News

Aeromedical evacuation Airmen deploy

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Madelyn McCullough
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  McChord Field, Wash. -Throughout December and January, around 30 aeromedical evacuation Reservists from the 446th Airlift Wing will be deploying to various Air Force bases where they will fly missions to pick up and fly troops to the different medical establishments for further care.

Aeromedical evacuation crews carry out a vital mission of safely delivering injured troops from theater to the safe and stable confines of hospital walls. Being sure a patient's needs are cared for while flying on a C-17 Globemaster III is not the easiest job in the world, but that's exactly what they are trained to do. They save lives. Now, it is the 446th Airlift Wing's time of year to send its Airmen away from home to support this mission.

"We'll be delivering them from hospital to hospital," said 1st Lt. Naomi Warner, 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse. "Sometimes there will be patients that come from Afghanistan. From Afghanistan, we'll pick them up from Germany or somewhere stateside. Then we'll take them to a hospital in their area or the area of their base where they are going to get help after that."

To carry out this mission, the 446th AES will be sending a mix of flight nurses, medical technicians, medical logistics, administrators, medical service corps, and aviation resource managers to five different bases. These bases include Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

To prepare for their deployment these Reservists train year round.

"As far as preparation, we have a pretty extensive repertoire that we do," Warner said. "We usually go on a flight, on average for the flight crew side, once a month. We go through different scenarios and different emergency settings and what the normal mission day is going to be like. We do that typically every month to keep up with our currencies and qualifications."
After training for so long, Warner is excited to go out and do her job, she said. It is her first deployment.

"We will help support the Air Force mission which is something that I really look forward to doing," she said."We'll be able to bring patients home and take care of them in the air."

Flight nurses and medical technicians aren't the only ones who will have the chance to utilize their training. Airmen such as those in medical logistics will get to practice as well.

"One of the benefits of deploying, especially with a med evac unit as a loggie, is that our training and all of our advancement is based off of a model that corresponds to a hospital," said Stephen Ashton, 446th AES medical logistics. "So for logistics teams, pretty much everything is based around the clinic and the medical treatment facilities. So when loggies deploy with AE units, it adds that much more dynamic and robust understanding of our responsibilities."

Medical logistics are responsible for establishing supply chains and maintaining the medical equipment aircrews take up onto the flights, said Ashton, who is also going on his first deployment. They make sure the aeromedical evacuation team has everything they need to take care of people.

"We will expand on the training we already have, we'll broaden our skill set, and we'll actually be doing the jobs we've been training for so we'll get really good experience to bring back to the squadron to pass along to other people and we'll be supporting the mission," Warner said.

Maj. Sheila Wojewodzki, a 446th AES flight nurse will be going on her eighth deployment and looks forward to going again.

"To me it is so exciting because of these people, the situations they live in, and what they see and do," said. "If we can make an iota of difference in their life and teach those techniques that they can hopefully use in the future, then that's exciting.

"I love being deployed because to me it's where you can make the biggest difference and where you really matter," Wojewodzki said.