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Volcanic ash reroutes transport of Afghan war wounded

  • Published
  • By John J. Kruzel
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  U.S. military officials have rerouted some American troops wounded in Afghanistan through Iraq instead of Germany due to ash from an Icelandic volcano limiting European air traffic.

A plume of ash continues to block European and transatlantic flight paths, including those of military aircraft.

Thousands of commercial and military flights have been cancelled as the Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to spew ash.

Department of Defense officials decided to transport wounded patients to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, to increase troops' level of survival and to maintain medical capacity at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, home to the primary U.S. medical center in Afghanistan, said Brig. Gen. Steven L. Kwast, the 455th Expeditionary Air Wing commander.

"It's all driven by the requirement medically that intermediate stop saves lives, and it needs to be done," General Kwast said.

While JB Balad doesn't have the same capacity as the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where troops normally receive care before returning to the United States for further treatment, General Kwast said, the military has taken measures to ensure care at the Iraq-based facility is comparable.

"The reality is that there is no degradation in care because we're going to (JB) Balad instead of Landstuhl," he said.

"We have to be prepared at a moment's notice for something like a (Combat Outpost) Keating or a devastating attack by the enemy," General Kwast said. "To have that capacity ready at our hands means we have to move those wounded Soldiers (to Iraq), and we have to move them in a way that allows us that capacity to be prepared for the unexpected."

General Kwast said military officials are using flight paths that circumvent the ash plume when transporting those wounded and killed in action, albeit on different flights.

"There has been no degradation in the speed and the efficiency and the dignity and respect with which those remains have come back home since the volcanic eruption," he said.

In addition to rerouting Afghan war casualties, American bases in England and Germany have been affected by the ash plume.

"There are no flight ops due to the mandatory declaration and suspension of flights from EuroControl," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokeperson.

EuroControl is the equivalent of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

"We still have a solid contingency plan for evacuating our wounded out of (the U.S. Central Command area), and we've relocated some of our aeromedical evacuation aircraft to Rota, Spain, along with medical teams that provide for care all along the route," Mr. Whitman said.