Contingency Airman receives AMC Specialized Mission Award for service with Afghan MEDEVAC teams

Published Feb. 1, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Maj. John Baer, assistant director of operations for the 21st Air Mobility Operations Squadron, 621st Contingency Response Wing, has been selected for the 2010 Air Mobility Command Specialized Mission Award for his duties while assigned to the 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan.

This award recognizes an outstanding individual whose performance of duties in support of an aerial air mobility mission is exceptionally noteworthy during crises, contingencies, or humanitarian airlift."

Through a year of mentoring, classroom instruction and hands-on experience, Baer and his team worked to improve the level of aeromedical and casualty evacuation care provided by the Afghan Air Force.
Modern battlefield medicine relies on a network of battlefield aid stations, regional medical centers and rehabilitative hospitals linked by an air evacuation system that quickly and safely moves patients up the chain. For a wounded soldier in the Afghan National Security Forces, MEDEVAC was often provided by a Coalition Force aircraft and crew, not by his fellow Afghans.

Baer's small team of American medical mentors and their coalition partners worked "shoulder to shoulder" with their Afghan medical counterparts to teach these necessary skills and build the capacity for them to care for their own in combat.

In Sep. 2010, wounded Afghans began to be evacuated to higher levels of care on regularly scheduled AAF transports and helicopters under the care of Afghan aeromedical technicians trained by Baer and his team.

"When we first arrived at Kandahar, the air evacuation system was very basic," said Baer. "The regional hospital would just deliver patients to the next available flight to Kabul without preparation or prior coordination and simply put them on the floor. Once the plane took off, there weren't any flight medics on board to provide care."

Baer helped set up a training program to teach a small core of AAF aerial medics how to stabilize patients for flight and secure them safely on the aircraft to prevent further injury. They also taught them the special skills needed to care for wounded soldiers in the air.

"We would spend two days a week in the classroom teaching aeromedical care through repetition and hands-on practice," he said. "In addition to patient prep and in-flight care, we provided instruction with advanced equipment to care for more seriously injured soldiers. They picked up the technology with enthusiasm, despite a few language and literacy barriers."

He spent a great deal of time in the air alongside the Afghan medics on AAF flights.

"I flew alongside Afghan medics on 55 missions in their MI-17s as we put our classroom work into the lives of wounded Afghans," said the major. "These were challenging missions and they made a real difference, I saw them save lives."

The mentor team also worked with the ANSF hospital system, AAF and the Afghan medical coordination center to address the random and unscheduled approach to aeromedical evacuation. The key was having the hospitals know when they needed to move patients to aircraft dedicated to MEDEVAC missions, and also in having trained medics ready to fly on them.

The AAF's Kabul and Kandahar Air Wings created weekly flights from the Kandahar Regional Medical Center to the National Military Hospital in Kabul. The regular missions schedule time for the KRMC to prepare wounded Afghans for transport and to prioritize care for the most critical cases.

Considering the conditions at the beginning of his tour, Baer was very impressed with the changes.

"In less than ten months, ANSF aeromedical care evolved from basically 'a plane is here, place him on the floor' to Afghans coordinating and scheduling their own medical evacuation missions. They are also preparing, securing and caring for their wounded countrymen in flight," said Baer. "I'm very proud to have been working alongside the Afghans during the start of this critical capability."

Article Display