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Members of the 10th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight, assigned to Ramstein’s 313th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, demonstrated their capabilities Jan. 17 at U.S. Air Forces in Europe’s first multinational aeromedical evacuation symposium.
According to organizers, the symposium brought partner and allied nations together to share tactics, techniques and procedures to enhance aeromedical evacuation interoperability throughout the area of responsibility.
The 10th EAEF transports patients with all levels of care needs across Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East to Ramstein Air Base, where they are then transferred to either Landstuhl Regional Medical Center or the United States depending on their care needs.
“During the Vietnam era, transport like this would have taken two to three days,” said Maj. Melissa Seacat, 10th EAEF director of operations. “Now aeromedical transport has advanced to the point that we were able to move a critical care patient from the point of injury to the care they needed in the United States in 30 hours. And the patient had three surgeries at different points along the way. That is pretty significant.”
Col. Ricardo Trimillos, U.S. Air Forces in Europe International Affairs Division chief, said symposiums like this one help all of the countries who attend. He said the Romanians have worked for years with the Alabama National Guard’s State Partnership Program and USAFE-AFAFRICA engagements to build an aeromedical evacuation capability that integrates with United States and NATO partners.
“The U.S. return on investment of those efforts were evident this week, as demonstrated by the mature Romanian AE capability that was propagated to 11 other countries,” Trimillos said. “The Zambian air force will receive an airframe that is like the C-27 the Romanians brought to Ramstein. The Zambians were able to tour and become familiar with the C-27 for the first time because they attended this event. If the Zambians choose to use the techniques, tactics and procedures the Romanian’s use, then they should ideally be able to easily integrate with U.S. and NATO medical operations in the future with minimal or no investment by USAFE-AFAFRICA.” Seacat emphasized that this event is essential to building partnerships and learning from each other.
“We work closely with all of these countries,” Seacat said. “With each mission, there are a multitude of things happening behind the scenes, so it is good to be able talk to people from these countries to get their ideas as well.”
The 313th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron is assigned to the 721st Air Mobility Operations Group, 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing at Ramstein Air Base.
