Back to News Front

Trained and ready to go

446th Airlift Wing is ready to deploy

Members of the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron practice treating abdominal, neurological and thoracic injuries during a training flight. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Email Article Print Article Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on StumbleUpon

A C-17 landed smoothly at McChord Field last Sunday morning.

Lt. Col. Mike Haedt and Capt. Kyle McElheran, both Reservists assigned to the 446th Airlift "Rainier" Wing, made it seem easy.

The wing provides 1,900 combat-ready Reserve citizen airmen to support worldwide airlift and military operations.

Haedt and McElheran taxied the aircraft to a spot in front of the 62nd Airlift Wing's aerial port building. They left the engines running; an engine running on load, or ERO, was about to begin.

Chief Master Sgt. Derek Bryant, a member of the wing's 728th Airlift Squadron, had already opened the craft's petal doors and dropped the ramp.  

A hundred yards away, a handful of members assigned to the wing's 86th Aerial Port Squadron stood by with a K-loader loaded with two pallets of simulated loads and a 10K forklift.

To the left was a parked truck; at its side was a litter with a simulated patient.

At Bryant's signal, the aerial porters moved their equipment toward the rear of the aircraft for loading. The loadmaster and aerial porters smoothly and efficiently loaded the 10,000-pound forklift first and the pallets second onto the aircraft.

Meanwhile, several nurses and medical technicians with the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron (AES) exited the C-17, approached the truck and took charge of the litter with the simulated patient.

The AES's mission is to evacuate sick and injured military personnel from harm's way and transfer them to an environment that will support their recovery.

"We always maintain a high state of readiness," Lt. Col. Medori Hill, the AES's chief of standardization and operations, said.

As the pilots communicated with the tower and the aerial porters slung chains and tied down the equipment, the medevac personnel loaded their patient and secured the rest of their equipment.

"This is great training for us," Hill continued. "Once the patient is floor loaded, we can begin to train on abdominal, thoracic and other types of injuries."

Moments later, the aircraft taxied back out onto the runway and lifted off into clearing skies.

Joining Hill in the aeromedical training were Senior Airman Kirsten Larson, Tech. Sgt. Jessica Christensen, Master Sgt. Jill Peterson, Senior Master Sgt. Cam Vaillant, Capt. Liz Williams, Maj. Maureen Hightower, Maj. Shana Weber and Lt. Col. Carolyn Concia.

The medical team lost no time in beginning a series of medical scenarios as they worked on the medical mannequins.

Near the end of the training, Concia, the AES's mission clinical coordinator, led some of her colleagues through a lesson on what to do if a patient is suffering from intracranial pressure.

As she talked, Hightower and Larson realized that their simulated patient might have suffered a stroke. Concia showed them a series of tests for how to determine if a stroke has occurred.

"If that occurs," she said, "we communicate that the plane must land."

As if on cue, 10 minutes later the Spirit of Joe M. Jackson landed smoothly at McChord Field.

"This has been a great training opportunity for all of our Reservists today," concluded Hill.

comments powered by Disqus