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Scott sergeant provides comfort for wounded warriors

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Amber R. Kelly-Herard
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Sundays around Germany are normally quiet and reserved as a day for rest, except for the hum of a C-17 Globemaster III and the conversations between aeromedical evacuation personnel heard on the flightline of Ramstein Air Base. Those are the sounds of lives being saved.

Three times a week, 40 to 50 wounded warriors pass through the 86th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, where they stay and receive medical care while waiting for a flight home.

"It all starts with a phone call that a patient is inbound, and then we begin to call everyone and other supporting agencies to get ready," said Senior Airman Gina Lopez, an administrative technician deployed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

After the patients arrive, they are cared for until transport is available.

While staying at the 86th CASF, the patients also have a USO at their disposal with internet, telephones, board games, clothes, morale trips and a voucher for the Base Exchange.

"Pretty much anything you can think of, we have it," said Airman Lopez, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native. "We've gone on trips to the Rhine River and are always hosting cook outs."

Another convenience at the 86th CASF is an in-house pharmacist who can prescribe, recycle or properly dispose of medications.

Staff Sgt. Greg Burian, stationed at Scott AFB, Ill., is deployed to the 86th CSAF to help provide ground support to the AE crews.

"What we do is an honor that is hard to describe," said the St. Charles, Mo., native. "I do anything I can to make sure that the patient is comfortable while trying to get home, and although it is a small piece, that is my way of helping the mission."

But Sergeant Burian depends on the whole team to complete the mission.

"I'm just one of many," he added. "The members of the CASF are outstanding. I've seen a lot, but I am very proud of my contribution and that I can tell my wife and son what I am doing."

For Sergeant Burian, his son, Liam, who was 3-weeks-old when he left for his deployment, is his motivation.

Once transport is ready, the patients are brought to the flight line and loaded onto the plane. The process takes 30-45 minutes to load the patients on the plane and another 20 minutes to secure them.

Since March of 2003, more than 107,600 wounded warriors have passed through the 86th CASF.