An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Earthquake exercise gives 188th Med Group valuable emergency response training

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Dan Heaton
  • 127th Wing Public Affairs
ALPENA COMBAT READINESS TRAINING CENTER, Mich. --  Airmen with the 188th Fighter Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard stationed in Fort Smith deployed for training at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in northern Michigan recently.

Working with medical groups from eight Air National Guard wings in seven different states, Airmen in the 188th Medical Group practiced emergency medical response, known as EMEDS. In this scenario, the medical groups simulated how they would respond to a major earthquake centered in Lansing, Michigan's capital city.

"The National Guard has two roles," said Master Sgt. Bob Wagster, an EMEDS instructor permanently assigned to Alpena. "We have a role when we deploy as part of the federal military force, but we also have a role to respond to domestic disasters."

Wagster helps train more than 1,500 military medical personnel every year. Part of the team training at this particular exercise is a contingent from the 188th Fighter Wing, one of two Arkansas units represented.

The 188th deployed an EMEDS team in the wake of Hurricane Katrina several years ago, said Capt. Bridgette Scott, a medical service corps officer with the 188th.

"One of the highlights of this training is that there are so many different people here from different units," Scott said. "An exercise like this gets us all singing off the same sheet of music."

For the doctors, nurses and technicians, the EMEDS training helps refresh skills that they don't always use during a typical training weekend in the Guard, when the focus is more on medical readiness to deploy than on direct care.

Tech Sgt. Trish Myers, who has been part of the 127th Medical Group since 1999, said she enjoys being able to work directly with patient care.

"We are like the jack of all trades in the medical unit," she said. "In a deployed location, there are so many things that need to be done, you just have to ready to help out wherever you can."

During a 2008 deployment to a base in Southwest Asia, Myers said she enjoyed talking with and getting to know some of the Wounded Warriors she helped to care for.

"The power to really make a positive impact on someone's life, that's what is so great about this job," she said. "You are in a position where you can really make a difference and that is something special."

Earthquake exercise gives 188th Med Group valuable emergency response training

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Dan Heaton
  • 127th Wing Public Affairs
ALPENA COMBAT READINESS TRAINING CENTER, Mich. --  Airmen with the 188th Fighter Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard stationed in Fort Smith deployed for training at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in northern Michigan recently.

Working with medical groups from eight Air National Guard wings in seven different states, Airmen in the 188th Medical Group practiced emergency medical response, known as EMEDS. In this scenario, the medical groups simulated how they would respond to a major earthquake centered in Lansing, Michigan's capital city.

"The National Guard has two roles," said Master Sgt. Bob Wagster, an EMEDS instructor permanently assigned to Alpena. "We have a role when we deploy as part of the federal military force, but we also have a role to respond to domestic disasters."

Wagster helps train more than 1,500 military medical personnel every year. Part of the team training at this particular exercise is a contingent from the 188th Fighter Wing, one of two Arkansas units represented.

The 188th deployed an EMEDS team in the wake of Hurricane Katrina several years ago, said Capt. Bridgette Scott, a medical service corps officer with the 188th.

"One of the highlights of this training is that there are so many different people here from different units," Scott said. "An exercise like this gets us all singing off the same sheet of music."

For the doctors, nurses and technicians, the EMEDS training helps refresh skills that they don't always use during a typical training weekend in the Guard, when the focus is more on medical readiness to deploy than on direct care.

Tech Sgt. Trish Myers, who has been part of the 127th Medical Group since 1999, said she enjoys being able to work directly with patient care.

"We are like the jack of all trades in the medical unit," she said. "In a deployed location, there are so many things that need to be done, you just have to ready to help out wherever you can."

During a 2008 deployment to a base in Southwest Asia, Myers said she enjoyed talking with and getting to know some of the Wounded Warriors she helped to care for.

"The power to really make a positive impact on someone's life, that's what is so great about this job," she said. "You are in a position where you can really make a difference and that is something special."