AE missions: routine is only half the story

Published June 25, 2010
By Tech. Sgt. Renni Thornton
Tech. Sgt. Renni Thornton

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Some people train at home station only to perform their mission a little differently in a real-world environment.

Members of the 451st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron can honestly say that the way they train is exactly the way they perform their jobs anywhere.

Their mission is to provide medical care to patients as they fly them to more stabilized care or more specialized, full-time care.

"The type of care we provide ultimately depends on the needs of the patient. If we pick up a patient from the battle field and bring him or her to the hospital, the care needed to keep the patient well in between facilities is what we provide. If we transport a patient and he or she requires more attention while in-flight, we can provide that as well," said Master Sgt. David Baker, superintendent, 451st EAES.

"Our mission is to keep patients stabilized and well as they travel to routine care and when they require more specialized care," he said.

There are three levels of patient care the teams provide: routine, priority, and urgent. Routine missions require the patient be airlifted within 72 hours.

Priority care missions require patients move to higher level of care within 12 hours and urgent care missions require patients move as soon as possible.

Sometimes a change in patient's condition can also change the mission category.

"A mission might begin as routine but if the patient's condition elevates and requires a higher level of care, it could change the category from routine to priority," said Sergeant Baker.

A five-person aeromedical evacuation team supports those missions. Usually a medical crew director, a flight nurse, a charge medical technician and two aeromedical evacuation technicians complete the team. "Many of the patients we care for are assigned to various forward operating base locations. Recently, our team went out and picked up a few patients who needed care. "The mission was considered routine at that point. Right before taking off, another patient was added.

"He required more specialized care due to the nature of his injuries. That patient's condition changed the entire mission category from routine to priority," said Sergeant Baker.

Injured military members are either brought to KAF or taken to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, to be treated.

If more specialized care is required, patients are flown to medical facilities sometimes as far away as Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, located five kilometers south of Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Both KAF and Bagram facilities have trauma and surgical capabilities.

In the past 30 days, the AE teams have seen over 30 missions. Of those, more than 10 were either urgent or priority. Of those, most required the care of critical care airlift transportation teams, commonly referred to as CCATT.

These three-person teams consist of a trauma doctor, a critical care nurse and a respiratory therapist.

"Under normal circumstances, the CCATTs care for no more than three critically-injured patients. If there happen to be more than three onboard, we will add a second CCATT to the mission."

A unique aspect of this job, said Sergeant Baker, is there is no difference between combat zone and home station.

"We see and treat the same things whether here or at home station. We still see patients dealing with diabetes, patients who suffer from heart attacks, and we also see non-combat related injuries like sports injuries and vehicle rollovers," he said.

But the teams care for more than just U.S. military members. They also care for and treat coalition forces and Afghan National Army or Police patients as well.

They also treat Afghan civilians as well.

"We provide the same level of care to any patient. It doesn't matter who they are."

Overall, said Sergeant Baker, the teams rely on everyone for mission success.

"Mission success requires every single person doing their job. The patients depend on it."

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