What is a CCATT? Published Dec. 17, 2010 By Col. Christopher "doc" Lentz 315th Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Critical Care Air Transport Teams know as CCATTs are a concept of operations born in the post Operation Desert Storm era when the medical footprint in the area of responsibility was large. The reason being was that traditional aeromedical evacuation would only provide intercontinental transport for stable patients. Leaving the critically ill in the AOR would increase the need for facilities and supplies to care for those patients until they were stable for flight. This came at a great cost. CCATTs provided a method to transfer stabilized, critically ill patients; meaning that their shock and life and limb threatening injuries were initially treated at a forward operating base. Then the patients would be transferred to a fixed facility to complete their care. In our current conflicts, seriously injured patients are stabilized in forward locations in Iraq and Afghanistan and then transferred by CCATT to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. This is typically an 8-hour flight aboard a C-17. Once treated, the injured are then transferred back to the states via another CCATT to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C. or National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md. This is a 10-12-hour flight on another C-17 depending on the headwinds. The CCATT is a three-member team consisting of a physician, nurse and respiratory therapist. The physician is the team leader who has specialty training in intensive care, emergency medicine, anesthesiology or surgery. The nurse has certified critical care expertise and the respiratory therapist has training in an intensive care unit. The team is an augmentation of the current aeromedical evacuation team, but is not part of the AE crew. The team can care for up to three patients on mechanical ventilation or up to six non-ventilated patients. CCATT UTCs are usually found in medical squadrons or in aeromedical staging squadrons They are not part of the manning of an aerospace medicine squadron so therefore, there are no CCATTs at Joint Base Charleston. So, how did I end up filling a manning request for a CCATT physician? When I first came on active duty in 1996, I was assigned to the 59th Medical Wing at Lackland AFB, Texas. I had specialty training in general surgery, burn surgery and surgical critical care. Based on my expertise, I was assigned to CCATT. While on active duty, our missions were primarily single patient transfers in the C-21 Lear jet. During my time as a CCATT physician, I was instrumental in creating a physician checklist for pre-, intra- and post-mission responsibilities. I was also one of the founding faculties of the CCATT training course at Brooks City-Base, San Antonio, Texas. When they needed a short notice manning in December, I volunteered for the deployment. How does someone become a CCATT member? First, there must be manning for it in your unit and you must have an Air Force Specialty Code representing one of the previously named specialties. The training requires evidence of providing approximately 800 hours of critical care annually. The necessary training courses now consists of two components. There is a 2-week CCATT Basic Course at Brooks City Base for learning the fundamentals of the equipment and its capabilities, and learning teamwork. This course is currently being moved to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The second phase is the CCATT Advance Course taught at the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills locations at Cincinnati, Boston, St. Louis and San Antonio. This two-week course is an intense training experience using table-top scenarios and patient simulations in a static environment and on a C-130. It is also a validating course. If you do not pass, you cannot deploy as a CCATT. The failure rate can be as high as 25%. Many times, it is difficult to see the impact we have as members of the Air Force, on our country and its citizens. And sometimes it is hard to continue putting forth maximum effort as a reservist, balancing our family life and civilian careers, with the inability to visualize the results of this labor. Being a member of CCATT allows me to see the work of a great many people in the care continuity chain as we fly our wounded warriors home. The medics, pilots, aerial porters, loggies, maintainers and chaplains are all intimately involved in these wounded defenders of our country. Nothing can replace the reward of experiencing the gratitude in the eyes and hearts of both the wounded warrior and their families for bring their loved ones back to America. And it is why this CCATT mission really makes me love the job that I do.