8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron speeds critical anti-venom to area of operations

Photo By Master Sgt. Darnell Cannady | Senior Airman Michael Rodriguez, 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron special handling technician, stacks cold bricks on top of medical supplies, while Staff Sgt. Michael Bonecutter, 8 EAMS special handling supervisor, logs the re-icing time Oct. 23, 2008, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The unit processes thousands of pounds of medical supplies and equipment for shipment to units in the area of operations. One such package recently helped save a young Iraqi woman from a venomous snakebite. Airman Rodriguez, a native of Saint John, Mich., is deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., and Sergeant Bonecutter, a native of Pilot Grove, Mo., is deployed from Little Rock AFB, Ark.  

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11.01.2008

Story by Master Sgt. Jeffery Loftin 

379th Air Expeditionary Wing

By Master Sgt. Jeff Loftin
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Southwest Asia -- Coordination and hustle between several local agencies here enabled a life-saving package to reach an Iraqi snakebite victim last week.

The United States Army Medical Materiel Center Southwest Asia received an urgent request Oct. 15, 2008 for anti-venom to help a young Iraqi woman who was in critical condition. They immediately turned to the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron for help.

"We have a very strong partnership with the 8 EAMS and we simply could not do our mission without their assistance," said Army Maj. Jennifer Allouche, chief of support operations at the center. "I know that when I call the 8 EAMS team for assistance they will make it happen 100 percent of the time; they have never said no or told me they could not support our requirement."

Master Sgt. Todd Lunge, 8 EAMS superintendent of air freight, received the call and immediately started checking flight schedules to get the package to Baghdad right away.

"Right after the call from Major Allouche, I started calling those I knew would be involved and telling them to be ready," he said.

The cargo arrived within two hours and Airmen from 8 EAMS special handling processed the package and got it ready for shipment in 15 minutes.

"Whenever the mission is ready we process it in the system so we have visibility over it and we can track it all the way to its destination," said Staff Sgt. Richard Nedrow, non-commissioned officer in charge of special handling, deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. "[On this package] we had to make sure the temperature was maintained, which is hard out here because it is so hot. We have to keep it below certain limits. We store it [in refrigerated rooms] until it gets ready to ship out. We track the ice times to make sure the ice is good."

Sergeant Lunge found a C-130 mission which could take the package to Baghdad less than two hours after it arrived on base. However, after an hour and a half the Air Terminal Operations Center notified 8 EAMS members that a maintenance problem would delay the flight until the evening.

"When the C-130 broke they said it would be another hour before they would know if it could take off, so I started looking for another mission," said the Buffalo, N.Y., native.
He found a C-17 mission leaving in 10 minutes that wasn't scheduled to take cargo.
Capt. Keith Grawert, a C-17 pilot with the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, got the call and made the decision to hold the aircraft to wait for the life-saving package.

"All we were told was that it was a 'life-or-death' shipment of cargo," said Captain Grawert. "It's not everyday that we hear those words so it seemed like a straightforward decision to go ahead and wait for it. The interesting thing about airlift is that one never knows for sure what impact a particular mission may have on someone's life regardless of how routine it may seem to us."

The aircraft taxied away as soon as the package was on board. As soon as the aircraft was airborne, Sergeant Lunge contacted the Combined Air and Space Operations Center here which coordinated with other agencies in Baghdad to pick up the package and deliver it to its final destination.

The anti-venom arrived and was administered in time to help the snakebite victim, who improved over the next few days.

The box of anti-venom was one of four life-or-death deliveries 8 EAMS has handled in the past five months.

"Without immediate resupply of the items to the hospital patients' lives were at risk," said Major Allouche of the shipments. "In June, we received a life-or-death request for Camp Bucca, Iraq, for silver sulfadiazine cream for a victim with third-degree burns over 90 percent of her body. In September, high patient influx at the hospital in Balad, Iraq, required immediate re-supply of a suction canister system for the surgery department. In early October, the Combined Joint Task Force Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan, experienced high patient influx and breathing tubes were quickly a life or death priority.

"In all four cases I called Sergeant Lunge and his team directly, relayed our requirements and the locations where the medical supplies were needed," she said. "Within one hour Sergeant Lunge had found a flight for the supplies, within eight hours the supplies were loaded on the plane and within 12 hours the supplies arrived at the hospital. This is incredible support that no commercial carrier could provide to our organization."

Lt. Col. Sam Haddad of the United States Army Medical Materiel Center Southwest Asia said the strong relationship with the 8 EAMS ensures mission success daily.

"They are our muscle and provide USAMMC-SWA with a strategic lift capability unmatched by any of our logistics partners," he said. "The service they provide for us is nothing less than phenomenal and plays a vital role in ensuring life-saving materiel gets into the hands of those who need it."

• Date Taken: 11.01.2008
• Date Posted: 11.11.2008 01:41
• Story ID: 26182
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)