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What is "Aerovac?"

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan --  Many are familiar with the term medical evacuation or "medevac." Army helicopters swoop in and transport personnel requiring medical treatment. Medevac flights are highly versatile but have limited carrying capacity. What happens when you have a large number of patients, need specialty care, or need to move over longer distances? 

Enter "Aerovac."

Aeromedical evacuation, or "aerovac" for short, is a unique Air Force asset which uses fixed wing aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, and C-17 Globemaster III. These airframes allow for larger patient loads, transported over longer distances, at higher altitudes, with a greater ability to care for the seriously injured. 

"Most people think medevac all the time even though that is the helicopters. We have no problem with that, however it all depends on missions," said Tech. Sgt. Alexandria Young, duty controller for the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight. 

The 455th EAEF here at Bagram Airfield is tasked to care for and transport patients from all over Afghanistan to Bagram with litter space for up to 97 patients in the C-130J. They also run missions taking patients out of theater to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The "Bravo Crews" at the 455th EAEF are mandated to be airborne within 3 hours of receiving an aerovac request. This involves checking and loading 800 pounds of emergency equipment and converting the cargo hold of a C-130 or C-17 into a flying hospital. Despite the daunting time frame, Sergeant Young has seen this complex task performed in as little as 45 minutes.

"This is always a team effort, working with ATOC, fuels, pilots, and loadmasters," said Senior Master Sgt. Adam Marks, 455th EAEF.

"One of the big strengths of the aerovac mission is to be able to cater to the patients needing critical care support," said Lt. Col. Michael Gainer, commander of the 455th EAEF. "Depending on patient acuity, the standard crew of nurses and EMT trained aeromedical technicians can be augmented with a Critical Care Air Transport Team, consisting of a critical care doctor, critical care nurse, and a respiratory therapist. This allows patients to be moved, when required, literally direct from the operating room to the aircraft."

The Army's medevac teams remain a valuable resources to deployed members in the Area of Responsibility, being able to go just about anywhere to rescue injured coalition forces, but the Air Force's aerovac teams take medical evacuation to a whole new level.