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During an Airborne Conversion Ceremony held Dec. 11 at Miesau Ammo Depot, 20 medical Soldiers from the newly designated 67th Forward Surgical Team (Airborne) donned the maroon beret distinguishing them as the only airborne forward surgical team in Europe and one of only five Army-wide.
“There are few opportunities to wear this beret,” said Lt. Col. Laura Favand, 67th FST commander. “We do feel
honored.”
The honor translates into an already lean and mobile medical team taking it to the next level. In their case, it means parachuting into combat with the medical specialties and equipment to provide immediate trauma care near the battlefield.
After initial medical aid by a fellow Soldier or medic on the battlefield, a Forward Surgical Team is often the second level of care in places such as Iraq. The teams are designed for what is termed “the golden hour” – the first hour after a Soldier is wounded when they are most likely to die from shock and bleeding. Colonel Favand said their main focus is to stop any bleeding and stabilize patients for transport to the next level of care – Combat Support Hospitals.
The 67th FST (Airborne) can be condensed into six Humvees with trailers with enough supplies to remain self-sustained for 72 hours. About half the team and the most essential equipment is designed to arrived by parachute, with the remaining staff and gear landing with the aircraft and then linking up by overland travel. However, the 67th can tailor itself to match the projected needs of the military unit it accompanies.
Achieving the level of expertise to provide such support doesn’t come easily. Earning their jump wings requires three weeks of intense training at Fort Benning, Ga., with its physical fitness standards geared more toward 18-year-olds.
At age 40, Colonel Favand laughed that she was “the old lady of the airborne school” but successfully accomplished earning the jump wings she once wanted to achieve in Reserve Officer Training Corps but didn’t have the opportunity.
In the future, however, Colonel Favand and her team will have ample opportunity to maintain their jumping proficiency with monthly jumps, as well as learning to pack their own parachutes and rig up heavy equipment such as Humvees.
Although parachuting is new to the current members of the 67th FST (Airborne) at Miesau, it isn’t new to their predecessors. Based on lessons learned from Operation Desert Storm during the first Gulf War, the 67th FST was activated as the 67th Medical Detachment (Airborne) at Vicenza, Italy, in 1993. As such, the unit saw duty in locations such as Bosnia and Africa where it responded to the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya.
The 67th lost its airborne status in 1999. Getting it back, Colonel Favand said, has been an exciting experience for Soldiers from the 67th− 11 have completed the training and six more are scheduled for January. Being part of the team is strictly voluntary, and Favand said finding Soldiers to fill future vacancies won’t be difficult.” Word has gotten out and a lot of local people are interested in joining,” she said.
