USAFE Airmen kick off RESCUER/MEDCEUR 2005

  • Published
  • By Erin Zagursky
  • 435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Airmen from across U.S. Air Forces in Europe recently joined with military members from approximately 16 nations in Tbilisi, Georgia, to gain medical training and practice their responses to major disasters and mass casualty situations as a part of RESCUER/MEDCEUR 2005.

The two-week exercise, which started Sept. 10, is a joint and multi-national military exercise that will allow U.S. European Command units to practice their deployment processes and interoperability with the armed forces of other countries.

The RESCUER portion of the exercise is a computer-assisted, joint task force disaster response and consequence management simulation.

The MEDCEUR portion will provide training and operational experience to personnel, as well as validate the readiness status of the component crisis response and surgical response team. Additionally, this exercise will allow for the interchange of medical information and techniques with host nation medical personnel.

USAFE Airmen from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England; RAF Lakenheath, England; Lajes Field, Azores; Aviano Air Base, Italy; and Incirlik AB, Turkey, are involved in every aspect of the exercise, from setting up lodging and food service support to conducting medical training.

In addition to exercising their responses and gaining training, some of the Airmen will also have the opportunity to provide limited humanitarian civic assistance to the host nation of Georgia.

This assistance includes cataract surgery, vision exams, free eyeglasses and improvements to a Georgian medical clinic.

Approximately 470 U.S.service members and 475 partner nation participants are involved in the exercise.