An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

ANA reaches milestone

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. James Law
  • 455 AEW PA
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan --  The Afghanistan National Army completed its first-ever medevac here Jan. 31. 

Preparation for this milestone event began weeks ago with coordination between ANA liaison officers in Kabul and Bagram Air Base. With the logistics worked out and patient safety in mind, a successful practice run was performed Tuesday. 

Thursday morning an ANA Mi-17 medevac-configured helicopter departed Kabul International Airport for Bagram Air Base. The Mi-17, piloted by two ANA pilots, carried an all-Afghan crew of two flight medics, a flight surgeon, a flight engineer and a crew chief. 

The helicopter arrived at Bagram Air Base approximately 20 minutes later to transfer three ANA Soldiers with family members from the Craig Joint Theatre Hospital here to the Kabul International Airport where the patients were transported by ambulance to the National Military Hospital in Kabul. 

"This is the first ANA medevac. Before we transferred our patients by International Security Assistance Forces and the Air Force," said ANA Major Mohammad Hazrat, a medical liaison officer. "It is very important that now we have our own helicopters and we can transfer patients from the battle, from the combat area, to the different facilities." 

ANA Major Toryalai Azizi, one of the Mi-17's pilots, echoed the significance of the mission saying, "This is very good and it will be a cornerstone for future missions."