Important dates in the history of the AF Medical Service Published June 29, 2009 By James S. Nanney, Ph.D. Air Force Surgeon General Historian WASHINGTON -- July 1949 and early 1950 -- Newly authorized Air Force medics assume all responsibility for patient treatment on Air Force bases. On Sept. 7, 1949, two months after the creation of the Air Force Medical Service, Louis Johnson, Secretary of Defense, directed that aeromedical evacuation (AE) be the preferred method of long distance casualty evacuation for U.S. armed forces. In the Korean War (1950-1953), medical evacuation helicopters were first used by the USAF in the fall of 1950. The Army soon assumed responsibility for frontline medical helicopter evacuation, while the USAF used a variety of fixed-wing transport aircraft for medical evacuation. In the early 1950s, the Holloman AFB Aeromedical Research Laboratory conducted a series of tests of human tolerance to high G forces, using rocket sleds and other high energy vehicles. In February 1953, the Air Force Medical Service was instrumental in having aviation medicine recognized as a specialty by the American Medical Association (AMA). In the mid-1950s the AFMS constructed its first air transportable hospitals. In the late 1950s, AFMS officers conducted many studies of high altitude physiology. In project Man High II and a series of studies carried out by the Aeromedical Laboratory of Holloman AFB, N.M, AFMS scientists explored the effects of long term human exposure to cosmic rays. In 1959, the USAF changed "aviation medicine" to "aerospace medicine" and the AMA recognized this new name in 1964. From 1958 to 1970, several AFMS hospitals, schools, and laboratories supported NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs. The aviation physiology program also supported the first U.S. high-altitude reconnaissance flights starting in 1957. 1965 --1973 In the Vietnam War, retrograde cargo/personnel jets (C-141s) greatly reduced evacuation times to CONUS. AFR and ANG crews began to augment the active duty AE systems. In the Vietnam War (1965-1973) the Air Force Medical Service developed its first hardwall, modular hospitals for expeditionary use. In April 1975, U.S. President Gerald Ford announced that the U.S. Air Force would begin evacuating orphans from Saigon. Medics and nurses of the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation Group, Clark AB, Philippines, cared for these infants during the dangerous evacuation operations. A series of thirty planned flights aboard C-5A Galaxy cargo aircraft resulted in over 3,300 infants and children being evacuated to the United States and other countries. In the 1980s, the AFMS began to construct large prepositioned Contingency Hospitals in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Korea. In the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) the AFMS demonstrated its exceptional capability for rapid deployment. AFMS medics were the first to arrive in theater. Their buildup expanded to 15 air transportable hospitals and one in-theater contingency hospital at Seeb, Oman. In the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) and after, AFMS flight surgeons closely monitored the high operational tempo and provided expert aircrew fatigue management. Flight surgeons were used on some AE missions and teams for the first time since World War II. In 1994, the AFMS started to reengineer its force structure to better respond to the post-Cold War era. One important initiative was to reduce the size of the forward deployed AFMS medical facilities. The prepositioned contingency hospitals of the Cold War were gradually drawn down. In June 1996, the AFMS created a base-level program of suicide prevention that stressed multifunctional prevention teams of medical and non-medical personnel. This suicide prevention program soon won national acclaim and honors. In October 1997 the Medical Service began to train Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) to assist the AE of seriously/critically ill but stabilized patients. More than 100 CCATT teams became operational the following year. From April to June 1999, more than 300 Air Force medics deployed to the Balkans in support of Operation ALLIED FORCE in Kosovo and the humanitarian Operation SHINING HOPE. The Disease and Non-Battle Injury (DNBI) rate was less than expected, and the AFMS medics worked closely with command channels and other functional support services. In January 2004, the Air Force fitness program began to combine body mass index (BMI), aerobics testing and muscular strength testing in a new "Fit to Fight" program. In October 2000, two AE crews and two CCATT crews performed a remarkable evacuation of the victims of USS Cole bombing in Aden, Yemen. These four AFMS crews won the 2000 Mackay trophy for their work. In Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM , evacuation times were further reduced, helping reduce the patient mortality rate to a historical low. As of April 2009, 62,000 patients had been transported. In August 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, Air Force Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve medics were in place conducting lifesaving operations. Teams ensured safe evacuation of 2,609 patients. On Sept. 3, 2005, teams moved 580 litters and 300 ambulatory patients, the largest single day of transports since WWII. In August 2008, the Air Force and Air National Guard were key components in the successful operation to evacuate more than 3,000 people from the Gulf Coast in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav's landfall. Among the evacuees were 833 patients who required specialized medical evacuation from the area. The Total Force team was also in place when Hurricane Gustav struck the Louisiana coast on Sept. 1 and when Hurricane Ike battered Galveston, Texas, less than two weeks later. During Hurricane Gustav, Air Mobility Command coordinated the movement of more than 8,000 evacuees, including 600 patients. Aircrews transported post-surgery/post-intensive care unit patients from Galveston area hospitals to Dallas medical facilities. In the storm's aftermath, these forces continued to support the region by providing further medical evacuation and humanitarian aid.