179TH AW TRAINS WITH 86TH AEROMEDICAL EVACUATION SQUADRON

Story by A1C Alexis Wade on 09/25/2019

Members of the 164th Airlift Squadron assigned to the 179th Airlift Wing, Mansfield, Ohio, along with members from the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, recently conducted an Aeromedical Evacuation exercise as a part of the Silver Arrow mission, strengthening their skills globally through training on real world aeromedical evacuation scenarios.

This exercise gave both crews the opportunity to practice real scenarios regarding the AE mission. The AE mission provides time sensitive, mission critical en route to care to patients to medical treatment facilities.

"Exercises like these are extremely beneficial for both the 164th and 86th by not only giving each other the opportunity to train on our skills, but to also increase interoperability globally through this mission." Said Col. Darren Hamilton, 164th Operations Group Commander, assigned to the 179th Airlift Wing.

This exercise simulated patient transportation to and from the aircraft and in-flight patient care while traveling from Ramstein Air Base to Naval Station Rota, Spain.

This exercise was extremely beneficial to both crews, as it gave them the opportunity to collaborate and train with each other for whatever the mission may call for.

"This specific exercise was very helpful as we don't have a dedicated aircraft, we use any aircraft available to us," said Captain Ashley Ostroswki, member of the 86th Air Medical Evacuation Squadron, Ramstein Air Base. "Any time we get to use a different type of aircraft to practice running real world scenarios is extremely beneficial."

This was a fantastic opportunity getting to train on this mission and demonstrate our skills, said Hamilton. This is an amazing mission set to have and with the 179th having C-130s, we are fully capable and willing to accomplish the Aeromedical Evacuation mission.