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Greatest long-term achievements of the AF Medical Service

  • Published
  • By James S. Nanney, Ph.D.
  • Air Force Surgeon General Historian
WASHINGTON --  

1.) Adaptation of aerospace crew to space flight

a.) Development of space pressure suits, helmets and other life support equipment(1950s and 1960s)
b.) Parabolic weightlessness flights that NASA adopted for its astronaut weightlessness training program (1955 - early 1960s)
c.) Space cabin environmental atmosphere protocols involving oxygen generation/regulation and carbon dioxide absorption based on Air Force pioneering long-duration space cabin simulation experiments (1954 - 1960s)

2.) Adaptation of aircrew to supersonic high-G flight

a.) T-1 partial pressure suit (1940s and 1950s)
b.) High Flow, Ready Pressure (HFRP) anti-G valve (1977-1978) developed by USAFSAM increased in the rate of G-suit pressurization threefold
c.) Development and fielding of the Tactical Life Support System (TLSS) (1980s) and its follow-on -- the Combat Edge support system (1990-1995)
d.) Anti-G pilot conditioning training program (G-straining maneuvers) (1985 to present)

3.) Adaptation of aircrew to long duration, high-tempo flight operations

a.) Flight surgeons closely monitoring the high operational tempos and providing expert aircrew fatigue management, through schedule adjustments and occasional use of stimulants and sedatives.
i.) Tactical Air Command temporarily suspended use of amphetamines from 1992 to 1996, when it was again permitted to single-seat fighter pilots in extended-duration operations.
ii.) Revision of USAF 'go-pill' policy in February 2001, rescinding 1996 policy, and expanding the use of Dexedrine (go-pill) in long-duration missions from single-seat fighters to dual-seat fighter bomber aircraft.

4.) Rapid, long-distance projection of lightweight medical assets

a.) Development of air transportable hospitals and hardwall, modular hospitals for expeditionary use (1950s to 1980s)
b.) Development and field-testing of the "Expeditionary Medical Support and Air Force Theater Hospital (EMEDS/AFTH) System" (1998-September 1999)--lighter and more flexible than the old air transportable hospitals, and designed for rapid deployment in a variety of Air Force missions

5.) Rapid aeromedical evacuation of patients of all types 

a.) School of Aviation Medicine invention of the world's first air transportable iron lung, the SAM Portable Respirator, for transporting polio patients (1953-1954)
b.) Adaptation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) devices by Air Force neonatologists for the aeromedical evacuation of infants (1980s)
c.) Development and fielding of Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) to assist the aeromedical evacuation of seriously/critically ill but stabilized patients (1994-1995)
d.) Development and fielding of the Patient Support Pallet (PSP) for rapidly re-configuration of Air Force air cargo aircraft into flying ambulances (2002-2003)

6.) Discovery and promotion of the aerobic and cardiovascular components of physical fitness.

a.) School of Aerospace Medicine inauguration of cardiovascular fitness evaluations( in 1957
b.) Correlation of various exercises with oxygen consumption and development of a system to evaluate their impact on cardiovascular fitness. USAF adoption of a physical fitness program in 1970 based on these studies of aerobics.
c.) Air Force adoption of the Coronary Artery Risk Evaluations (CARE) program (1982 - )