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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The U.S. Air Force’s 445th Airlift Wing conducted joint exercise Relentless Valor June 6-7 at three geographically separated locations in Ohio to train various medical capabilities through different scenarios and stages.
Hosted by the 445th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, in coordination with the U.S. Air Force’s 944th ASTS from Luke AFB, Arizona, the large-scale exercise simulated medical operations post invasion in a contested space in the United States Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Springfield, Ohio; and Wright State University’s Calamityville in Fairborn, Ohio, provided the backdrop for medical and security forces units to practice their capabilities.
“We wanted to do USINDOPACOM and simulate the geographically separated locations, the ACE [Agile Combat Employment] concept, a lot of maneuverability and patient flow from Role 1 to Role 2,” said Capt. Jonathan Charles, 445th ASTS medical readiness officer and primary 445th planner for the exercise.
According to Charles, this meant going to smaller locations rather than one large, centralized location while maintaining the same capabilities, or in the case of the exercise, medical evacuations between the three sites.
The exercise scenario took place 40 days after an invasion where opposition forces located at Springfield and Calamityville were pushed back and there was a “limited window of space and time for air superiority to evacuate wounded out and get forces and supplies in” Charles explained.
The exercise also included a downed aircraft to train on long care when limited airspace and inferiority occur. At Wright-Patterson AFB, the medical teams dealt with larger scale patient care when patients from the geographically separated units were transferred in and out of their care.
“I really learned how the other branches operate, and their tempo in their roles and responsibilities versus ours, because we don't get to see that every day – we don't get to see that during unit training assemblies very often,” said Tech. Sgt. Mary Czarnecki, 445th ASTS aerospace medical technician. “It’s very helpful to see that in a training and exercise environment, because we're going to be working with them when we deploy, and we're going to be working with them in different environments and emergency situations.
“I enjoyed getting to see how they operate,” Czarnecki continued. “I enjoyed getting to see how we integrate into their plans and how they integrate into our plans.”
Also built into the exercise was to have the Critical Care Air Transport Team embedded with the patients to provide “care for those critical patients you normally wouldn't get,” Charles added. This was also the first opportunity the wing had to train on this concept of operation since being added to the Enroute Patient Staging System Mission Capabilities around a year ago.
“Prior to this, ERPSS could only care for patients requiring complex care, not critical care, and would have to rely on larger co-located Military Training Facilities,” Charles added. “However, under ACE, the need for smaller more agile footprints with similar capabilities necessitate this new use of embedding CCATT to support longer patient hold times and increased care capabilities.”
The exercise delivered exactly what was needed for the players.
“It helped me become better by providing real-world scenarios, which helped me sharpen my decision-making skills, and it helped improve teamwork in a high stress but controlled environment,” said Tech. Sgt. Agatha Castillo, 445th ASTS CCATT member and a respiratory practitioner. “Also, it provided me with a broader perspective. It increased my situational awareness and helped me anticipate challenges before they arose. Most of all, adaptability – it forced me to be flexible when things didn’t go a certain way.”
In the after-exercise hotwash, feedback was given that the U.S. Marine Corps’ 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company Joint Terminal Attack Controllers said they met all their core tasks and were appreciative of being able to be with the Air Force and Army units to see what they did.
Additionally, the feedback mentioned from U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion 148th Infantry Regiment mirrored the Marines, as they said it was great to work alongside the 445th in the exercise that included “interoperability and integration between the services.”
Charles mentioned during the hotwash there were some last-minute changes thrown in, and that the 445th adapted well. He also said the 180th Fighter Wing volunteered their F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft last minute to replace other unavailable Close Air Support aircraft, and the West Virginia Army National Guard’s 1-150th Cavalry Regiment provided their Blackhawks last minute – both instrumental in the success of the scenario.
“You guys performed outstandingly to adjust to these changes as they were coming, so great job,” he said addressing those at the hotwash.
Overall, the exercise was met with success and lessons learned to carry forward to other exercises.
I thought the exercise was amazing,” Czarnecki said. “There's always confusion; there's always chaos during exercises. But I think our ASTS, the other ASTS and the other branches all rose to the occasion. We all got our objectives completed, and I think we made some really good relationships with one another to pursue other different training in the future.”
For Capt. Yannick Tuwamo, 445th ASTS Commander Support Staff officer in charge, that organized chaos is what takes Airmen from knowledge to experience.
“There's just enough stress for you to not only test the training but also be able to implement the regulations and lessons learned from previous training,” Tuwamo explained. “There were some limiting factors, but ultimately, it’s going to make us better Airmen and multifaceted when it comes to staying in the fight.”
In total more than 20 units and nearly 400 people participated. The additional 445th AW units included the 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, 445th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, 445th Civil Engineer Squadron, 445th Force Support Squadron, 445th Operations Support Squadron, 445th Security Forces Squadron and 89th Airlift Squadron.
Additionally, the remaining joint units included U.S. Air Force’s 178th Wing, 452nd ASTS and 932nd Medical Squadron; the U.S. Army’s 19th Special Forces Group, 848th Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment, and C Company 5th Battalion 159th General Support Aviation Battalion; the U.S. Marine Corps’ 14th Marine Regiment; the U.S. Navy’s En-route Care System; and U.S. Transportation Command.
Thirteen countries were in attendance to observe the exercise, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Thailand, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2025 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 500798 |
| Location: | FAIRBORN, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 167 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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