Mobility Airman profile: Joint Base Andrews Airman keeps supplies ready to aid wounded warriors at Iraq base

Published Dec. 22, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- At the Air Force Theater Hospital at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, there are doctors, nurses and other medical staff who need medical supplies available to them on a daily basis to care for patients who include wounded warriors.

One of the Airmen making sure those supplies are ready every day is Senior Airman Jessica Huynh -- a medical materiel logistics journeyman deployed with the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, at Joint Base Balad. Airman Huynh, a native of Houston, Texas, is deployed from the 779th Medical Support Squadron, 79th Medical Wing, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., where she works in the Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility.

At her deployed location, Medical logistics Airmen like Airman Huynh stock the Air Force Theater Hospital with supplies and fresh linen, ensure information systems are up and running properly, help maintain medical equipment, keep the facility clean and in good working order and provide contract oversight, according to a 332nd AEW Public Affairs news report. And customers of theirs are happy to receive the support.

"The (logistics flight) provides outstanding materiel, information systems, biomedical equipment maintenance and facility management support to the phenomenal healthcare teams here at the (Air Force Theater Hospital)," said Maj. James Jeffers, 332nd EMDSS medical flight commander in the news report.

To do her job proficiently, Airman Huynh is trained in a myriad of skills, according to her official Air Force job description. This includes performing and managing administrative functions where she requisitions, receives and maintains medical materiel publication files.

In performing, organizing and monitoring medical materiel management functions, Airman Huynh is trained to prepare and validate computer input data to establish, revise and maintain master records. She also determines requirements for and maintains records on war reserve materiel and other special programs, initiates and manages the requisitioning, receipt, storage, issue and turn-in of medical materiel, and ensures proper supply flow under various issue methods.

Medical materiel Airmen like Airman Huynh also conduct inventories and process, maintain and monitors requests for services as well as coordinate internal operations with a medical equipment maintenance activity, the job description states. They also establish and ensure timely and efficient management of excess materiel and equipment, receive and inspect incoming supplies and equipment, apply special handling procedures for controlled medical items, gases, precious metals, dangerous and hazardous materials and refrigerated or frozen materials. They provide and maintain medical kits and sets and deliver supplies and equipment to supported activities.

At her home station in the 79th MDW, Airman Huynh supports a mission "to provide the right care, in the right way, supporting readiness here and around the world." The 79th MDW is also home to the 779th Aeromedical Staging Facility. The 779th ASF, the wing's fact sheet states, serves as the primary East Coast hub for aeromedical evacuation aircraft returning sick or injured patients from Europe to the United States for care. "This is the busiest gateway in the U.S. for patients awaiting transportation back to their home stations."

According to its base Web site, Joint Base Balad is located approximately 42 miles north of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle region, which was considered the power base of Saddam Hussein. Joint Base Balad also includes what was formerly Logistics Support Area Anaconda, the largest Army supply center in Iraq.

(Senior Airman Tong Duong, 332nd AEW Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)