T
he Air Force has been augmenting the Army in Afghanistan in the air as well as on the ground. Buried in an article about an Air Force medic is the fact that USAF medics and HH-60 Pave Hawk combat search and rescue aircraft have been flying medical evacuation missions normally handled by Army medevac forces. On one of his first missions in country, TSgt. Stephen Thackery flew to the scene aboard a Pave Hawk, while two other USAF medics, TSgt. David Denton and TSgt. Nicholas Falcon flew on Army helicopters. These medics are veteran aeromedical evac technicians, but as ILO medics, they often work alone to aid transport of critically injured troops from the point of injury, rather than with a team of medical professionals transporting stabilized patients. (Kandahar report by Capt. Michael Meridith)
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.