U.S. service members, FARDC make final push to exercise finale

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. John Orrell
  • 17th Air Force Public Affairs
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo --  After a week of classroom training, members of the Democratic Republic of the Congo armed forces (FARDC) quick response force (UMIR) and U.S. service members participating in MEDLITE 11 began training on a Georgia Air National Guard C-130 Hercules here, May 2.

Relocating from the Centre Superior Militaire Academy to a Congolese air force base next to N'Djili International Airport, the UMIR began the final phase of their hands-on training before a mass casualty exercise scheduled for May 4.

"The main goal is to get the UMIR to be able to safely aeromedical evacuate their patients from one area of need to the next," said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jodi Smith a flight nurse with the Wyoming Air National Guard's 187th Airlift Wing and an emergency room nurse for a Veterans Affairs hospital.

"We want to be able to see them go from just patient care to being able to bring them onto the plane and be just as knowledgeable on the plane as they are on the ground," she said.

Today's training revolved around getting the UMIR informed and comfortable with the ground rules and safety procedures in and around a C-130 Hercules, Smith said.

The UMIR members, many of whom came from around the DRC to Kinshasa, have not had the opportunity to work on or around a plane at all, so this is where they must learn the basics.

Those basics included aircraft and flightline safety, aircraft capabilities, aircraft configuration and aircraft familiarization both inside and out.

"We are starting the practical part of the exercise now and seeing the plane for the first time," said FARDC Capt. Kawaya Tshipamba through a translator.

Tshipamba, a squad leader for an emergency evacuation medical team, said today's training will help him and the other members of the UMIR understand the aspects of the plane and prepare them for what they must do for the May 4 finale.

"Today, I have found many interesting characteristics about the plane that I had not thought about," he said. "The additional stress of flight, especially air pressures that may be experienced while flying is something very interesting that I learned last week and was able to visualize today."

With temperatures near the 90 degree mark and no air conditioning in the hangar the UMIR students continued to show their enthusiasm and passion to learn as they listened to U.S. instructors and prepared for the exercise.

"They are still very receptive and are asking lots of good questions," said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Amber Weaver, an aeromedical evacuation technician with the Wyoming ANG's 187th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and a civilian registered nurse.

Weaver, who taught the aircraft capabilities portion of today's training, said she has enjoyed the chance to share her experience from both her military and civilian life and that the UMIR have set a good road map for success in the their future of aeromedical evacuation.

With only 2.6 percent of their gross domestic product going to the military, the DRC only has four fixed wing aircraft in their arsenal, according to Jane's World Air Force, which is an analytical reference resource for the world's Air Forces.

After spending time with the UMIR, aeromedical evacuation is something U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Matt Peterson, the director of operations for MEDLITE 11 and the director of operations for the Minnesota ANG's 109th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, can see as a possibility in the near future for the DRC.

"They have been great to work with and their level of medical knowledge is quite extensive ... but from an aeromedical evacuation standpoint, they're at a basic level, he said.

"But they are learning quickly and I think before too long, we'll see them with airplanes and moving patients," Peterson said.