Air Force medical service and medical readiness training, which is centered at Sheppard AFB, Tex., took an important step forward with the certification of the contingency aeromedical staging facility mobile training course in February. It is the first mobile training course certified both by Air Education and Training Command and Air Mobility Command. “We can go anywhere now and teach the course,” said Maj. Tammy St. Armand, instructor supervisor for the 381st Training Squadron’s CASF course. All soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen wounded in the combat theater go through the CASF before embarking on their next stage of medical treatment either at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, or in the United States. The new course allows CASF members to be trained away from Sheppard. It was used in January and February during the Pacific Lifeline 2008 exercise in Hawaii and will be part of the upcoming Patriot 2008 joint exercise at Volk Field ANGB, Wis. (Sheppard report by A1C Jacob Corbin)
Hurricane Hunters with the Air Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are struggling to keep up with a rising number of storms, but a government watchdog says both agencies need to refine their data-tracking efforts and improve interagency communication between its most senior leaders to develop a cohesive…