training of the CASF, Mobile Aeromedical Staging Facility, Disaster Aeromedical Staging Facility, and Aeromedical Evacuation Contingency Operations Training into one system of aeromedical evacuation, said 1st Lt. Paul Hall, 446th ASTS medical readiness officer.

"Typically ASTS units do not have an in-garrison mission," he said. "Our mission is generally during contingencies, but we can also be requested during major disasters. Secondly, it combines the aeromedical evacuation (unit-type code) requirement of AECOT with the CASF requirements to provide a better continuity of care on the ground and in the air."

Senior Master Sgt. Robert Cutchin, 446th ASTS support flight superintendent, said this formal training will also allow the Reservists in the squadron to improve their readiness significantly by being able to send more people who were trained on the earlier CASF training platform to receive training with the E-PaSS system.

Acquiring this instruction is critical, according to Hall.

"The number one reason, would be to obtain formal UTC training credit," said Hall, who lives in Lacey. "The formal school is filled by UTCs and specifies the (Air Force Specialty Codes) that can attend, typically some AFSCs are one-person deep, so people can end up waiting years to get accepted into one of these courses. The only way to get priority into this course would be just-in-time training prior to a deployment."

Richardson, a West Pierce County Fire & Rescue firefighter, said this training provides a dual gain.

"It's a formal training opportunity outside of the normal formal school cycle processes and is a force-multiplier in furthering our preparedness for operational readiness inspection, operational readiness exercise, and health service inspection commitments," he said.

Hall said the team can bring back the training and apply it at home station.

"The goal would be to incorporate that knowledge and be able to provide E-PaSS training through the use of our regional skills lab as well as our new ASTS facility here in Hanger 12," he said.

"Scheduling the E-PaSS training without conflicting with the ORI and HSI was my edict to Hall," Richardson said.

"Lieutenant Hall's first order of business was plan E-PaSS and not distract from the wing's ORE, ORI and the HSI," Richardson said. "The participating Reservists we're selected based on a 'non-interference' status while considering their shortages in readiness requirements."

Hall also coordinated with AMC with the squadron's itinerary and personnel requirements for the trip.

"I have personally recruited people from our unit to fill available slots provided by AMC as well as coordinated with them to provide our technicians with the needed information used to create orders for each Reservist," said Hall, who is an emergency room technician at Madigan Army Medical Center. "I've been attending teleconferences involving E-PaSS and providing critical information such as equipment lists and reporting instructions to participating members."

Cutchin, a University Place resident, says E-PaSS will be a phased process and will be finished and tested during next the next Global Medic Exercise in June 2013. Until then, the Reservists of ASTS will continue to strive for perfection in training and readiness.

"We are focusing on this training with our commander's vision to improve our medical readiness," Cutchin said. "The 446th ASTS is looking to take the lead as the premier ground medical unit for Air Force Reserve Command, with Col. Robin Richardson at the helm."