JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. --    This morning six Citizen Airmen from the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, with more to follow, departed Charleston for Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas to be part of a major combined operation to assist victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. 

 
“Our Citizen Airmen are some of the best in the Air Force at responding to disasters like Hurricane Harvey,” said Col. Stephen Lanier, 315th Operations Group commander. “Providing this kind of emergency medical relief is one of the greatest missions we have here at Joint Base Charleston.”

Little Rock Air Force Base and the 19th Airlift Wing, supported by other Air Force units, will serve as an aeromedical evacuation staging location in response to ongoing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Operating from the base, Airmen will move those injured in Hurricane Harvey or the subsequent storm surge from the affected area to medical facilities in surrounding states at the direction of appropriate authorities. Little Rock Air Force Base will host approximately 200 aeromedical evacuation, maintenance and aircrew members assisting those injured and will use assigned and gained C-130s to execute these missions.  

The first 315th AES team is comprised of a medical service corps officer, flight nurse, health services manager, medical logistician and aeromedical evacuation technician. Currently the 315th AES is one of two Air Force Reserve aeromedical evacuation units supporting the effort.

19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs contributed to this story.