Award-winning Airman supporting New Horizons 2014 medical training

Photo By 1st Lt. Kali Gradishar | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Molly Cox, New Horizons medical logistics, carries a box of while packing up operations at the school on the final day of the medical readiness training exercises April 17, 2014, in Libertad, Belize. The exercises, also known as MEDRETES, offered U.S. and Canadian military doctors and nurses the opportunity to train and interact with their Belizean counterparts while providing free health care to Belizean residents. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kali L. Gradishar/Released)  

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE

04.19.2014

Story by Tech. Sgt. Kali Gradishar 

12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern)

BELIZE CITY, Belize - After only four years in service, Staff Sgt. Molly Cox has expanded her medical logistics knowledge as she continues to gain experience in operations all around the world.

Cox calls both Scribner, Neb., and Arkansas City, Kan., home, but she has been around the world operating as a medical logistics Airman.

Cox has deployed to Iraq and an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, and she is currently deployed in support of New Horizons Belize 2014.

New Horizons is an annual event coordinated amongst U.S. Department of Defense service members, the U.S. Embassy and the host nation government to conduct civil engineer and medical training. The training benefits U.S. forces as they are offered an opportunity to practice deployment and joint training procedures.

New Horizons will consist of U.S. military and Belizean workers coordinating the building of schools and hospitals in the area, and it also includes Canadian Army, U.S. military and Belizean medical teams working together in medical readiness training exercises, or MEDRETES.

Cox supports New Horizons by "coordinating the transport and receiving of all medical cargo that supports the MEDRETES," she said. "I coordinate the hand-off of supplies to the Army and Air Force MEDRETES."

"It's like any other deployment that I have ever been on," she said. "You have to learn as you go and be versatile."

Deploying to a new country and being afforded the opportunity to interact with the local population provides a greater perspective on the world as a whole, but also offers a different perspective in one's occupational specialty.

Being deployed in Belize is "probably going to give me the confidence to tackle other issues," Cox said. "It's given me the experience of dealing with port logistics, something we don't normally see in our job."

• Date Taken: 04.19.2014
• Date Posted: 04.19.2014 12:59
• Story ID: 126727
• Location: BELIZE CITY, BZ
• Hometown: ARKANSAS CITY, KS, US
• Hometown: SCRIBNER, NE, US