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Rock Solid Warrior: Senior Airman Amanda Fawson

  • Published
  • 386th Expeditionary Medical Group
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Rank/First & Last Name:
Senior Airman Amanda Fawson

Deployed Unit:
386th Expeditionary Medical Group

Duty Title:
Medical Technician

Home unit/station:
75th Medical Group, Hill Air Force Base, Utah

Family's military heritage:
Father, Air Force firefighter/ One-year tour in Iraq

What is your mission here?
To provide effective and efficient medical care 24/7 for my fellow military members. As an Airman in the medical group I am part of a unit that basically fuels this wing; without us, the machine known as the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing would not function properly.

What are some of the best parts of your mission?
Developing strong and trusting relationships with my patients and watching them walk out of the medical facility healthy and happy.

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?
Seeing the pain that my fellow Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Sailors have to suffer through. However, being one of the individuals who helps to ease that suffering is very rewarding. Also I was the person in charge of a week-long transformation of the medical group's Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, making the facility readiness more effective and efficient for our patients' and mission needs.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base?
I am only one of less than 50 assigned medics here. As a group we are solely responsible for all medical care for any individual that steps foot onto this base. I have experienced more hands-on patient care than back home. My skill sets as a medical technician have greatly increased in the short five months I have been here.

How many times have you deployed?
This will have been my first of hopefully many more to come.

What makes this deployment unique?
The fact that we are able to do so much in-depth training. In other deployed settings, especially red zones, it would be harder to find the time to do such things.

Why did you join the Air Force?
In all honesty, I just wanted to serve my country. My ultimate goal is to cross over and become an aero medical evacuation nurse, thus making myself a greater asset to my Air Force and my country.