MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- 45 AES Participates in Patriot Warrior 2016
FORT MCCOY, Wis. – Nearly 230 Citizen Airmen from across Air Force Reserve Command completed two-weeks of training during 2016 Patriot Warrior exercise, August 23, 2016, here.
Patriot Warrior is an annual contingency deployment training exercise designed to demonstrate training ranging from bare base buildup to full operational capabilities, with 28 Air Force Specialty Codes from 20 different bases, supporting aeromedical evacuation.
More than 25 reservists from the 45th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., participated in the exercise. Col. Jim Palmisano, commander, 45th AES, described how Patriot Warrior prepares them to deploy.
“Air Force Reserve and Air National guard unite support up to 80 percent of AE missions worldwide,” said Palmisano, who also served as the senior observer controller/trainer for the exercise. “Patriot Warrior allows us to ensure our Airmen are prepared to deploy and support the broader fight.
“This exercise is designed for us to go back to the basics,” he continues. “It begins back at the units where they go through their deployment lines and have everything they will need, just as they would for a real deployment.”
Supporting a larger exercise known as Global Medic, Patriot Warrior provides hands on training for AE reservists to experience what they will encounter during a deployment.
“Our job starts hours before a flight may take off,” said Staff Sgt. Jacquelin Rosenow, 45th AES technician. We have to preflight equipment as well as coordinate patient placement to ensure it is all good to go. It is one thing to do it at home station with minimum stress, but out here we never know when we may go on alert and are working with other agencies we would while deployed.”
While deployed AE assigns Aeromedical Evacuation Liaison Teams into forward operating bases to coordinate patient movement with on-site medical personnel.
“After a patient comes into the medical facility they have to be processed and receive authorization before we are able to transport them,” said 1st Lt. Addy Balde, medical services officer, 45th AES. “Once they are processed and stable enough to transport we will send them from the FOB to the air station to be sent for further medical treatment.
“Immediately we would transport them to the en route patient staging facility [known as aeromedical staging at home station] personnel,” she said. The FOBs often have sister services running the medical clinics and my job is to come in and help them understand our requirements in AE and get them access to the computer systems needed and once they were proficient we would forward deploy to another FOB or back to our home station.”
It takes many different people in many different sections to coordinate AE. Without planes being able to land or take off it would a much harder mission to accomplish.
“Patient movement includes many working parts that all need to be on track together,” said Lt. Col. Adam McLean, commander, 63rd Air Refueling Squadron and acting group commander for Patriot Warrior. “We have to be able to get jets on the ground and back up in the air to sustain AEs 99 percent survival rate. This training allows so many agencies on what to expect during a deployment. Things always come up that can change the dynamic of a task or mission and me must always be flexible to respond.”
AE prides itself on always being ready and to always be able, Patriot Warrior emphasizes that.
“What this exercise speaks about is that this Air Force is ready” said Palmisano. “We are not tired, we can go on a moment’s notice and set up camp and bring it!"