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Deployed medical group commander uses Airman's Creed as foundation for unit vision

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Daniel Delgado
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The newest commander of the 380th Expeditionary Medical Group, Col. Kathleen Concannon, has a unique way of envisioning her time as the new commander of her group.

During her change of command ceremony Jan. 4 at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia, Colonel Concannon laid out her vision for the deployed unit aligning what the medical group brings to the deployed mission with the Airman's Creed. The colonel is deployed from the 319th Medical Group at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.

At her home station she serves as the 319th MDG commander, which delivers healthcare services to nearly 10,000 beneficiaries in a three-state area. As the commander of the 380th EMDG, she is responsible for health care of more than 2,100 members assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing and U.S. Embassy personnel. Colonel Concannon also collaborates with host nation clinical facilities and hospitals for emergency, inpatient and outpatient medical and dental care.

After assuming command of the 380th EMDG, she began by reciting the first three lines of the Airman's Creed. "I am an American Airman," she said. "I am a warrior. I have answered my nations call. Today I get to live that even more than usual."

Of the first line, Colonel Concannon elaborated, saying, "I was lucky enough to be born American. I was smart enough to choose to be an Airman. I was very fortunate for those two events."

Colonel Concannon was raised in a Navy family where she grew up around the world in locations such as Hawaii and Belgium. She graduated high school in Charleston, S.C. and joined the Air Force in 1982 after being awarded a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Villanova University, Penn.

In expounding on the second line of the Airman's Creed, Colonel Concannon said, "I may be a non-combatant as a medic, but let me tell you that in here" she said, pointing to her chest, "beats the heart of a warrior as there is in every medic on this base. We are here to make sure the fight is executed to the utmost of its ability. We will do our job."

Referencing the third line, "I have answered my nation's call, Colonel Concannon said, "Here we are in the combat zone able to really do what our nation asks us to do."

In "answering our nation's call," Colonel Concannon explained how the 380th EMDG's mission corresponds to the missions of the other groups on base. "I also want to point out that as medics we share the same goals as our other groups," she said.

To the maintenance group she said, "We are maintainers. We have the most complex weapon system the Air Force has - the human body. It is so valuable we don't put a price on it. It may be $88 million for a KC-10, and I've seen $270 million for an AWACS. But have you ever seen the cost of one human life?"

To the operations group, Colonel Concannon said, "I'm going tell you as an operator that we have time on target. Want to talk effects-base munitions? We can talk medications, we can talk hands-on care, we can talk about any number of things that make us effective."

The colonel also addressed the mission support group's Airmen. "We support. We support just as [the support group] folks support. We have to work in conjunction with them to make sure that what happens is what needs to happen at the right time."

Colonel Concannon will serve as the deployed commander of the 380th EMDG for six months. During those six months she vowed that her group will do its best for the deployed Airmen of the 380th AEW.

"We medics are here to take care of this wing," Colonel Concannon said. "I'm very proud that I'm able to lead them. I'm very proud of each of them for what they bring to this fight because what you will find over time is that we bring a whole lot more than you may have expected. What they do is allow us to live the last three lines of the Airman's Creed -- 'I will never leave an Airman behind. I will never falter. And I will not fail.'"