15 Guard, Reserve members complete aeromedical evacuation training program

by Senior Airman Melissa Dearstone
440th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

8/14/2013 - POPE FIELD, N.C. -- After seven schools and months of training, 15 students from the reserve component Aeromedical Evacuation Formal Training Unit completed the final 28-day program and graduated Aug. 12.

Special guests at the ceremony included Col. Brian Kraemer, 440th Operations Group commander and guest speaker Staff Sgt. Beau Embrey of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field.

Embrey talked about his medical evacuation experience after being shot while deployed to Afghanistan. "The crews that were helping me to safety and to get home were incredible. They took care of all my needs and by the time I arrived back here, I was able to walk off the plane. Hats off to you guys for what you do, I'm very humbled."

"The students graduating today were such a phenomenal group," said Lt. Col. Maureen Allen, AE FTU commander. "This was a diverse group with all different backgrounds and throughout the whole training kept positive attitudes. I would just like to thank them all for their hard work and dedication."

The AE FTU is the final training students complete in order to be able to fly and care for medical patients without instructors present.

"The program is extremely hard work," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Black, AE FTU nstructor. "The students as well as instructors are working long days and are very dedicated to their mission."

Students learn patient care and everything about the C-130, KC-135 and C-17, which are the three aircraft used in the career field.

"There are 10 days of classroom training and tests," said Black. "Then the students will move on to our simulators which are fabricated from the fuselages of decommissioned aircraft and equipped with special effects to create realistic 'in-flight' situations and emergencies."

Lt. Col. Bryan Koenig,  934th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Minneapolis Air Reserve Station, Minn., said that volunteering to be a flight nurse instructor for the AE FTU is gratifying and rewarding. He said that when the students first arrive they need instruction and guidance, but by the end of the training the instructors just sit back and watch how much students have grown and learned throughout the last 28 days.

Senior Airman Charla Colbert, 908th AES, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., said that her biggest accomplishment was stepping up in leadership roles during the simulations and making sure her crew was taken care of as well as making sure what needed to be done was being accomplished.

"I'm glad it's done," said Colbert. "It was a lot of training, hard work, long hours and dedication but it's very rewarding and I'm excited to go back to my home unit."

The AE FTU is a specialized school that provides aeromedical evacuation crew members with basic aircrew qualifications on three different types of aircraft. The school is the only AE FTU in the Air Force for Reserve and Guard Airmen. Instructors are Airmen from different aeromedical evacuation squadrons all over the country who volunteer for assignments to teach students how to successfully do the job.