This Month in AFMS History: Medical Red Flag Begins Published Nov. 18, 2016 By Judith Taylor Air Force Medical Service History Office SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The first Medical Red Flag program, a week-long training program in battlefield casualty management, was conducted Nov. 26-30, 1979, at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. It was sponsored by the Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Paul W. Myers. In the late 1970s, efforts to improve medical readiness took on an added urgency due to the rise in worldwide terrorism directed at U.S. personnel and installations. In 1978, military planners predicted that Air Force bases in Europe would suffer more casualties than previously estimated if conflict erupted. To prepare for this eventuality, the Air Force Medical Service began offering physicians a series of expeditionary-centered exercises and courses called Medical Red Flag in November 1979. The Medical Red Flag series of courses were the Air Force’s first attempt to provide all its doctors exposure to realistic, hands on battlefield medicine training. The series consisted of nine courses offered through Air Force centers in the United States, the Pacific, and West Germany. Once courses were underway, AFMS leadership quickly realized that all medical personnel needed training in wartime skills, not just physicians. Medical Red Flag II evolved in response to this insight and resulted in a basic skills course taught at the School of Health Care Sciences at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Training included cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid, communications, map reading/land navigation, field sanitation and hygiene, principles of area defense, and a patient transportation/litter obstacle course.