165th AW Airmen participate in first Northern Strike 21 medical exercise hosted at Air Dominance Center Published Aug. 10, 2021 By Tech. Sgt. Caila Arahood 165th Airlift Wing SAVANNAH, Ga. -- More than 85 Air National Guard Airmen from multiple medical units across the United States and its territories attended the first ever, all Air National Guard mobile medic training during Northern Strike 21 at the Air Dominance Center located at the 165th Airlift Wing in Savannah, Georgia, August 2-8, 2021. Instructors from Joint Base Camp Bullis, Texas, traveled to Savannah to offer this mobile medic course, that is usually taught in a joint environment, exclusively to Air National Guardsmen who were unable to get a slot in the course held in Texas due to the high demand from all military branches and limited seats available to each branch. "This is high-quality training," said Master Sgt. Jason Hester, a force health manager at the 165th Medical Group, "The scenarios the medical Airmen are facing here are specifically crafted to replicate situations we would see deployed down-range." This medical exercise provided two days of training in the classroom and multiple days of hands-on training where they transported patients onto liters from the tent clinics, loaded them onto an aircraft and then provided in-flight care during medical evacuations, Hester said. Hester has attended this training course at Joint Base Camp Bullis in the past and said that the training environment and facilities at the Air Dominance Center were great because there were large enough facilities for everyone to train together all while maintaining the space needed for a COVID-19 environment. The aircraft used for the medical evacuations included a KC-135 Stratotanker from the Ohio Air National Guard, a C-17 Globemaster III from the West Virginia Air National Guard and a KC-46 Pegasus from the New Hampshire Air National Guard. This training allowed for a realistic series of events for medics who were training because there were clinical nurses and flight doctors who attended the course and could mentor the medics while they gave patients care. U.S. Air Force Capt. Jean Machulis, a clinical nurse with the 165th Airlift Wing, said that her role during the exercise was to oversee the acceptance of patients into the field hospital, transcribe orders, guide the medics while they give patient care, and give updates about the medical status of a patient to the medical team that will transport patient via aircraft. “As a nurse on the civilian side, I enjoy coming out and participating in training like this because it is completely different from what I do as a nurse at a general hospital,” said Muchulis. “On the civilian side, I do not get the opportunity to set up tent hospitals to treat patients in and get to load the patients into aircraft for medical evacuation,” explained Muchulis, “I have really enjoyed this unique training opportunity and others I have had in the Air National Guard.” The Air Dominance Center, located in Savannah, Georgia, is one of four combat readiness training centers in the country and is a unique Department of Defense training facility that provides joint training capabilities for all branches of the US military. Military units from across the country and from all branches of service regularly deploy to the ADC to hone their war fighting skills, ensuring they are fully prepared for service.