Medical After Action Report

File: 970207_aadcr_007.txt
Page: 007
Total Pages: 15

        patients after the ATM'S redeployed.

                (2) There was no civilian medical support available or
         needed .

                (3) Aeromedical Evacuation is an integral part of our
       mission and its availability was generally timely. Flights during
       the war were not scheduled at a set time. Dedicated aircraft were
       available, but flight times were varied every day. After the war,
       flights generally left the AOR at 0100-0500 to arrive in Europe the
       next morning. All staff worked 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, to
       maximize availability.
 
       11. Flight medicine program: Not applicable - no flying units
       supported.

       12. Observations and Recommendations:

            a. Command and Control.

                 (1) Observation: A re-evaluation of command and control
       of APSS's and TASF's needs to be accomplished.  

                 (2) Discussion: As a MAC gained, CENTAF (TAC) asset,
       there was a blurring of command and control once deployed.
       Although we were identified as a tactical (CENTAF) asset and
       reported through the MTF's and CENTAF, we operated as an
       aeromedical mission and worked very closely with MAC in the
       aeromedical evacuation of patients. In reality, we were at a
       MAC/TAG interface and this caused problems. As a tactical ASF, we
       were a relatively new entity to both MAC and TAC and neither
       command seems to strongly identify or be aware of our particular
       needs. Aeromedical evacuation in a tactical environment appeared
       to be a concept that TAC was not accustomed to directly supporting.
       On the other hand, MAC's familiarization with an aeromedical
       staging facility in a tactical environment had been limited to
       MASF's which are manned by AE squadrons that have more familiarity
       with aeromedical flight operations than APSS's. A tactical ASF is
       a larger facility with more patient care capabilities and are
       accustomed to caring for patients for a much larger period of time.
       MAC personnel treated us as a large MASF which is not what we are
       but which was their only available frame of reference. For
        example, problems such as expectations of specific load plans
      (which varied according to each different air evacuation crew) were
       foreign to us and yet expected from us. Moreover, as a tactical
       ASF in a contingency operation, we were used to dealing with
       conditions not normally allowed to occur during peacetime
       operations (e.g., loading of patients during refueling and
       accepting patients into the ASF without bravo messages). These
       differences further created a sense of non-familiarity between TASF
       operations and normal MAC operations. Support for a TASF is much
       greater than that required for a MASF due to both operational and
       size differences. Being a TAC Asset rather than a MAC asset
       facilitated obtaining this support as most bases in the AOR were