Oct. 26, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: Twenty years ago, AF medical team responds to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras The 24th Medical Group at Howard Air Force Base, Panama, was a month away from decommissioning and returning to the U.S. when Hurricane Mitch slammed into Honduras on October 29, 1998.
Sept. 14, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: Kirtland opens first joint Air Force and VA health clinic On Sept. 8, 1989, the 377th Medical Group cut the ribbon on a joint Air Force and Department of Veterans Affairs clinic located on the VA campus in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Aug. 30, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: Air Force dentists responded to 1981 explosion at Ramstein Air Base Two bombs exploded in a parking lot outside the U.S. Air Forces in Europe headquarters building at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on August 31, 1981, injuring 15 people. When they heard the blasts, Air Force dentists and their staff ran out to help.
July 6, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: The air transportable “Flying Lung” On July 23, 1953, Airman Third Class Warren Beatty of Detroit, Michigan, became the first iron lung patient evacuated by air from the Korean War theater.
June 29, 2018 Canadian nurse partnered with USAF to save lives in Afghanistan Maj. Steven Pirie was assisting with brain surgery on a young Afghan girl at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, when the early alert siren went off. An enemy rocket was closing in.Pirie, a Canadian Armed Forces nurse, and the neurosurgeon he was assisting, had to choose a course of action. They could
June 8, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: First attached Army Air Forces unit hospital established 75 years ago The 34th Station Hospital, attached to the 12th Air Force on Pantelleria Island in the Mediterranean Sea from June 18 to Sept. 21, 1943, was the first station hospital attached to an Army Air Force Unit.
May 22, 2018 Retiring Surgeon General saw revolution in expeditionary care Air Force Medicine has changed significantly since 1986, when Lt. Gen. Mark Ediger left his family medicine practice in Missouri to join the Air Force. Ediger, the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, retires June 1, after a 32-year career that took him around the world, through numerous postings and
May 9, 2018 First Chief of the Nurse Corps Verena M. Zeller, the first chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in April 1950. Zeller led the Nurse Corps during the Korean War, overseeing its growth and evolution into an organization focused on flight care.
May 8, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: 100th anniversary of first flight surgeon school On May 8, 1918, U.S. Army Aviation Branch, Col. Theodore Lyster created the first ever course for flight surgeons, at the Medical Research Laboratory, Hazelhurst Field, N.Y.
April 25, 2018 ANZAC Day: A time for honoring partnerships Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) Day is a time to honor members and reflect on the long-lasting partnership between ANZAC and the Air Force Medical Service, which reaches back to the Korean war when ANZAC and AFMS members worked together as allies. Pictured above, Australian flight
March 15, 2018 The evolution of aeromedical evacuation capabilities help deployed medicine take flight Evacuating patients injured in combat and transporting them to higher levels of care requires a team of trained medics with the capability to keep patients stable in-flight. The Air Force’s Aeromedical Evacuation system has been a staple of transporting wartime casualties since World War II.
March 7, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: 75th Anniversary of the first body armor suits delivered to Eighth Air Force During World War II, small fragments of high-explosive shells traveling at relatively low velocities caused the majority of bomber air and ground crew casualties.
March 7, 2018 The “Cadillac of medevac”: The C9A’s lasting mark on the aeromedical evacuation system Making its debut in August of 1968, the C-9A was the U.S. Air Force’s first specially designed aeromedical evacuation aircraft. The C-9A answered the increased demand for effective aeromedical patient transport as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated.
Feb. 26, 2018 USAFSAM training allows others to follow in footsteps of legendary WWII flight nurse One of the most celebrated flight nurses of World War II, 1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz flew 196 missions and evacuated more than 3,500 soldiers.
Feb. 22, 2018 From Flight Surgeon to Astronaut: Air Force Colonel (Dr.) Yvonne Cagle As a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, Col. Yvonne Darlene Cagle wanted to fly even higher and fast. She had always wanted to leave her footprints in moon dust, a dream held since seeing Neil Armstrong do it on July 20, 1969.
Feb. 7, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: February 2018 marks 75th anniversary of the first formal graduation of U.S. Air Force flight nurses Seventy-five years ago, on February 18, 1943, the School of Air Evacuation held its first formal flight nurse graduation. Organized at Bowman Field, Kentucky, on October 6, 1942, the school trained flight surgeons, flight nurses, and flight technicians to care for patients during aeromedical
Jan. 25, 2018 Air Force Medicine during the Vietnam War By the height of the Vietnam War in the late 1960’s, the U.S. Air Force had 1,900 medics conducting medical operations in Southeast Asia. The steady aeromedical evacuation and in-theater care performed by the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) in Southeast Asia drove innovation and evolution in flight
Jan. 19, 2018 This Month in AFMS History: Lt. Elsie Ott and the first official aeromedical evacuation flight In January 1943, 2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott, a 29-year-old Army nurse with barely a year of military service, took on a mission to demonstrate the value and feasibility of aeromedical evacuation.
Dec. 20, 2017 Malcolm Grow legacy still strong in Air Force medicine A pioneer in flight medicine, Malcolm Grow was a strong proponent of an independent Air Force Medical Service. He was the first Air Force Surgeon General, when the AFMS came into existence in 1949. Grow was a pioneer of military medicine, and one of the earliest and most effective advocates for
Dec. 18, 2017 Air Force Medicine in the Korean War The Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) became independent from the U.S. Army in 1949, just four years after the end of World War II. The Korean War, just a year later, was the first opportunity for the new medical arm of the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate its value in a wartime situation. Many of the