934th FST: AF Medical Providers put their stamp on the field

Written by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs Friday, 29 October 2010 21:16

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Air Force Maj. Virginia Dunn, a native of Indianapolis, the Intensive Care Unit officer in charge, sets up a patient’s intravenous line recently in the 934th Forward Surgical Team advanced trauma life support section at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan recently. The 934th FST is a team of Army and Air Force medical providers who treat coalition force and Afghan casualties from the battlefield and prepare them for a higher level of care. The goal of the unit is to cut down the mortality rate of battlefield injuries by ensuring all patients see a medical provider within one hour of their time of injury. Dunn is deployed from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Assimilation is never easy.

Conforming to the team dynamic of a completely different branch of service, however, is even more difficult.

The roughly two dozen soldiers of the 934th Forward Surgical Team, a U.S. Army Reserve unit from Salt Lake City, were quite familiar with each other long before arriving at Forward Operating Base Sharana earlier this year.

They had trained, lived and worked together for several months, even performing a two-week rotation in a trauma center in Miami to learn trauma-specific protocols and enhance their already vast knowledge.

The FST personnel, which in previous rotations had been split into two units at two different FOBs, was combined into one large unit to address the growing medical needs on the base.

But sometimes, one team, no matter how well they work together, is not enough.

As part of a trial period, the FST was soon augmented by several Air Force medical personnel, including nurses and medical technicians as well as several Army critical care nurses, who assist in transporting patients to a higher level of care.

The Air Force medical personnel and Army CCNs are among the first in the country to be integrated with an FST, to the great relief of FST members.

It was the first time additional personnel had been added to an FST.

“Our mission here is unique, to say the least, and upon arrival, we knew we’d be busy with the amount of personnel we had,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Austin Adamson, the 934th FST executive officer from Preston, Idaho. "Thankfully, we have been able to bring in some more people to work with us and help us provide even greater patient care.”

The welcoming nature of their FST teammates was felt immediately by the newcomers.

“I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect coming in, not having a lot of dealings with the Army or trying to integrate with them before,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Norris, a native of New Madrid, Mo., the officer in charge of the advanced trauma life support section of the FST. “But these guys were great, they welcomed us with open arms, and we haven’t had any issues at all with not feeling like a team.”

“Sometimes, it’s easy to forget we aren’t originally from this unit,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Joanne Castillo, a native of Sunnyvale, Calif., who serves as a medical technician in the Advanced Trauma Life Support section of the FST. “This unit is a good group of people who welcomed us right in, and everyone gets along great, no matter where we come from.”

“This has been such a great opportunity,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Kristina Rosiles, a native of Garland, Texas, who is also a medical technician in the Advanced Trauma Life Support section of the FST. “At my home base, I work in a family practice clinic where I do a lot of checking in of patients, vital signs and administrative work. Here, however, it’s significantly different. It’s a huge mountain of a job here, and not just because the base is located at over 7,000 feet in elevation.”

Rosiles, deployed from Sheppard AFB, Texas, is not alone in believing this deployment is considerably different than her duties at home station.

“I’ve worked in emergency medicine before, but this is on a whole new level,” said Castillo, who is deployed from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.“Of course, we get a report about the incoming patient, but you just never know what you’re going to encounter once they arrive. There are a lot of dealings with the unknown here.”

Like any good team, individuals in the unit learn from their teammates.

“Everyone knows how to do the same thing in different ways,” said Rosiles.“It could be one simple technique, but five different people may do it five different ways to get the same result. We are constantly learning from each other. You have to take it all in, and compare it to what you already know and decide for yourself how to do things. It’s a great environment for learning.”

The Air Force personnel definitely appreciate the uniqueness of their deployment.

“Some of the stuff I get to do here, I’d never get the chance to do on a typical Air Force deployment, working in a military hospital somewhere,” said Rosiles. “At an Air Force hospital, I couldn’t even dream of working in an FST like I am here. I am getting some unique experiences here that I will get to use throughout my Air Force career.”

“This deployment combines a lot of the aspects I liked from my last two deployments,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Virginia Dunn, of Indianapolis, the Intensive Care Unit officer in charge deployed from Peterson AFB, Colo. “I spent a deployment in the ICU at Bagram Air Base’s hospital and another deployment assisting with medical evacuations out of Kuwait, but working in a trauma center like this is a great mix of my past two deployment experiences.”

“Historically, Air Force medical teams haven’t been on FSTs,” said Norris, who is deployed from Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., where she is a pediatric nurse. “That’s usually been an Army tasking. So to get patients directly from the point of injury, as an Air Force person, it’s pretty rare and that’s what we get to do here. Usually, when a medical person from the Air Force sees a patient, they’re a little bit cleaned up, they’ve had a little surgery, and they’re stabilized, so it’s obviously a great experience for all of us to see how they got to be that way.”

A great experience, a great team environment, sounds like assimilation may not be as difficult as it’s made out to be.

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Air Force Maj. Michele Holderness, from Alexandria, Va., an intensive care nurse with the 934th Forward Surgical Team, prepares to record a patient’s progress in the advanced trauma life support section of the FST at Forward Operating Base Sharana recently. In order to help provide better treatment for their patients, several FSTs in Afghanistan have been augmented by Air Force medical professionals, as well as Army critical care nurses. The 934th FST is a team of Army and Air Force medical providers who treat coalition force and Afghan casualties from the battlefield and prepare them for a higher level of care. The goal of the unit is to cut down the mortality rate of battlefield injuries by ensuring all patients see a medical provider within one hour of their time of injury. Holderness is deployed from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., where she is a critical care nurse. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)

934 FST: Anatomy of the life-saving process

Written by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs Thursday, 21 October 2010 01:31
Part two of a three-part series

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Members of the 934th Forward Surgical Team unload a patient from the back of a field litter ambulance at Forward Operating Base Sharana recently. The 934th FST is a team of Army and Air Force medical providers who treat coalition force and Afghan casualties from the battlefield and prepare them for a higher level of care. The goal of the unit is to cut down the mortality rate of battlefield injuries by ensuring all patients see a medical provider within one hour of their time of injury. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- “In the medical field, especially in trauma situations, you have a goal of what’s called the ‘golden hour’ from the time of injury to the time you get to see a doctor,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kyle Jennings, 934th Forward Surgical Team member and a licensed practical nurse from Deweyville, Utah. “Patients who arrive within that one-hour window have a much greater chance of recovery. Without an FST in place, a Soldier could go a long time before they see a surgeon or an operating room, and it’d be a lot harder for that person to meet that critical golden hour goal.”

The Emergency Operations Center of the 934th Forward Surgical Team, located on Forward Operating Base Sharana, is where the action begins.

“We are the eyes and ears of the battle space, always on the lookout for medical calls coming in” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. George McGraw, a native of Clarksville, Tenn.

At the EOC, soldiers man the phones, radios and computers, waiting for alerts to potential medical casualty evacuations that could be coming their way.

Once a patient is confirmed to be arriving, the EOC has to act quickly because it can take just a matter of minutes for a helicopter to leave their station, pick up a patient and drop them off at the FST.

Members of the EOC instantly begin to spread the word around the facility, and information snowballs to the rest of the unit.

Paul Revere-style runners, perhaps shouting, “The whirly-birds are coming, the whirly-birds are coming,” are dispatched to locate medical personnel, helped in their task by large white boards throughout the unit with up-to-date locations for unit personnel.

“There’re not that many places to go on this base, so finding people is usually pretty easy,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Austin Adamson, the 934th FST executive officer from Preston, Idaho. “It’s not like someone can go off and really hide someplace for very long, so tracking people down to get them in here quickly is usually pretty simple.”

The first qualified responders to the unit jump into the prepositioned field litter ambulance and rush to receive the patient.

“Being the medic in the back of the ambulance is really exciting,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin Chou, an Army paramedic from Salt Lake City who is also the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Advance Trauma Life Support section of the FST. “When you’re in the back of the ambulance, it’s just you and the patient. You’re responsible for them until they get up to the unit. That’s what we’re trained to do, so I feel a little more comfortable in the back of the ambulance. Even though it’s a short transport, we still get people who are in a great need of care so sometimes you have to do a lot of stuff just to get them to a provider.”

Those awaiting the return of the ambulance prepare gurneys and equipment for the patient’s arrival, as well as ensure each member understands his role with the patient.

“If you’re not on the ambulance, you’re back at the unit preparing for whatever might be coming,” said Chou. “We make sure that prior to arrival, all team members know what they’re responsible for, that way there’s no confusion when it’s time to perform.”
When the patient arrives to the clinic, things occur in rapid succession.

“We have five people assigned to each bed. Trauma is already a pretty chaotic event so we try to maintain as much order as possible,” said Chou. “Every person surrounding the patient has a specific job to do when that patient arrives, and all do it well.”
The five members of the team include a team leader; usually a physician who quickly assesses the patient and supervises patient care to ensure no detail, no matter how small, is overlooked.

Additional team members include a certified registered nurse anesthetist who looks after the patient’s airway and performs neurological assessments, a nurse who monitors the patient’s vital signs, and up to three paramedics who help prepare the patient for surgery by inserting intravenous and other access lines, as well as help check for injuries that may have been previously missed.

“Even though there is just one team leader, there are always four additional sets of eyes on the patient; so everyone is helping to see if there is anything else critical going on with the patient that may have been missed,” said Chou.

For some of the personnel in the unit, the types of patients treated by the FST are different than what they usually see in their daily careers.

“Back home, where I’m stationed, we don’t do trauma,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Norris, of New Madrid, Mo., the officer in charge of the ATLS section. “Here, all we do is trauma. I’m an emergency room nurse by training, so it’s not that much different for me, thankfully. We perform well by working together. The team concept we do here works really well in helping a patient survive.”

The entire ATLS process takes as little as ten minutes.

In the best circumstances, the patient only requires small-scale medical procedures, such as suturing wounds or a brace for an extremity, in which case the ATLS section is the first and only stop for the patient, said Chou.

Sometimes, however, the patient requires more invasive care, at which point the patient is prepared for the operating room.

In the operating room, patients are watched closely by at least one surgeon, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, a nurse and a surgical technician.

“Penetrating wounds, usually from shrapnel or gunshots, are the most common injury seen in our operating room,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Nathan Carrico, of Logan, Utah, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the operating room.

The energy inside the operating room is usually far more subdued than that of the ATLS department, and for a good reason, said Carrico.

“In the OR, we try to keep the atmosphere toned down a little more, in order for the physicians to be able to focus on the task at hand,” said Carrico. “Unless you know what you’re doing, it’s difficult to be able to lend a hand, so that cuts down on the amount of people surrounding the patient.”

Though all team members have experience working in surgery, the types of patients they encounter in the operating room here can be far different from what they’re accustomed.

“Back home, I work a lot with elective-type surgeries, whereas here, if we’re in the OR, it’s a serious injury,” said Carrico, a civilian surgical technician when not actively engaged with the FST. “There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ surgery, ever. Every patient responds differently to their injuries and to the medication they’re given. Also, sometimes, once we open up the patient, we’ll discover a lot more work needs to be done than we originally thought, so doing this job definitely keeps things interesting.”

Each person in the operating room has his own role, but all are dedicated to ensuring the procedure being performed is done efficiently, safely and without delay.

“To me, success in the OR is completing the procedure and having the patient survive the surgery,” said Carrico. “If you do everything you can for the patient every time while they’re in your care, there’s never remorse should something unfortunate happen to the patient.”

Following surgery, the patient is brought to the intensive care unit, where another team of medical professionals monitors their recovery.

“Primarily, we help recover patients after surgery and prepare them for evacuation to a higher echelon of care,” said Jennings. “We also help out in the trauma bay to augment the five-person team when needed.”

Depending on the procedure, a patient may be in the intensive care unit as little as 30 minutes following surgery, said U.S. Air Force Maj. Virginia Dunn, a native of Indianapolis, who is the officer in charge of the ICU unit.

Sometimes, they are forced to hold the patient longer.

“Our goal is to get them to the next level of care,” said Dunn, deployed from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. “A patient only stays overnight if we have bad weather and can’t fly. We’ve had situations where patients have stayed 24, 48 hours, but it doesn’t happen very often.”

As soon as possible, patients are moved to more permanent hospital arrangements. If that individual needs to be flown to a neighboring hospital, they are prepared for evacuation and their care is handed over to in-flight critical care nurses, such as U.S. Army Capt. Jason Montgomery of Fort Hood, Texas.

“During a medical evacuation, you need someone on the aircraft who can monitor the patient for changes to their condition as well as provide continual care until they reach their next destination,” said Montgomery. “Also, the FST only has a certain amount of beds, so we need to move patients as quickly as possible to make sure the FST can continue to receive patients.

Montgomery is one of a handful of critical care nurses added to the FST to ensure a qualified nurse is available to fly with the patient at all times.

“I’m really lucky to be a part of something like this,” said Montgomery. “We honestly could be making history here with our efforts each day. They’ve never embedded critical care nurses with an FST, so we’ll see how it goes, but it definitely has merit. Though we’re just a piece of a larger team medical approach, we’re lucky to be here.”

So, regardless of where you or your injury may originate from, the 934th FST is prepared to assist you, every step of the way.

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Members of the 934th Forward Surgical Team assess a patient in preparation for treatment at Forward Operating Base Sharana recently. The 934th FST is a team of Army and Air Force medical providers who treat coalition force and Afghan casualties from the battlefield and prepare them for a higher level of care. The goal of the unit is to cut down the mortality rate of battlefield injuries by ensuring all patients see a medical provider within one hour of their time of injury. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - U.S. Army Capt. David Anderson, 934th Forward Surgical Team officer in charge of the operating room, charts a patient’s information during an assessment recently. The 934th FST is a team of Army and Air Force medical providers who treat coalition force and Afghan casualties from the battlefield and prepare them for a higher level of care. The goal of the unit is to cut down the mortality rate of battlefield injuries by ensuring all patients see a medical provider within one hour of their time of injury. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)

943 FST: Waiting Patiently to Save Your Life

Written by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane Photos by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs Monday, 27 September 2010 00:42

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin Chou, a native of Salt Lake City, the non commissioned officer in charge of the Advanced Trauma Life Support section of the 934th Forward Surgical Team, inspects medical instruments prior to receiving patients at Forward Operating Base Sharana Sept. 9. Chou's unit provides traumatic life, limb or eyesight care to coalition force units, Afghan civilians, Afghan National Security Force members and anyone else affected by the actions of war, regardless of how or by whom they were hurt. Normally a mobile unit, the mission of the 934th FST, an Army Reserve unit from Salt Lake City, has changed from following units on the battlefield to a support role inside the base, where they stand by ready to assist patients as necessary. The FST serves as the first point of treatment after a casualty (ground) or medical (air) evacuation has been performed. Since they arrived in country, members of the 934th FST have been augmented by both Air Force personnel and U.S. Army critical care nurses in an attempt to further improve the quality of care given to patients from the point of injury until they arrive at a full support hospital. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester)
Part one of a three-part series.

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan-- “In the medical field, especially in trauma situations, you have a goal of what’s called the ‘golden hour’ from the time of injury to the time you get to see a doctor,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kyle Jennings, 934th Forward Surgical Team member and a licensed practical nurse from Deweyville, Utah. “Patients who arrive within that one-hour window have a much greater chance of recovery. Without an FST in place, a soldier could go a long time before they see a surgeon or an operating room and it’d be a lot harder for that person to meet that critical golden hour goal and get the treatment they deserve.”

Members of the 934th FST, a U.S. Army Reserve unit deployed from Salt Lake City to Forward Operating Base Sharana are learning how to maximize the quality of care provided to the patients who come to them.

Their vitally important mission is unique, interesting and constantly requires unit members to be on their toes.

Just ask them.

“An FST is designed to be a mobile unit,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Austin Adamson, 934th FST executive officer from Preston, Idaho. “It used to be, an FST would roll out with infantry units as they advanced through a battle space. That’s how it’s been for other deployments this unit has been on. But the mission here is different. Coalition forces aren’t necessarily advancing across terrain here, so instead, we stay back and stand by to assist the wounded should they arrive.”

The mission of the 934th FST is to provide traumatic life, limb or eyesight care to coalition force units, local nationals, Afghan National Security Force members and anyone else affected by the actions of war, regardless of how or by whom they were hurt.

The FST also provides follow up care to many of the patients they treat; helping to ensure the patient receives the greatest possibility of healing from what ails them.

The team is made up of approximately two dozen nurses, surgical technicians and paramedics as well as a group of medical doctors and nurse anesthetists who rotate in and out of theater.

Even though they’re not on the physical front lines of battle, the team’s daily actions positively affect the war effort significantly.

The FST serves as the first care center between the battlefield and a full-service military hospital for coalition forces, said Adamson.

“Medics who are out in the field with the maneuver units encounter patients on a daily basis, whether they are coalition forces, our Afghan security counterparts or local nationals who have been injured,” Adamson said. “After initial treatment, they are transported by medical evacuation (air) or casualty evacuation (ground) to our facility where they are stabilized and then pushed on to the appropriate higher level of care, whether that is a military facility or an Afghan hospital.”

Naturally, as the base continues to expand, so does the role of the FST.

“When we first arrived a few months ago, half the team we were replacing was here and half were at another base in a different province to the south,” said Adamson. “We got here, to a rapidly-expanding base, and were told we’d be consolidated into one full FST that wouldn’t be separated. It’s a very unique challenge we have here, but a good challenge.”

Though the unit is still considered an FST, the operations tempo and patient care load mirror care rendered at much larger medical units.
“We’re kind of growing towards being a combat support hospital,” Adamson said. “A full CSH would have certain services available, such as dental and other specialties that we don’t have here, so we’re kind of growing towards a CSH minus. But we’re getting busy, and our unit is doing some great work to help the Afghan people.”

To further augment the team, the FST unit was augmented shortly after arrival by both Air Force nurses and medical technicians as well as Army critical care nurses, who, among other duties, help transport patients from the FST to a higher level of care.

The members of the FST didn’t show up in Afghanistan unprepared, however.

To prepare for the changing dynamics of their current role, the entire unit, prior to leaving for their deployment, spent two weeks working at an advanced trauma care center in Miami.

“I think mentally and clinically, the training in Miami kind of gave us a picture of what this deployment was going to be like, and now that I’m here, I’d say it was pretty close,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin Chou, noncommissioned officer in charge of the Advanced Trauma Life Support section of the FST from Salt Lake City. “The mechanisms of injury are different, but there were definitely a lot of traumatic injuries with which to practice our skills. Here, though, it’s a more hands-on environment in working with the patient.”

The training undertaken in Miami benefited the entire unit, even those whose role doesn’t necessarily lead to direct patient care.

“The time we spent in the trauma center was eye-opening, especially for me, not coming from a patient-care medical background,” said Adamson, who is a school psychologist when not activated with the unit. “In Miami, we developed cohesion and we got to see and practice the steps involved with trauma care. There is a specific chain of events trauma workers try to follow on every patient they see. Trauma departments try to follow the same procedures with each patient to make sure the most important life-saving interventions are not overlooked.”

The lessons learned during their short tour at the Miami trauma center were not forgotten by unit members upon deploying.

“After each trauma we see, we do an after action report and make sure we hit those steps we learned in Miami,” Adamson said. “We have a standard of care we know our patients deserve, so after each patient, we ask ourselves what could’ve gone better. Our work here is already what we like to consider above and beyond the call of duty, but now we are working towards the ultimate goal of becoming a utopia of sorts, or the best FST possible.”

One issue the unit deals with is the hurry-up-and-wait nature that can be their job at times.

“Sure, sometimes there are times when it’s quiet in here,” Adamson said. “But it changes every day, because there are times when it’s really exciting and there are all sorts of things going on at the same time. We help people and we save lives when called upon. We are all on call 24 hours a day in case we’re needed and every patient we treat is in great hands.”

“The best part of this job is we’re in a different country helping people,” said Chou. “This deployment has been a great experience because everyone, by working in close proximity with each other, learns something new every day. It’s giving me a pretty good opportunity to see what happens to a patient after you drop them off at a hospital. As a combat medic, I’m trained to stabilize the patient, drop them off at a hospital, and then other people take it from there; so this deployment has helped me understand what happens to a patient after we drop them off at a hospital which in turn helps me provide better treatment to my patients before they ever get to the hospital.”

“It feels like “The Little Engine that Could” around here sometimes,” said U.S. Army Capt. Roger Beaulieu, a native of Moorpark, Calif., and the FST commander. “This unit definitely takes after our symbol, the beehive. We are all hard workers who do whatever it takes to help each other and get the mission done.”

So for Afghan civilians, coalition forces, or anyone else who may be hurt within the 934th FST’s reach, they can take comfort in the fact they are in the hands of a dedicated bunch of professionals who will do everything in their power to help, heal and repair them as close to their former state as possible.
And that’s a golden promise.

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - U.S. Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Norris, of New Madrid, Mo., officer in charge of the Advanced Trauma Life Support section of the 934th Forward Surgical Team, looks for possible injuries to an Afghan patient upon his arrival at Forward Operating Base Sharana Sept. 9. Norris and the 934th FST provide traumatic life, limb or eyesight care to coalition force units, local nationals, Afghan National Security Force members and anyone else affected by the actions of war, regardless of how or by whom they were hurt. Normally a mobile unit, the mission of the 934th FST, an Army Reserve unit from Salt Lake City, has changed from following units on the battlefield to a support role inside the base, where they standby ready to assist patients as necessary. The FST is the first point of treatment after a casualty (ground) or medical (air) evacuation has been performed. Since they arrived in country, members of the 934th FST have been augmented by both Air Force personnel and U.S. Army critical care nurses in an attempt to further improve the quality of care given to patients from the point of injury until they arrive at a full support hospital. Norris is stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., where she is a pediatric nurse. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester)
PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Members of the 934th Forward Surgical Team assess two Afghan patients upon their arrival at Forward Operating Base Sharana Sept. 9. The 934th FST provide traumatic life, limb or eyesight care to coalition force units, local nationals, Afghan National Security Force members and anyone else affected by the actions of war, regardless of how or by whom they were hurt. Normally a mobile unit, the mission of the 934th FST, an Army Reserve unit from Salt Lake City, has changed from following units on the battlefield to a support role inside the base, where they standby ready to assist patients as necessary. The FST is the first point of treatment after a casualty (ground) or medical (air) evacuation has been performed. Since they arrived in country, members of the 934th FST have been augmented by both Air Force personnel and U.S. Army critical care nurses in an attempt to further improve the quality of care given to patients from the point of injury until they arrive at a full support hospital. Upon arrival to the facility, each patient receives a thorough examination by a specialized team of medical technicians, doctors and nurses to identify and diagnosis the patient in an attempt to expedite treatment before further interventions or movement of the patient can be initiated. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester)

This summer has been a busy one for us in Afghanistan. There's been some good experiences, though, and opportunities to help many. We've had a young boy who came to us early in July after having his leg run over by a tractor, and has returned many times since for follow-up care. He's about 5 years old, and everyone loves having him around. He's already learning several key phrases in English: Hi, bye, and "Wazzup!", as well as the important cultural hi-five and hand shake. He got a hold of an interpreters helmet, and took a few minutes trying to figure out the chin strap. After a little help, his whole attitude changed and he just looked around, as if seeking everyone's approval of his new apparel.











This of course needed to be recorded.











We recently got three in-flight critical care nurses, who will fly on the blackhawks with our patients up to the hospital in Bagram. They've been helping out in the ICU, which has been great. Below is a picture of two Blackhawks that are taking a patient of ours away.





Other than that, we've just been working hard. Thanks everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. And thank you all who help support our troops who go out every day, prepared to sacrifice everything for our country.

More pics from Ssg. Carrico

"Our trauma center and the crew that made the sign. They are from west virginia."


"The turtle was our mascot"

"Chata is one of our patients"

Pics From Ssg. Carrico

First Rotation

Mustache May

For the month of May the 934FST had "Mustache May." I guess this consisted of the Soldier's in the Unit growing out Mustaches. They seem pretty proud of their new facial hair.