Aussies train to save lives on the C-17

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  • By TSgt Chris Vadnais
  • AFN
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii --  A team of sixteen medical professionals met for aero medical evacuation operations training here this week. 

Five Airmen from the 18th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Japan showed eleven members of the Royal Australian Air Force's Health Services Wing how the American Air Force uses the C-17 Globemaster III for medical evacuations.

Aeromedical evacuation, or A.E., is an important facet of modern airlift. Medical teams use state of the art mobile equipment to care for the injured and sick en route to traditional medical facilities.

The U.S. Air Force's newest cargo jet, the C-17 Globemaster III, is well suited for A.E. tasks. The versatile jet is also the newest addition to the Royal Australian Air Force's arsenal.

The training also introduced the Australians to some of the support equipment the U.S. teams use, which the Aussies are also planning to buy. Of course updated equipment brings medics enhanced lifesaving power, but Wing Commander Sandy Riley, Health Training Staff Officer for the Royal Australian Air Force, said that equipment also comes with a learning curve. This training is designed to counter that.

"We've got expertise in A.E., but not on the C-17," said Wing Commander Riley. "The C-17 was rapidly introduced into service (in Australia), so this is invaluable training for us to use the expertise of the PACAF guys and the 18th AES," she said.

The Royal Australian Air Force now has three C-17s, and will soon get their fourth. Wing Commander Riley said the aircraft is changing how AE operations are executed in her country.

"We can get to mass-casualty scenarios--our critically injured folks--in almost half the time of a C-130, so for us it's really projecting medical care forward a lot faster," she said.

Another reason medics prefer the C-17 over the C-130 is its on-board AC power. This allows medics to bring more robust and advanced equipment--equipment that doesn't require batteries.

"We're getting more and more complex medical equipment forward to our casualties a lot faster and we're able to treat a lot more complex patients, and then bring them back home," said Wing Commander Riley.

"It's really changing the way we do business," she said.

18th AES instructors found the experience just as enlightening as their Australian students did. Capt. Mikki Wright, lead instructor for the 18th AES team, said the Australians do things a little differently.

"It's very interesting to see the way that they do AE compared to the way we do AE," said Capt Wright.

"For instance, they always fly with a doctor on their crew, we don't. It's just little differences like that, they have a lot of great experience to share with us as well," she said.

Between the classroom training, the hands-on learning in the jet on the ground, and the four-hour flight exercise, the training was quite comprehensive. Students said it was very realistic, too--aside from having a few extra people looking in on them.

"It's a large aircraft, but we still have basically three times the amount of people you would normally have doing this task," said Flight Sgt. Frank Alcantara, a training evaluator for the Royal Australian Air Force's Health Services Wing.

"You operate with teams of five and we've essentially got 15 personnel here," he said. "The hard thing for us as instructors is to try and stay out of the picture, but at the same time try to make sure that the practices that the medics are doing are in accordance with our publications," he said.

This small investment is likely to yield tremendous results. Bolstering Australia's A.E. capability means one of America's strongest allies in the Pacific is now even stronger.

Flt. Sgt. Alcantara said the partnership between the U.S. and Australia has been strong since World War II, and that he thinks that will continue.

"This is 'proof of the pudding,' as we say back home," he said.

"The fact is we're sharing the same technologies, the same set of training, and we're doing it very successfully and very happily as well."