JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - LACKLAND, Texas –
Reserve Citizen Airmen of the 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron participated in two National Disaster Medical System exercise events at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland March 20.
In the morning, Brooke Army Medical Center medical personnel set up a patient reception team, working with multiple military branches and civilian emergency management and medical organizations.
Later in the day, the 59th Medical Wing personnel exercised their NDMS capability.
The 433rd AES team supported both events by assisting with loading ambulatory and litter patients on a C-130H Hercules aircraft.
“Today, we are assisting the 59th Medical Wing with their unit type code training and on and offloading patients on an aircraft for their exercise scenario,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jeremy Morton, 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron superintendent-chief enlisted manager. “When we fly our training missions, we simulate a lot, so when we get to work with the ground medical folks, it is all value-added training.”
The 433rd AES team had a mix of qualified and still-in-training members.
“We have three qualified crew members and six who are waiting for qualification training,” Morton said. “The new members are getting familiarization training, so when they go to flight school, they will have a better understanding of the process when they arrive at their school.”
One of the AES team members, 1st Lt. David Renteria, 433rd AES flight nurse, is still waiting to attend his technical school. Renteria is a flight nurse with a local civilian air ambulance company. This isn’t his first experience on this flightline.
“During Hurricane Harvey, we were staged here with military personnel,” Renteria said. “We were all tied together to take missions to pick up patients in the Houston area and take them to hospitals throughout Texas. There were a lot of different groups coming together to serve in the same purpose. It is the same as what I saw here today; Army medical units teaming together with Air Force units, and a Texas Air Guard unit all working together for the same purpose, getting patients where they need to go. Working together as a cohesive unit.”