137 AES holds joint emergency training with diverse airframes

by Senior Airman Kasey Phipps
137th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

9/21/2015 - WILL ROGERS AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Okla. -- Members of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, 137th

Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron participated in a joint Air National Guard training mission Sept. 12, with West Virginia's 130th Airlift Wing.

The mission provides the two 137 AES crews the essential flight readiness training on an Air Force C-130 Hercules airframe piloted by different flight crews.

"It enforces the total force concept," said Major Robert Huhn, medical crew director.  "I mean, we fly with active duty, guard and reserve. Everybody does something just a little bit different. So the more exposure to the different units that you have, the more you learn the tricks of the trade."

Each crew had three medical technicians and two flight nurses who trained in multiple scenarios designed to test their knowledge and skill in specific flight treatment areas. The crews treated and stabilized patients through several obstacles, including unexpected landings, cargo loads, in-flight fires, rapid decompression and trauma emergencies.

"I like that sometimes we sit down and break down the scenario, and that's really great to be able to think about what you're going to do," said Senior Airman Josselyn Davis, a medical technician on one of the crews. "When we're in a real-world situation, we'll have a more broken down way of looking at it. For me, that's extremely vital."

To successfully complete these scenarios, Airmen had to learn to navigate the complexities of the C-130 as opposed to the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, which they train on regularly. This included learning different space conservation techniques, litter positioning, tie down configurations and even power outlet locations.

"Today simulated a real world mission that the Guard and Reserve are going to be taking on more often, which is a CONUS redistribution mission where the patients arrive from Germany," said Huhn. "We're going to pick them up at Andrews Air Force Base, and we're going to distribute them either up and down the coast or out to San Antonio for their redistribution west. This is the exact type of aircraft that we'd be doing that on."

"There's no way to fully understand what you're getting yourself into without fully doing what we do, coming out here and getting the rhythm down," Davis added.

While the major focus of the mission was recruit readiness, there were other equally beneficial outcomes, said Huhn.

"The biggest benefit from today was exposure to different airframes and different air crews from around the Air National Guard," he said.