Photo By Ryan Labadens | Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brown, 403rd Aeromedical Staging Squadron chief dental officer,...... read more read more
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KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. – Ensuring that the Air Force remains fit to fight is, in essence, the responsibility of every individual Airman. All Airmen play a part in maintaining their own fitness and wellbeing. It is the job of one particular group of Citizen Airmen to make sure the members of the Air Force Reserve stay in good physical condition, and that role falls to the Aeromedical Staging Squadron.
Lt. Col. Craig Breland, 403rd ASTS director of operations and plans, gave a straightforward response regarding how ASTS fits into the overall mission of the 403rd Wing.
“For the 403rd Wing, the main mission for us is to ensure that the wing is healthy,” said Breland.
The squadron, which operates mainly out of the Keesler Medical Center on unit training assembly weekends, offers a variety of services to wing members to assess their current health.
“We have dental services, we have laboratory services, optometry, and we obviously have physicians, nurses and medical technicians,” said Breland. “We also have a complement of logistics and medical administration personnel, and with that, the overall goal for us is to ensure that all of our members are healthy and ready to go to war.”
To do this requires the proper manning in each of the clinics, which is the job of Tech. Sgt. Antonio Stuckey, 403rd ASTS physical exams services noncommissioned officer in charge.
“I have the responsibility of rotating each (technician) out on the enlisted side to make sure that they get trained in each area, and I always make sure that any paperwork, supplies, or whatever they need to service our members is available to them,” said Stuckey.
Since the 403rd Wing has assigned two flying units – the 815th Airlift Squadron “Flying Jennies” and the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron “Hurricane Hunters,” which fly the C-130J and WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft, respectively – the medical squadron also needs to make sure the aircrews are in tip-top condition in case they need to deploy in support of the theater commander, said Stuckey.
During the UTA however, medical personnel normally perform routine eye and dental exams, draw blood to test for different health conditions (such as HIV), and administer immunizations, said Breland. They also process forms brought in by wing members from their civilian dentists and healthcare providers.
Breland noted that one common misconception about ASTS is that they can treat wing members for various illnesses and injuries while here on UTA or any other status.
“If you broke your arm, and I’m a physician (with ASTS), I can’t fix your arm – we’d have to take you to the emergency room,” said Breland. Active-duty medical personnel assigned to the 81st Training Wing would assist in treatment. “Basically, what our physicians do here is take information given by your civilian practitioner and transcribe it for use by the Air Force.”
If ASTS members themselves were ever to deploy, Breland noted their tasks overseas would be completely different.
“In a deployed environment, the main role of the ASTS is to make patients ready for transport,” said Breland.
Once patients are stabilized at an emergency medical facility, or hospital, they are transported to the staging squadron, where ASTS Airmen stage them in preparation for airlift out of the theater by members of an aeromedical evacuation squadron.
“Once we get communication that an aircraft is inbound, we’ll go ahead and prep patients, their equipment, their luggage and valuables and put them on a vehicle to move them to the flight line,” said Breland. “Once the plane is on the ground, we will then take our lead from the (aeromedical evacuation) crew whenever they’re ready for us to help load the patients.”
Like with any other career field, people have their own reasons for deciding to join it. For Maj. Regina Sullivan, 403rd ASTS chief of optometry, joining the medical field and the Air Force boils down to a desire to help others.
“I wanted a profession that would allow me to positively impact people… and I initially joined the military because I saw there was a need for my services,” said Sullivan about her reasons for going into optometry in the military. “I’ve enjoyed it – these are great people to work with, and it’s (provided) great learning experiences.”
She then went on to sum up the job of the ASTS as it fits in with the overall mission of the Air Force.
“We make it so that other people can do their jobs,” said Sullivan. “That’s why I believe what we do is vital, because we ensure that these other groups have a fit and healthy force that can accomplish their tasks.”
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2017 09:36 |
| Story ID: | 226123 |
| Location: | KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 185 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Keeping the Air Force fit to fight: the Aeromedical Staging Squadron, by Ryan Labadens, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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