Busy here...

Airman 1st Class Dusty Cotter, a medic with the 435th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, checks on a patient aboard a C-17 coming from Iraq to Ramstein Air Base in Germany on July 5. Ben Bloker / S&S

Ramstein sees more patients since ‘surge’

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — The “surge” in U.S. troops in Iraq has resulted in an increase in patients passing through this base. ...

Only two other months have been higher than May and June, said [Maj. Paul Langevin, who commands the 435th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, or CASF at Ramstein].

The facility saw the greatest number of patients in April and May 2003.

April 2004, when military forces converged on Fallujah, was the second busiest time, Langevin said. He could not provide statistics for those months.

Since 2003, the facility has received 43,807 patients from Afghanistan and Iraq. Of those, 9,548 had battle injuries. Airmen have conducted nearly 70,000 patient movements.

For the record, Soldiers' Angels Germany has provided a record amount of donations to the Landstuhl facilities during the past 2 months as well, including almost 400 phone cards during the month of June alone.

Other stats for June include about 100 sweatsuits, hundreds of personal hygiene items, hundreds of microwave meals for soldiers arriving at the outpatient facility after regular meal hours, etc.

Soldiers' Angels Germany volunteers booked 18 days of on-site volunteer time during June, and visited 14 wounded service members on behalf of their families.

Please see our list of projects to the right if you can help, or hit the PayPal button.

Thank you on behalf of our soldiers transitioning through Germany.