375th AES, 92nd ARW hone combat capabilities

Airmen from the 375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the 92nd Air Refueling Wing assigned to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, recently participated in a three-day training event that gave them the opportunity to hone their skills.

During these training opportunities, Airmen from the 375th AES practice operating on a KC-135 Stratotanker.

“We make sure to work on multiple different things when we train, like what we would have to do with patients on the plane and what to do during plane emergencies as well,” said Capt. Jeremy Nelson, 375th AES flight nurse.

“There are situations that can happen with different patients depending on their diagnoses, so we go over how to treat them and the difference between how to treat them on the ground versus in the air.”

The mission of AE Airmen is to provide fixed-wing movement of patients requiring supervision by aeromedical evacuation personnel to locations offering appropriate levels of medical care, and they must do all of this while soaring at 25,000 feet and communicating with one another over the roaring engines of the Stratotanker.

Although weather and maintenance prevented them from flying during this event, they regularly train for both ground and air operations.

“We do training like this pretty much every week,” said Nelson. “We do live missions every week as well—could be Pacific missions or missions stateside, so these trainings go on multiple times a week.”

The Airmen from the 375th AES have to maintain at least four flight hours a month to stay current on the flight requirements, and a majority of the time, the Airmen must travel to different bases to meet their quotas.

“If it wasn’t for this training, then we wouldn’t be ready when a real-world mission happens. You can’t really train enough,” said Nelson. “The more you train, the more you get experience and hands-on with the equipment you get, the better you will perform in a real situation.”

This training was not just beneficial for the AE Airmen. It also helped the pilots from Fairchild as well.

“When you deploy you never know who you will be flying with or who you will be flying,” said Capt. Brenton Batzer, 93rd Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 pilot. “So it’s important that we all train together and practice like we fight.”

The U.S. Air Force is the world’s most dominant airpower, and to remain on top, teamwork and working with other units across the Air Force is essential to getting the mission done.

This story was originally published July 4, 2018 at 12:53 PM.