CASF, AE team to be stood up on Camp Bastion

Members from the 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron from Camp Bastion, deliver a wounded patient in an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter to British Army medics from the Role III hospital on Camp Bastion, Jan. 20, 2010. The Role III hospital provides emergency care to Afghan nationals and servicemembers serving in Afghanistan. Approximately 600 casualties come through the field hospital each month. A contingency aeromedical staging facility and aeromedical evacuation operations team are scheduled to be stood up by Feb. 1, poised for an additional increase of patients as additional troops deploy to the region. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Nancy Hooks/Released)

CASF, AE team to be stood up on Camp Bastion

Brig. Gen. Guy Walsh, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing commander, and Maj. Gen. Stephen Mueller, director, Air Component Coordination Element, Air Force Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan, talk to the new medical staff at Camp Bastion Jan. 19, 2010. The Airmen are preparing to stand up the contingency aeromedical staging facility and the aeromedical evacuation operations team on Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Nancy Hooks/Released)

CASF, AE team to be stood up on Camp Bastion

Published Jan. 26, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Angelique N. Smythe
451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan -- A two-person advance echelon team is working to stand up the contingency aeromedical staging facility and the aeromedical evacuation operations team on Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan's deadliest province for U.S. and NATO forces, by Feb. 1.

With the potential of more incoming troops as well as more patients, the CASF and AE team will prepare to assist the Role III hospital aboard Camp Bastion by transporting patients to the staging facility and then out of the area, said Maj. Paul Langevin, the ADVON chief.

The primary reason we're here is to support the potential buildup, he said. We're poising ourselves for an additional increase of patients, which will put a lot of stress on the Role III hospital for beds. Our role is to decrease the stress of not having enough beds by staging a facility and then flying away with them to get them out as soon as we can.

Major Langevin and Capt. Tim Deater, a medical service corps officer, were both tasked by the Central Air Force Surgeon General to get the 36-man AE team in place and the 26-man CASF stood up. Together, they've worked with Lt. Col. Brian Beers, Camp Bastion beddown liaison for the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, to network and get all the materials, equipment and contracts needed to complete this task.

Airmen from Kandahar Airfield's 451st Expeditionary Civil Engineer and Communications Squadrons have also deployed to Camp Bastion to build the floors and tents needed, as well as to lay down the electrical and communication systems for this new unit.
Plans are in order for eight Alaskan tents with a robust electrical generator, 25 CASF beds and a number of vehicles for transporting patients.

"I have no doubt this team will be successful once they get up and running," Major Langevin said. "I quantify their success by the timely movement of patients once we're able to get all the equipment here and begin interacting with the Role III, as well as the air planners to get aircraft here, as the number of patients grow. The biggest hurdle right now is just getting up and running."