March 11, 007Desert Eagle

Editorial Staff

Commander

Brig. Gen. Charles Shugg

Chief, Public Affairs

Capt. Wes Ticer

NCO in charge, Public Affairs

Staff Sgt. Jasmine Reif

Editor

Senior Airman Erik Hofmeyer

Multimedia support

Tech. Sgt. Deborah DavisStaff Sgt. William ReynardStaff Sgt. David Miller A1C Gustavo GonzalezA1C Andrew Helmkamp

Volume 7, Issue 10

Printed by QF&M, LLC., a private firmunconnected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. This funded Air Forcenewspaper is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. military services overseas.Contents of the Desert Eagle aren’t necessarily

the ofcial view of, or endorsed by, the U.S.

Government, the Department of Defense or the Department of the Air Force. The editorialcontent is edited, prepared and provided by the

379th AEW Public Affairs Ofce.

All photographs are Air Force photographsunless otherwise indicated.

The Desert Eagle

staff accepts stories,photographs and commentaries, which may be

submitted to them at their ofce in Ops Town,

Building 3892. Submissions can also be e-mailed to

Desert.Eagle@auab.centaf.af.mil

.The submission deadline is 8 a.m., theFriday prior to the week of publication. Allsubmissions are edited for content and Air Force journalistic style.For more information, call 437-2868.

Perspective

Photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo

Aeromedical evacuation a Total Forceoperation saving lives every day

On the cover: Airmen fromthe 8th Expeditionary AirMobility Squadron loadpalletized cargo onto a60K loader for transportand upload to a C-17Globemaster.

Total Force.We are all familiar with the term. Inthese days of ex- panding missionsand limited dollars,the United Statesmilitary has movedthe “one team, onefight” idea fromconcept to reality.The UnitedStates Air Forcehas led the way—from Panama to DesertStorm, to Somalia, to the Balkans, and be-yond. Our Air Force has faced the challengesof deploying full-time active duty assets, people and equipment, shoulder to shoulder with the part-time “citizen soldiers” of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, andwe faced those challenges head-on.Has it been easy? No, sir! Change is never easy. Especially change of this magnitude,which was big enough to rock the halls of Congress, the Pentagon, and just about everystate capital in the country.Air Force senior leadership prevailed,and the result is the most effective, most ef-

cient, most lethal military force the world

has ever seen.The U.S. Air Force’s Aeromedical Evacu-ation community has always been on thevanguard of Total Force Integration. Just after midnight on Dec. 20, 1989, U.S. Marines,82nd Airborne Soldiers, Rangers, and NavySeals began the invasion of Panama knownas JUST CAUSE.

Simultaneously, Air Evac ight nurses,

med techs, communicators, and operations personnel from the active duty’s 1st AESquadron (now the 43rd, but “Always theFirst”), Pope AFB, S.C., and the Air ForceReserve’s 32nd AE Group from Kelly AFB,Texas, established a Mobile AeromedicalStaging Facility at Howard AFB, Panama, tofacilitate the evacuation of American combatcasualties to medical treatment facilities inSan Antonio.Lt. Col. Bob Brannon, 1st AES com-mander, got his active duty and Reservemedics ready. He told them that in just a fewhours they were going to be saving the livesof U.S. servicemen. Many of his Reservistshad been at their civilian jobs in San Antonio just a few hours before.JUST CAUSE proved to be just a previewof what was to come. Eight months later inAugust of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and setthe stage for Operatrions DESERT SHIELD

One team, one ght

“Air Evac is not proof that Total Force canwork, it is proof thatTotal Force has to work.Over 90 percent of theaeromedical evacuationassets are in the reservecomponents.”

Lt. Col. Charles Gebhart379th EAES commander

and DESERT STORM.The need arose for an aeromedical evacu-ation presence unlike any mobilized before.The 1611th AE Squadron (Provisional) was to be a 2,000 member AES with Colonel Bran-non as its commander.It was to have elements in Saudi Arabia,Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.With the 1st AES limited to less than 100available active duty personnel, the answer would be found in Total Force. Almost 1,900Reservists and Guardsmen answered the call,and stood up the largest AE squadron in Air Force history.The Total Force Integration of aeromedi-cal evacuation proved effective in Somalia,in Bosnia, in Kosovo — and continues to beeffective today with the 379th ExpeditionaryAE Squadron here at the wing.The 379th has active duty personnel fromPope AFB and Langley AFB, Va., Reservistsfrom Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Florida,and Guardsmen from Delaware, New York,and California all working together to provideour military members with the best patientevacuation process in the world.Air Evac is not proof that Total Force canwork, it is proof that Total Force has to work.Over 90 percent of the aeromedical evacuationassets are in the reserve components. Of the 31AE squadrons worldwide, four are active duty,10 are Air Guard, and 17 are Air Reserve.Total Force Integration is the only answer for effective aeromedical evacuation.The bottom line is, and always has been,taking care of the patient. The family andfriends of that young G.I. lying on a litter inthe back of that cargo plane don’t care whether you are active duty, Reserve, or Guard. Theyonly want you to bring their loved one homesafe.The aeromedical evacuation professionalsof today’s Total Force are dedicated to doing just that.

by Lt. Col. Charles Gebhart379th Expeditionary AeromedicalEvacuation Squadron commander

Header by Staff Sgt. William Reynard

March 11, 0073Desert Eagle

Grafti at PAX terminal

Comment:

I recently returned from an R&R Pass atCamp As Sayliyah and transited through the Pax terminalat the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. The personnel therewere completely professional throughout my brief staypassing through; however, I feel compelled to bring to

light the grafti in the male bathroom in the terminal.It was denitely not what I expected and felt that it

was a poor representation of the Air Force to all theservicemembers who transit through the wing. A simplepainting of the bathroom and stalls would help improvethe appearance of the facility.

Response:

Thank you for addressing this issue. Asa major APOD for the theater, we take seriously our

responsibility and our reputation for providing rst-

rate service and facilities for those transiting. We makeevery effort to keep the bathrooms clean and free of

grafti. We completely repaint the bathrooms after

each rotation and we repaint the stalls in between asneeded. The bathroom you refer to was last painted inDecember and is scheduled to be repainted this month.I asked our CE and MEO folks to look into what you’re

reporting and the grafti was removed. It takes a team

effort to keep our facilities as clean as possible, so Ithank you for taking the time to notify us. I ask youall to please help keep these facilities clean.

- Brig. Gen. Charles Shugg

379th Air Expeditionary Wing commander

Perspective

by Master Sgt. Angela Neal379th Expeditionary MaintenanceOperations Squadron

From cooks to commanders

Military women

moving history forward

From the American Revolution to the GlobalWar on Terrorism, generations of militarywomen, have undeniably “moved historyforward.”In 1855, Mary Edwards Walker, a doctor,was denied enlistment because she was awoman. She was only allowed to work as a

nurse and a spy, and became the rst woman

to receive a Medal of Honor.During the Mexican-American War,Elizabeth Newcom disguised herself as a manand enlisted in the infantry. She marched 600miles before it was discovered that she was awoman and she was discharged from service.Throughout the American Revolution andensuing decades, women were only allowed toserve in the military as nurses, water bearers,cooks, laundresses and spies. Mary EdwardsWalker and Elizabeth Newcom were twocourageous women, but there are many women,even today, named and unnamed, who with passion, perseverance, and persistence continueto commit to military service.World War II reinvigorated women’s desireto serve in the military. The Women AirforceService Pilots (WASP) produced role models

who pioneered as the rst women ever to y

U.S. military aircraft.Despite their triumphs and successes, in1944 the U.S. House of Representatives rejectedlegislation to militarize the WASP.It was during this time thatEleanor Roosevelt reminded anyonewho would listen that the nationwas in a time of war and womenneed not be patient, but they needto fight with all their abilities.

Perseverance paid off ve years later

when the Women’s Armed ServicesIntegration Act of 1948 was enacted;it granted women permanent statusin the Armed Services.The past 20 years can be seenas two decades of “firsts.” Thefirst woman commands a naval base. The Air Force assigns awoman to command an internationalcontinental ballistic missile and an operational

ying wing. The rst female Marine pilot pinson naval ight wings. The Army names the rst

woman “Drill Sergeant of the Year.” The Air

Force Reserve gets its rst woman ghter pilot.The rst woman in the history of the armed

forces is promoted to lieutenant general. The

rst woman res cruise missiles from a warship

in combat. An Air Force lieutenant colonel

becomes the rst woman to y and command

a space shuttle.As we forge forward with fortitude, perseverance, and persistence, we shouldremind ourselves that women regardless of cultural background or socioeconomic statusare able to knock down social and political barriers.Furthermore, as we celebrate Women’sHistory Month we should not only celebrateand learn from yesteryear’s heroines, butwe should support and celebrate all womenwarriors. Chief Master Sgt. Bernadette Borders,379th Expeditionary Services Squadron chief enlisted manager, expounded that as women inthe military we need to continuously challengeourselves to learn, motivate, and support thesuccesses of all women – friend or foe – becausewe too are a “Generation of Women MovingHistory Forward.”“You don’t need legislation to provesomething... you can be whatever you set your heart and head to be, and don’t let anybody tellyou can’t be, because 1,078 women pilots didit in World War II,” said Annelle HendersonBulechek, WASP.