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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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914th AES brings order out of chaos

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt Andrew Caya
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. --  A devastating natural disaster has ripped apart your community, leaving scores of people dead, injured and missing. You and loved ones are in desperate need of medical attention however, because of the extensive damage to your area's resources, local authorities may not be able to reach your location to render your family assistance. Turmoil and suffering seems imminent.

To mitigate this disaster scenario, Airmen of the 914th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron along with local federal agencies tested their life-saving skills while utilizing the National Disaster Medical System during a mass casualty exercise, Wednesday, June 15 at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, N.Y.

According to their official website, The National Disaster Medical System is a federally coordinated system that augments the nation's medical response capability. The overall purpose of the NDMS is to supplement an integrated national medical response capability for assisting state and local authorities in dealing with the medical impacts of major peacetime disasters and to provide support to the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs medical systems in caring for casualties evacuated back to the U.S. from overseas armed conventional conflicts.

The exercise was conducted to test how well military and government officials responded to a simulated earthquake along the Madrid Fault-Line located in the United States' Mid-West. In the simulation, the Airmen landed, made contact with local authorities, set up a casualty collection point, rendered medical care and evacuated the wounded.

This exercise also demonstrated how devoted the 914th Airlift Wing is in the Western New York community by giving civilian authorities a great training opportunity.

We are citizen Airmen, said 914th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron Acting Commander Lt. Col. Patrick Perretta. We have investment in this training because tomorrow, many of my service members will go back into the community, to their civilian jobs and they could be called upon to assist with real world scenarios like the one we are training in now, he said.

This exercise is one of many that federal and state entities participate in on a regular basis. After natural disasters that devastated the southeastern United States like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the government has reviewed and improved state-side humanitarian responses. One way to improve the system is to practice simulated responses constantly, like the 914 AES does.

Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Emergency Manager Ken Drozdowski said that this critical training could not be accomplished without the support of the local Air Force Reserve unit. Mr. Drozdowski went on to say that without the Reserve's active participation, the local civilian emergency services would not have had the realism of an actual military medical evacuation aircraft to train on. The different bureaus would not be able to interoperate effectively and they certainly wouldn't be easily able to receive the knowledge on how to perform medical evacuations and reception of patients from disaster-zones.

For this exercise the 914 AES joined with the New York State Department of Health, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Erie County Emergency Services, U.S. Marshalls, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority fire and police departments and various other community ambulance services.

"It's a joint task force that shows Western New York capabilities on how we can perform patient reception andinteroperate with federal, state, county and local agencies," said Mr. Drozdowski. "It is another example how Western New York emergency management systems work together in all facets at a possible nation-wide event at a nation-wide level."

In order to ensure speed and accuracy of rendering proper medical care during military medical evacuation, The 914th Aeromedical Evacuation Technicians trained local firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers and a multitude of other government agencies how to properly and effectively load casualties onto a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft.

The C-130 then took off and landed which allowed the remaining emergency ground crews to successfully practice unloading from the aircraft, under the watchful eyes of the 914 AES technicians.

Members of Erie County emergency teams stated they were happy and excited for the chance to work with the military and their federal counterparts again.

"They are great trainers, we learn a lot and I think it is a great partnership," said Ms. Tracy Chalmers, program manager of the Erie County for Public Health Services. "I think it's a great opportunity for Erie County workers to see what their role will be and get some hands-on experience."

"I thought the training was excellent," said Daniel McCartan, Erie County Medical Center emergency preparedness coordinator. "We always practice patient reception, but we never get to practice patient removal in the event of an emergency; so we are having the opportunity to get a little of both, which is good. Every opportunity civilians have to integrate, collaborate and learn from the military is important. We need to be doing this every year."