466th Medical Company returns from Middle East deployment

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Armando Vasquez | Spc. Olivia Mannetti, a combat medic with the 466th Medical Company, Area Support, New York National Guard, prepares to make an incision on a simulated throat as she practices conducting a cricothyrotomy at the Role 2 compound at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Oct. 30, 2020. Cricothyrotomy is an incision made through the skin and cricothyroid membrane to establish a patent airway during certain life-threatening situations, such as airway obstruction by a foreign body, angioedema, or massive facial trauma. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Armando Vasquez)  

QUEENSBURY, NY, UNITED STATES

06.02.2021

Story by Eric Durr 

New York National Guard

QUEENSBURY, N.Y.--Forty-seven New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the 466th Medical Company-Area Support, returned from a deployment that took them to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq in time for the Memorial Day weekend on Thursday, May 27.

The Soldiers mobilized on August 2, 2020 and trained at Fort Hood, Texas before heading to the Middle East a month later.

The company is based at the Queensbury Armory and most of the Soldiers live in the Capital Region and Glens Falls but some come from locations across the state.

Once they arrived in Kuwait, the company split into four sections handling different missions, according to Major Jason Cossey, the company commander.

The unit’s primary mission was running the Role 2 Medical Treatment Facility at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, he said.

NATO sorts military medical treatment facilities into four categories, or “roles” with Role 1 offering the most basic medical care at a small unit level and Role 4 being the most intensive and offering highly specialized care.

A 22-Soldier team collocated with an Active Army Forward Resuscitative from Fort Bliss, Texas. This location provided the highest level trauma care in western Iraq. The combined team treated more than 2,000 patients which included Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, local nationals and civilian contractors from multiple nations, according to Cossey.

Another team of 466th medical Soldiers located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait where they supported a Role 3 Hospital and ran a COVID-19 Isolation Facility. They also ran a Role 1 Medical Treatment Facility and cared for hundreds of COVID-19 positive patients each month.

"It was a whole extra layer on top of providing emergency care. You’re now the COVID experts, so to speak. It fell on us to manage the base COVID plan, testing plan, vaccination plan, and quarantine plan." Cossey said.

The 466th’s Behavioral Health Technician was assigned to Camp Buehring in Kuwait and supported the Combat Operational Stress Control team there, according to Cossey.
Seven Soldiers were assigned to the Air Force’s 378th Emergency Medical Expeditionary Unit to provide Role 2 medical care at Prince Sultan Air Base.

And finally, three Soldiers were in Jordon supporting a joint training center there and Special Operations Command, Cossey said.

The Soldiers came back together again and arrived back at Fort Hood, Texas from Kuwait on May 19. They began returning home in small groups on May 24 and were all home by May 28.

This was the second deployment for the company. The 466th deployed to Iraq from 2006 to 2007 and operated an army field hospital and three troop medical facilities in south and central Iraq and received a Meritorious Unit Citation for its service then.

• Date Taken: 06.02.2021
• Date Posted: 06.02.2021 11:53
• Story ID: 397943
• Location: QUEENSBURY, NY, US