Aeromedical Evacuation Crew provides lifesaving transportation

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Timothy Talbert, native of Richmond, Va., a flight nurse with the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight, watches over a patient while the critical care air transport team works to keep the patient alive on a C-130 Jan. 10. The 455th EAEF picks up and cares for patients from all over Afghanistan. (Photo by Spc. Cody Barber, 11th Public Affairs Detachment)

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Timothy Talbert, a flight nurse, is part of the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight team on Bagram Air Field, whose mission is to care for and transport patients from one location to another to get them further medical care.

“Our primary mission is to transport patients anywhere in theater,” said Talbert, a native of Richmond, Va. “We move injured and wounded patients whether they are soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines or contractors. There isn’t a patient we can’t transport.”

The 455th EAEF picks up and treats service members and civilians with injuries varying from anything as minor as a cough to as severe as multiple amputation or gunshots wounds.

The unit covers all of Afghanistan. They also take patients from Craig Joint Theater Hospital to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany for a higher level medical care.

Talbert said they are the medics in-between when referring to the transportation of patients from one location to the next.

“We are a part of a system,” said Talbert. “We are the intermediate area between point A to point B. The transport is vital for the continuity of care and getting the patient to the next step, which might be the life saving step, the diagnosis that they need, or the treatment that they need.”
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“It’s something that is hard to describe,” said air medical evacuation technician Senior Airman Melissa Deardorff.“… but there is no greater feeling than to take care of one of your own and get them the help they need.”

Read more about this Aeromedical Evacuation Team.

The American flag hangs while a critical care air transport team helps to keep alive a patient during flight that was wounded in combat on the C-130 Jan. 10. The CCATT is needed for treating the most critically injured patients in the aeromedical evacuation system. (Photo by Spc. Cody Barber, 11th Public Affairs Detachment)