Kunsan medics train with Army for evacuation missions

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Approximately 40 Airmen from the 8th Medical Group participated in medical evacuation training here Jan. 19. The Airmen also trained with U.S. Army medics and pilots from the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade at Camp Humphreys.

The 8th MDG Airmen, which mainly consisted of flight surgeons, doctors, nurses and techicians, worked alongside Army UH-60 Blackhawk pilots and their flight medics. Together, the Total Force contigent learned medevac operations around the helicopter.

Maj. Karen Hines, 8th Medical Operations Squadron health and wellness center director, was invovled with inviting the Camp Humprheys team to Kunsan to help familiarize Wolf Pack medics with the medevac concept.

"Any time a patient needs to move urgently to a higher echelon of care, that's when you would consider a medevac," said Major Hines. "We also call it a dustoff. In this situation, someone who has to get out that quickly is seriously injured.."

"A lot of times, medevac situations don't take place in ideal conditions like this, with the rotors off and the sun shining," Major Hines said. "It could be in low light during a hot onload, so the more familiar we are with the scenario and the equipment, the more prepared we will be."

The training on the 19th focused on both cold and hot loading, which is loading patients onto the helicopter with the rotor off for cold loading, and the rotor on for hot loading.

Capt. Jared Brynildsen, Camp Humphreys UH-60 pilot, was one of the U.S. Army Soldiers who assisted the Kunsan Airmen in the Black Hawk medevac training.  

"Once the blades start spinning, the significance of safety goes way up," Captain Brynildsen said. "That's why they're practicing it now, so they know how to approach when the rotor is spinning."

Army Staff Sgt. Reginald Jones, Camp Humphreys helicopter flight medic, began the training by explaining what equipment he keeps on board, the different patient configurations the helicopter is capable of, types of training he must remain proficient in and the pros and cons of being a flight medic.

"To be a flight medic, we must take a flight medical course with different levels of life support and basically learn how to prepared to fix any injury that's caused," Sergeant Jones said. "It's very rewarding and I get to see and experience a lot, but it's very difficult working in this environment."

Once the question and answer portion of the training took place, the Soldiers then began with hands-on instruction. The 8th MDG Airmen took part in many aspects of the helicopter medevac training, including how to load and unload patients during a real-world scenario.

Staff Sgt. Wilsondo Alteus, 8th MDOS flight medicine technician, said he enjoyed learning how to load and offload patients from the aircraft the most.

"I've done this before with just the litters, but walking onto the helicopter was totally different," Sergeant Alteus said. "We're watching how to load and offload patients while making sure we're safe, the patient is safe and that everything is done the way it's supposed to be done."

Sergeant Alteus said he also saw how parts of the mission are more difficult than others.

"Loading the patient is the easy part, but trying to be sure you come in quickly at the right angle and that the patient is safe is hard. Watching how they configure the aircraft also looks challenging," he said.

Tech. Sgt. Daniel Johnson, 8th Medical Support Squadron NCO in charge of outpatient records, said he wished he had encountered this training before his deployment.

"We were able to see what our sister service does (for medevac missions) on this peninsula in a controlled environment. The last time I got this type of training, I had mortars landing around me," Sergeant Johnson said. "This training was perfect for my career field. As a 4A0 (health services management technician), we offload patients directly off the helicopter. Many people have not been in front of a real helicopter, and this gives us the opportunity to see what it's really like."

Lt. Quinn Meyes, Camp Humphreys UH-60 pilot, assisted Capt. Brynildsen with the medevac training. He said he was pleased that the exercises went so well.

"My favorite part of the training was seeing how excited people got about being around a helicopter; a lot of people haven't gotten to experience that," Lieutenant Meyers said. "For us it's work every day."

"This training provided everyone the chance to get exposure to the aircraft," Captain Brynildsen said. "We don't get to come down here and train with the Air Force as much as we'd like, so having them able to get around our aircraft was a good opportunity to work together and build professional relationships."