New aeromedical training unit to open at Pope AFB

By Senior Airman Peter R. Miller
440th AW PAO

Twenty aeromedical evacuation crewmembers from around the globe are scheduled to begin Basic Aircrew Qualification training at Air Force Reserve Command’s new Aeromedical Evacuation Formal Training Unit located at Pope Air Force Base. Formally established as Detachment 1, 440th Operations Group, the organization is scheduled to begin classes Oct. 25, and is expected to provide quality training in a formalized program for the Air Force’s incoming AECMs.

“AFRC needs to qualify AE crewmembers in a more efficient manner, so we developed this program to meet to that demand,” said Col. Mike Dankosky, Aeromedical Evacuation Program manager, headquarters AFRC/A3TM, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. “After 25 days of training, the Airmen will return to their various units of assignment for a short additional training program necessarily conducted at home station to finalize training which converts them to mission qualification status to meet worldwide deployment requirements. This has never been done before with this efficiency,” he said.

“Full mission qualification cycle times vary among the 32 AE units, but it usually takes between 90 and 180 days for a new AECM to obtain BAQ and be ready to deploy,” said Maj. Chad Corliss, author and conceptual visionary behind the FTU’s execution.

The FTU standardizes training across the Air Force, leverages and synchronizes scarce resources and generates a broad range of cost efficiencies, said Corliss. The Air Force has enhanced comprehensive but fragmented operational training into 25 days by creating a smarter way to qualify crewmembers.

“It just makes sense,” said Dankosky. “This is not mass production — it’s a logically structured, standardized methodology, strategically resourced, comprehensive aircrew progression qualification program that is completed in 25 days.”

The FTU program removes the operational training burden from individual AE units provided for under the current AECM operational training construct which leverages scarce resources at the local level (such as deployed instructors, examiners, or aircraft), formalizes the training construct, and centralizes the funding, operational support and training assets in one location, said Dankosky.

“Operational flying squadrons encounter multiple, significant challenges when programming training for new air crews,” said Dankosky. “They must coordinate airlift support, crews, flying hours, training dollars, and support personnel to include the instructors and evaluators. This has become increasingly difficult for the aeromedical mission arena because of ongoing proficiency training requirements, home station aircraft availability, sustained AEF deployments, overlapping inspection cycles and overall increasing rates of volunteerism among our people at the various AES’. AFRC possesses 18 AES’, with approximately two thousand Reservists assigned to the AE mission, which comprises 60 percent of overall USAF AE mission capability. Since 2005, AFRC AEF deployments have been sustained strictly through volunteerism in AE,” said Dankosky.

Once AECMs have completed prerequisite technical and clinical schools, they will travel to the FTU as a part of their pipeline education program to undergo operational aircrew training and learn everything about the C-130, C-17 and KC-135 aircraft for Basic Aircrew Qualification, said Col. Martie Soper, the Aeromedical Evacuation FTU commander.

“We teach our aircrews everything about all three aircraft including the electrical systems, oxygen systems, configuration, emergency equipment and emergency egress procedures,” said Corliss.

The aircrew training simulators will be fabricated from the fuselages of decommissioned aircraft and will use the latest special effects technology to create realistic “in-flight” conditions, situations and emergencies, said Corliss.

“The simulators use high-velocity fans, smoke machines and fire generators that create the appearance of flames,” said Corliss. “We have stereo systems that can vibrate the entire aircraft, simulating noise, vibration and other stresses of flight to produce a more realistic training environment.”

Classes will also utilize the Qwizdom® Interactive Learning System during lectures and tests, said Corliss. Qwizdom® actively engages participants through wireless remotes and provides flight instructors and/or evaluators instant feedback on student learning trends, establishes training trends, and enables the instructors to establish baselines, increases and variances in training processes.

The program will use computerized life-sized advanced clinical skills training devices (mannequins) throughout the training process, said Corliss. The STAN® mannequin is a near-human trainer that instructors can employ to develop critical thinking skills and train crisis response techniques including such procedures as respiratory intubation, cardiac defibrillation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and intravenous injection.

The course begins with six days of clinical skills assessment, academics and four days of aircraft configuration training, where students will learn how to configure selected aircraft employed in performing the aeromedical evacuation mission. Students will also crew five sorties before graduation to apply these newly acquired operational and clinical skills in the operational environment before graduation.

Students will be trained to Air Force standards on the latest technological advancements in medical and aeromedical equipment while employing those clinical techniques commensurate with established standards of care, authorized scope of practice and accepted protocols in response to current operational trends such as new traumatic injuries encountered resulting from improvised explosive devices.

“They will also be immersed in operational considerations throughout the program that are inherent in the AE mission to enhance the training experience, such as pre-mission aircrew briefings that include intelligence updates, arming with weapon replicas (M-16 rifles and M-9 sidearms), and don full mission gear including helmets, body armor and survival vests. It doesn’t get more realistic than this,” said Soper.

Trainees will also receive instruction on the administrative and enroute care aspects of the AE mission at the FTU. Patients must have all required accompanying documentation, medications, specialized medical equipment clinically necessary (patient movement items, such as ventilators, IV pumps, suction devices, etc.) to support the patient movement, and be briefed on in-flight procedures, checked for weapons and properly secured to a litter before flight, said Corliss. Immediately prior to graduation, the crewmembers complete required formal examinations in open and closed book format, emergency procedures and their initial checkride, resulting in the official publication of a certificate of aircrew qualification (AF Form 8).

Many future graduates of the Pope AE FTU can expect to be eligible for deployment within a month or two following graduation, said Corliss. He expects students to be well prepared for any AE mission contingency the day of graduation.

“I am very impressed with the efforts that have gone into the successful creation of this program,” said Maj. Gen. Buddy Reed, director of Air, Space, and Information Operations, Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., during a recent visit to the FTU site. “It has taken a lot of people and a lot of work to bring this project to fruition, and it is very satisfying to see the results their efforts.”

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