An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Airmen train in casualty evacuation process

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tristan Viglianco
  • 127th Wing
ALPENA, Mich. --  

In the era of great power competition, the ability to care and transport patients will be an essential task for our joint force. Northern Strike 24-2 is exercising this capability through a joint casualty evacuation process known as an en route patient staging system.

From Aug. 11-13, 20 Michigan Air National Guardsmen assigned to the 127th Medical Group set up an ERPSS facility next to the flightline at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center. The team received and loaded numerous patients on both U.S. Army and Air Force aircraft.

“We are a segue between a role two and role three medical facility,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Christopher Hanczaruk, a physician with the 127th MDG and their primary ERPSS physician for the exercise. “The transit of casualties in battle goes from the point of injury where they are then medically evacuated to a role two facility, which in the Air Force is known as an [expeditionary medical support system]. Laymen may know it as a MASH facility. There they are surgically stabilized for the injuries they sustained in combat.”

“From that point, they are transitioned to one of our ERPSS facilities typically situated close to an airfield or helicopter pad in anticipation of evacuation out of the theater into a more established hospital,” continued Hanczaruk.

According to Capt. Andrew Chandler, 127th MDG's medical readiness officer, from Alpena, patients were notionally sent to the follow-on care facility in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. In total, the team notionally treated 50 patients, then evacuated 47 of them on four separate flights.

“Northern Strike is the best opportunity for us to practice," Chandler said. "Going through the motions in a training environment allows everyone to understand each other's jobs and figure out a workflow.”

Being able to establish and run an ERPSS facility is one of the critical capabilities 127th MDG provides to the Air Force.

“Not all medical units have an ERPSS,” said Chandler. “Our unit will deploy as a package to set up the ERPSS wherever we are needed. We get to play how we would work and go through the stress now in a safe environment before we head out the door.”

With approximately 6,300 personnel from 32 states and territories, NS 24-2 provided the medics a plethora of opportunities to work with their joint partners.

“It is rare to get in this many assets of a joint force,” said Hanczaruk. “We are working very closely with the Army and their ground and rotary assets. We are working closely with the Navy with one of our teams in Lake Huron. It's great to interact with personnel from different branches in opportunities we might not otherwise get to.”

Northern Strike strives to build a realistic and dynamic environment in order to build readiness with visiting units. For instance one demand asked of the ERPSS team was to form an Aeromedical Evacuation team to care for patients while in transit on the MC130J Commando II.

“The planners of Northern Strike like to throw curve balls at you to make sure you are able to adjust for contingencies, which is more realistic in a combat situation," said Hanczaruk. “This shows we are always ready, always preparing. We have a saying in the medical group that they always send the best to save the best and that's what we are prepared to do.”