Photo By Master Sgt. Caila Arahood | U.S. AIr National Guard medical Airmen load role players with simulated casualties for...... read more read more
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SAVANNAH, Ga. — Airlift and aeromedical evacuation capabilities enhancement was a main training objective during Patriot 25, a National Guard-led disaster response exercise held at multiple training locations across the state of Georgia, March 24–28, 2025.
The domestic response exercise, the only accredited Joint National Training Capability of its kind, is designed to enhance readiness for large-scale emergencies across the homeland.
Headquartered this year at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center, also known as the Air Dominance Center, and the Guardian Centers in Perry, Ga., the exercise brought together approximately 700 National Guard personnel—Army and Air—from 20 different states, along with several federal, state, and local emergency response agencies.
At the heart of the aeromedical mission is flexibility and ensuring safe, rapid transport of patients from disaster-stricken areas to a location unaffected with higher echelons of care available.
“It is important to partner and collaborate with other units regarding AE missions so that we ensure the warfighter receives life-saving care from the point of injury to definitive care in the least amount of time. We only get better the more we exercise and train together,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Raoul Calimlim, 165th Medical Group, Georgia Air National Guard.
One of the most critical but lesser-known components of large-scale medical response is the Federal Coordinating Center (FCC)—a coordinated effort between the Department of Defense and state agencies that manages patient reception in unaffected areas. The FCC is set up outside the impacted zone, sometimes even in another state, and includes doctors, nurses, and a wide variety of medical staff ready to receive and treat patients flown in via aeromedical evacuation.
Airmen from the Georgia Air National Guard’s 158th Airlift Squadron and 165th Medical Group, along with medical personnel from multiple states, conducted aeromedical evacuations aboard C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from Savannah into Little Rock, Arkansas, where role-playing patients were offloaded and assessed by more than 100 FCC team members on the ground.
Practicing missions like this, in coordination with local authorities and first responders, ensures that when the real thing happens, there is a seamless patient movement from the disaster zone to higher levels of care.
“When disaster strikes—whether it’s a large-scale domestic emergency like an earthquake or hurricane, or even day-to-day operations during a near-peer conflict—we have to be prepared to handle casualties efficiently. Exercises like Patriot 25 ensure we can coordinate aeromedical evacuations and medical response while simultaneously managing the chaos that comes with these events,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Roger Brooks, commander, 165th Mission Support Group, Georgia ANG.
Keeping flexibility and mobility at its core, Patriot 25 gave Airmen and Soldiers the opportunity to train on multiple tail-to-tail casualty transfers—direct patient movement between aircraft without the use of a ground medical facility—between 1-111th General Support Aviation Battalion HH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and ANG C-130 Hercules aircraft, demonstrating the National Guard’s ability to integrate air and ground medical assets for real-world emergencies.
By strengthening joint air mobility, search and rescue, and medical evacuation capabilities, Patriot 25 ensures the National Guard remains Always Ready to support communities in the aftermath of disasters—delivering life-saving care when and where it's needed most.
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2025 14:49 |
| Story ID: | 497044 |
| Location: | SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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