349th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron teams up with 301st Airlift Squadron for "Air Evac" Published Sept. 21, 2006 By Master Sgt. Wendy Weidenhamer 349th Public Affairs TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 349th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron has a new partner in their mission to provide critical care during medical military airlift operations around the world--the C-17 Globemaster III. First on the AES team's three-hour training agenda was general aircraft familiarization which progressed into the specialized AES training for the team. Ten members of the 349th AES, flight nurses and medical evacuation technicians, loaded Travis Air Force Base's newest aircraft with their medical equipment and two simulated patients; one ambulatory and one on a litter, Aug. 21. The C-17 was designed with air evacuation in mind. It's equipped with a limited number of stanchions for litters, a built-in oxygen system, electrical hook ups for medical equipment and the inside of the aircraft is well lit, facilitating more effective patient evaluation and care. The Globemaster III makes the job for AES easier. That has not been the case for most of the aircraft that have been utilized for medical evacuation. In the past, success almost always included "adapting" to a not so accommodating environment. "We can adapt to any aircraft but with the C-17 we don't have to 'make it fit' -- it already fits," said Maj. Nancy Mikulin, Chief of Aeromedical Standards for 349th Operations Groups. "It's also easier to get tactical requirements done on an aircraft like the C-17. On a KC-135 we need to simulate many of the tactical requirements." The members of the 349th AES need to be universally qualified and for them that means emergencies can't wait for a particular aircraft. Squadron members must be qualified to perform their life saving job on any aircraft available to fly the mission. "We are worldwide qualified and usually, depending on where the AES is located, that may be the part of the world that, in peace, you cover. For example, here at Travis we may be mostly in the Pacific and up to Alaska, but when it's war time and you're in the AES bucket you can go anywhere," said Major Mikulin. Before the C-17 came to Travis, the 349th AES had to coordinate with other units throughout the Air Force to schedule aircraft for training. Currently 349th AES members are assigned to the KC-135 aircraft. With the arrival of the C-17, the 349th AES will be converting to the C-17 as their primary aircraft, but will still have to be qualified on all aircraft used for medical evacuation. The success of this flight was a team effort between the 349th AES and members of the 301st Airlift Squadron. "Because it was the first, we want to make sure the AES had some involvement in planning for the mission," said Maj. Mike Casebeer, chief pilot for the 301st AS and aircraft commander for this training mission."For this flight we coordinated with them (the AES team) to find out what they needed and then how we could maximize their training to make it effective for them as well as for us," said Major Casebeer. "The 301st AS and the 349th AES worked as a team, one mission, one goal in training," said Senior Master Sgt. Taylor Dowtin, aeromedical technician examiner, 349th AES. "We have been working with the 301st for a year to get to this point," he added. The AES also brings special requirements for the aircrews. "The biggest thing is a super high priority mission," said Major Casebeer. "Also we must operate in a high threat tactical environment with individuals that are stabilized but still in critical condition, so we need to watch the G-loading on the airplane and banking and still do the things you need to do to keep the airplane safe." This training mission for the 349th AES ended with an emergency landing scenario and off-loading of patients during engine-running conditions at Travis -- and then another successful training mission was accomplished. But, for Major Mikulin, these memories and a vision of a brand new state-of-the-art aircraft took a back seat to the thought of how nice it was to have a flight crew from Travis --from home.