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Pope's AES trains Travis Airmen for deployment

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Chris Hoyler
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The rumbling C-130H makes its final approach on the torn-up runway, and the 15 or so Airmen kneeling on the grass about 100 feet away rise in conjunction, making sure their patient litter is stable before walking toward the flightline. 

Out at a point midway between them and the back of the aircraft, another Airman signals the route for the crew to take to get to the aircraft. 

Once they reach the back of the aircraft, other medical Airmen direct them to load their patient litter on either the right or left side. Once they leave the aircraft, another crew with another patient is already halfway to the plane, continuing the process until the patients are secure. 

For any of the Airmen who are part of a Mobile Aeromedical Staging Facility, the job is far from over once the aircraft is loaded. As the back of the aircraft closes and prepares for departure, the MASF team members create a defense perimeter of about 300 feet, laying face down in the grass with their weapons watching for enemies who may prevent the aircraft from taking off securely and getting the patients the medical attention they need. 

Only when the aircraft takes off and departs is the crew good to move on to their next mission. 

This could be the scene on any given day in a deployed environment for aeromedical evacuation personnel, including those here at Pope with the 43rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. 

The 43rd AES deploys worldwide on a moment's notice, but from July 7 through 11 they were out at the training grounds of Camp Mackall serving as cadre for their own squadron members and members of the 60th Medical Group at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., who came here to train as a MASF team and executed the exact scenario described above as one of the final parts of their week-long training. 

43rd AES members have been coming out to Camp Mackall to train once a quarter for years, but the MASF training just started in January, and after the Travis unit there are two more scheduled here for this August and September. 

The training started with a one-day crash course of the basics  at Pope and included basic convoy operations, litter loading and ruck packing. From there, it was on to Camp Mackall the following morning. The students, ranging in rank from senior airman to major, rucked the final two miles to reach their camp site before several hours of instruction on how to correctly put together a multiple-tent structure. 

The early portions of the field training may be repetitive for the students considering they go through a basic MASF skills course, Aeromedical Evacuation Contingency Operational Training (AECOT), before arriving. The class is conducted in a field site with classroom training included, but is meant to be more of an overview of the entire AE process. The training at Camp Mackall is different. 

"Here they have a half day in the classroom and a half day loading the equipment in the vehicles," Capt. Nathan Ferguson, 43rd AES cadre, said. "The next four days are in the field which is an hour convoy from Pope. They are completely out of their element." 

All they have is what is packed in their vehicles and what they carry in on their back. Staff Sgt. Phil Benson, also 43rd AES cadre, added, "With a brand new MASF we have to train them step by step on everything. We have to remember that these people have never done this before. Our goal is to put them into stressful situations, take them out of their comfort zone and see how they react." 

The stressful situations really started on the first night out in the field, July 8, when the cadre started simulated attacks on the students' newly-built camp. After a day that started before 6 a.m., the students still had to be on their toes and ready to work with patients in all situations. 

"I think I'm learning what I need to know to be effective in theatre," said 2nd Lt. Leslie Balcazar, 60th Medical Diagnostics and Theraputic Squadron. 

Senior Airman Holly Jansenius, 60th Inpatient Operations Squadron, added, "Before this, we only trained on aircraft simulators, where there would only be the back of the aircraft to load litters and the pace is slower. This is so much different, now the heat and all the other elements get to us while were working." 

Sergeant Mennone said that the training was generated and tweaked by Airmen who have deployed as part of MASFs, which helps ensure that the training is as realistic and up to date as possible. 

The operations tempo was high throughout the third day, July 9, and continued through July 10, and both afternoons saw the students practice "engine-running onloads," which means loading the patients into the C-130 while the plane idles with the engines running. 

By the time the vehicles were setup by the landing strip and the students were ready to move their patients on the afternoon of July 10, dark clouds threatened the rest of the day's activities. While the 43rd AES could work through week-long weather issues on the ground, they had no control over whether the aircrew would decide not to do the three landings and takeoffs scheduled. 

For the entire week, the students were able to practice three engine-running onloads.
"It was half of what we had planned, but we can't control the weather," Captain Ferguson said. "The main thing is that the students were able to load a real aircraft with the engines running." 

By the end of the July 10 running-engine onload, the week was all but over for the students. The only thing left was getting through Thursday night and Friday morning and returning to the squadron building here to outprocess. 

"I thought the week went extremely well," Sergeant Benson said. "Each group reacts differently depending on the training they receive at home, their leadership within the group and things like that. At first a group might seem as though they won't make it, but by Thursday, the team is well on their way to be successful." 

The students weren't the only ones to learn new things throughout the week. Because of the high-tempo deployment operations 43rd AES is subjected too, the cadre is constantly changing. Sergeant Mennone credited the other members of his team, like Sergeant Benson, for helping to keep him active during the week and making him comfortable with instructing, a skill that comes naturally for Sergeant Benson. 

"This is the most rewarding job I have had in the Air Force," Sergeant Benson said. 

"Being able to teach these students who have no knowledge on day one and by day five have a working knowledge of what to do in a stressful situation, that's what makes the countless hours of preparation and hard work worth it."