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Pacific Airmen test new response package

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Chris Vadnais
  • AFPN
Kona International Airport, Hawaii --  Airmen here are testing a new way of responding to natural disasters and requests for humanitarian assistance.

Pacific Lifeline 2008 is a 13th Air Force-led total force exercise employing an Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) unit, a Contingency Response Group, (CRG), and a Mobile Aeronautical Staging Facility (MASF). Combined into one package, these distinct capabilities provide what may be the quickest and most comprehensive emergency medical support in the Pacific theater.

Called the Humanitarian Relief Operations Operational Capability Package, or HUMRO-OCP, the package is a result of lessons learned from previous disaster response missions. Its scalable medical facility is basically a standard EMEDS package with some added capability.

A standard EMEDS response package includes public health officials, who treat common ailments, and bio-environmental experts, who run tests on the local water. Since these are likely to be high-demand services, the HUMRO-OCP hospital includes three such teams.

Also standard to EMEDS are the emergency room, the operating room capable of handling general surgery and orthopedic surgery, and the intensive care unit. But a wartime hospital isn't sufficient for a crisis involving a large civilian population, so the HUMRO-OCP's EMEDS has to be slightly altered.

"What's different about this EMEDS is that we've added OB/GYN capability and pediatrics capability," said Col. Nicholas Miniotis, commander of the 3rd EMEDS based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Colonel Miniotis said that's because in a given humanitarian response mission he'd expect about twenty percent of the patients to be children, and a significant percentage of the female patients to be pregnant.

Normally, an EMEDS unit deploys in support of an existing base. Things like housing, food, and security are taken care of by that gaining unit. This kind of support is unlikely in the aftermath of a destructive typhoon. That's where the CRG comes in.

Dubbed the 9-1-1 Force of the Pacific, the 36th Contingency Response Group based at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, is a team of rapid-response specialists who deploy to assess, open, operate, and maintain an airfield. In the HUMRO-OCP package, the CRG provides the EMEDS unit with the support normally provided by the host base.

"We're talking about a tent city," said Maj. Troy Roberts, 36th Expeditionary Contingency Response Squadron commander. "A place for you to put your head down, a place for you to eat, even a place for you to go and communicate back to home, security--we provide all of those functions that you'd normally have at a base, at home station," he said.

The final piece of the HUMRO-OCP package is the MASF, a mobile unit providing staging support and care for patients prior to their airlift evacuation. Like the CRG and the EMEDS unit, the MASF can deploy within hours, and they can be ready to handle patients within an hour of arrival.

Combine the EMEDS, the CRG, and the MASF with the airlift capabilities of the C-130 Hercules, the C-17 Globemaster III, and the C-5 Galaxy, and you've got an incredible response unit.

"What we've done here is build an off-the-shelf, pre-packaged force," said Col. Kevin Kersh, 36th Air Expeditionary Wing commander.

Colonel Kersh said after past disasters the Air Force has brought planning teams together to assess the needs and how to best meet them. The HUMRO-OCP brings together a solution in anticipation of the need. With the unit prepared, and airpower behind the mobilization, Colonel Kersh said the HUMRO-OCP is likely the quickest response force available.

"Unless there happened to be an amphibious ready group, or there happened to be a U.S. military base that was close to the disaster area, certainly we could get this package in just a matter of days," said Colonel Kersh.

These capabilities have all been proven separately, but this exercise provides an opportunity to see how well they integrate. Maj. Joseph Dunn, 13th Air Force's Exercise Control Team Chief on Kona, said the islands are the perfect venue to test the package.

"The land here mimics a lot of the island nations in the Pacific," said Maj. Dunn.

"We're going to not only test our ability to go to a remote location that gives a true picture of an isolated nation, but we also have a very similar climatology that we're going to be faced with," he said

"It's just a great training ground."