US Air Force airmen assigned to the 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron just lately skilled six medical members with the Ghanaian Armed Forces on aeromedical evacuation in preparation for a United Nations deployment.
Throughout Africa, the United Nations is engaged in a number of peacekeeping operations and Ghana, one among 32 African nations which might be a part of the African Union, pledged to help the UN in the help of transporting the sick and wounded to increased ranges of care.
The aeromedical evacuation affected person motion coaching centered totally on the physiology of inflight affected person care whereas additionally coaching Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) medical personnel on affected person motion processes from level of damage to increased echelon of care and pre-mission coaching in disaster response, the US Air Force stated on 29 March.
“This training has an enormous impact, not just to the GAF, but to the region as a whole as it will provide a sustainable AE [aeromedical evacuation] capability that is able to provide continued support to UN PKOs, or peacekeeping operations, and domestic mass casualty events should the situation arise,” stated US Air Force Master Sgt. Arthur Tewasiliig, 818th MSAS air advisor.
The coaching geared up GAF to help present UN peacekeeping operations, and remodel their Airbus C-295 and Mil Mi-17s plane into air ambulances. This coaching occasion was a collaborative effort between the 818th MSAS and all branches of the Ghanaian Armed Forces.
The program culminated with GAF members studying cargo documentation in advance of mission execution, in addition to pallet build-up and loading on Airbus C-295 plane utilizing newly acquired forklifts and the 463L pallet platform to deploy extra quickly and successfully, the US Air Force stated.
“The largest impact this training may provide is that the 463L pallet system is universal with other partner nations like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and many others,” stated US Air Force Technical Sergeant Sandre Lillington, 818th MSAS air advisor. “Now with Ghana being able to utilize this platform up to UN standards, it will give the opportunity to quickly cross load cargo from Ghanaian Airbus C-295s to any other partner nation’s aircraft.”
The earlier methodology included loading and securing cargo manually within an plane. The second factor to the cargo dealing with coaching was certifying six GAF members as instructors to make sure a self-sustainable coaching program which might result in autonomous operations.
The new functionality to load plane with 463L pallets and make the most of forklifts expedited cargo add and obtain occasions, giving extra flexibility to generate extra sorties in a shorter time frame.
The added data and credibility that comes with with the ability to help the UN with their cargo wants, the GAF could be seen as not solely able to speedy cargo supply, but additionally to show these new capabilities and methods to different African nations.
“Through expedited cargo handling, it could assist patient movement through the use of rapid deployment and reconfiguration of the C-295 for medical evacuation during engine running off-loads, as well as allowing the GAF to provide regional assistance during humanitarian and disaster relief efforts without the United States being present,” stated Staff Sergeant Derrek Webb, 818th MSAS air advisor.
Ghanaian women and men have served as United Nations peacekeepers because the early Nineteen Seventies, collaborating in operations that stretched from the Sinai to Africa. The West African Nations is now among the many prime ten contributors to UN peacekeeping, with almost 3 000 personnel serving on 9 missions.
