Operation Enduring Freedom

Mohammad Ali, (left) Afghanistan National Army Air Corps medic, smiles as U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Lemons, a flight medic jokes with him onboard an MI-17 helicopter Jan. 7 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Army Sergeant Lemons is assigned to the 441st Air Expeditonary Advisory Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)

Operation Enduring Freedom

Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Lemons, a flight medic (left) and Maj. Kimberley Coleman, a U.S. Air Force flight nurse, both are mentors assigned to the 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron who are mentoring Afghanistan National Army Air Corps members on operating MI-17 helicopters. Army Sergeant Lemons and Maj. Coleman are preparing to fly from Forward Operating Base Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan Jan. 7, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)

Operation Enduring Freedom

Maj. Kimberley Coleman, 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron (AEAS) flight nurse, looks out the window of an MI-17 piloted by a 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory pilot and Afghanistan National Army Air Corp pilots, Jan. 7, 2010, in Southern, Afghanistan. Afghanistan National Army Air Corps Soldiers delivered 30 passengers (ANAAC Soldiers) and one pallet of cargo destined for 82nd Airborne Soldiers with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Forward Operating Base Tarin Kowt. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)

Operation Enduring Freedom

Major Kimberley Coleman, 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron (AEAS) flight nurse, displays her squadron patch, Jan. 7, 2010, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Afghanistan National Army Air Corps Soldiers delivered 30 passengers (ANAAC Soldiers) and one pallet of cargo destined for 82nd Airborne Soldiers with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Forward Operating Base Tarin Kowt. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)

Airmen, Soldiers making strides in mentoring Afghan counterparts

Published Jan. 21, 2010
By Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson
USAFCENT/PA Combat Camera Team

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- A joint team of U.S. Airmen and a Soldier with the 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron are training Afghanistan National Army Air Corps soldiers in medical evacuations and tactics here.

One speaks Air Force and the other talks fluent Army, but Maj. Kimberly W. Coleman, a flight nurse, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Lemons, a flight medic, get a clear message across to the ANAAC soldiers they mentor.

"There are language barriers between us and ANAAC and myself and my Air Force counterparts, because I definitely speak Army," said Army Sergeant Lemons, a native of Martinsville, Va., with a laugh. "But I must say I am impressed with how the Air Force does business, how the ANAAC listens and learns and they give and take it as required for us to have a program that stresses medical excellence."

The three-man joint team mentors a seven-man team of ANAAC soldiers in triage, medical evaluations, on and off-loading patients onto MI-17 helicopters, communication between medical facilities, ordering medical supplies, sanitation and providing medical coverage for a convoy.

"The skills we are teaching them will directly benefit ANAAC Soldiers," said Major Coleman, who is deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "Our goal is to get them to provide the same medical care our Air Force and Army medevac teams provide for our servicemembers."

The goal for these native sons of Afghanistan is to learn a system that replicates the Army medical evacuation system, providing point of injury pickups and medical care inside of a helicopter. They begin training in Kabul and move on to Kandahar to get mentoring from the 441st AEAS.

"I have learned a lot and I am proud to be a medic for my people," said Mohammad Ali, ANAAC medic. "Being able to provide what the U.S. military provides for its people means survival for my people. That is why I take what I learn very seriously, because I am learning skills that will keep people alive."

One success mentors have been able to accomplish for their ANAAC medics is weekly aeromedical evacuation missions to Kabul. Mentors in Kabul bring in Afghan medical patients and Afghan medics care for them as they fly to clinics in Kandahar.

"We always say train like you fight and these weekly flights are really helping our medics achieve their goals," said Major Coleman, a native of Hayden, Ala. "The next goal is going to FOBs or answering medevac missions as they happen."

A goal mentors got a glimpse of when ANAAC Soldiers and their mentors' medically evacuated an ANAAC Soldier with a gunshot wound from Forward Operating Base Tarin Kowt to Kandahar Jan. 7. They treated him and he returned to duty.

"That mission was a glimpse of the future that lies ahead for them," said Army Sergeant Lemon, who will be stationed in Fort Carson, Colo., after his deployment is finished in May. "I am proud of them (the ANAAC), that's why I am smiling right now, and you don't have to speak Air Force or Army to understand that."