Pope Field FTU final hurdle for Reserve medics

by Tech. Sgt. Peter R. Miller
440th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

3/12/2014 - POPE FIELD, N.C. -- "I like to bring the game to the patient so that's what we'll do," Maj. Laurel Minard said as she began her pre-mission brief. "Patients don't deserve our sympathy, they deserve our skill."

Minard, a nurse with the 349th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., was beginning the capstone culmination of years of medical training - her final flight evaluation. Passing the final flight evaluation certifies a nurse to provide in-flight medical care to patients and command an in-flight medical crew. Certification is the final step in becoming a flight nurse.

The Aeromedical Evacuation Formal Training Unit at Pope Field is the last hurdle in a marathon training regimen that takes commissioned and enlisted aeromedical evacuation Airmen across the United States, said Staff Sgt. Shelby Adney, a 349th AES AE technician. The training pipeline takes students from the classroom at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, to water survival school at Fairchild AFB, Wash., ending at the AEFTU at Pope Field, N.C. In total, the training regimen takes between six and seven months.

"I love that the training here is hands-on and not just slide shows," said Senior Airman Hannah Rice, a student from the 94th AES, Dobbins AFB, Ga. "The instructors teach one-on-one and are very personable. They make sure you understand what is going on."

Rice said becoming an AE crewmember is something she has wanted since she joined the Air Force Reserve four years ago. She spent that time as a medic with the 94th Aeromedical Staging Transfer Squadron until a position became available in AE. Aeromedical evacuation crewmembers are different from other medics as they are certified to provide medical care in-flight.

"I look forward to helping people who can't help themselves," said Rice. "We are not free to help ourselves. We are free to help others."

Maj. Bryan Hutcheson, a 94th AES flight nurse instructor, said the training program focuses on teamwork. Aeromedical crews generally deploy in a crew of five Airmen with two flight nurses and three enlisted AE technicians. This crew will typically remain together as a team throughout a deployment so it is important they work well together.

"They have to be prepared," said Lt. Col. Maureen Allen, the AEFTU detachment commander. "The bottom line is taking care of patients."

Allen said she did not have the benefit of a formal training unit when she underwent her certification training, being that the AEFTU welcomed its first class in 2010. Without the formal training unit, the certification process would have to be completed by each member's unit, which can be logistically difficult to accomplish. The FTU has the capacity to train 120 students annually.

"They are so fortunate to have this opportunity," said Allen. "Typically, several students arrive here knowing they will deploy soon after returning to their units."

Rice said she is scheduled for her first deployment early next year.

"Even in high school, I thought about going to college, but I always wanted to do something different," she said. "The military is a very different thing. Normal everyday people are not doing crazy, dangerous stuff and saving peoples' lives. I love it."

Of the 32 AE squadrons in the Air Force, 18 are staffed by Reserve units, said Hutcheson. The Air Force Reserve accomplishes approximately 93 percent of all aeromedical evacuation missions.