• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

New Yorkers prepare to leave one front line for another

by Master Sgt. Tom Allocco
439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

03/12/03 - WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- The 722nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron medical specialists do not know where they may be going to war, but they know why they are going.

For them, the war on terrorism is as real as a slap in the face. From where they work at Fort Hamilton, an Army post in Brooklyn, it is possible to go up a tall building and see the gap punched into the Manhattan skyline since Sept. 11, 2001.

That gives a common purpose to the squadron's 30 medics who were activated for Operation Enduring Freedom and processed through a mobilization line here recently.

"We had a group go down to Ground Zero after Sept. 11 to take a look and see the devastation and why we put the uniform on every day and serve," said Master Sgt. Anthony Tomchak, thw squadron's first sergeant.

"Everyone knows someone who was a victim, involved in the rescue or worked around the Wall Street area," said Tech. Sgt. Worrell Francis, squadron senior air reserve technician.

Francis and Tomchak spent hours accounting for the safety of all squadron airmen. Many felt a sense of disappointment when they were not activated as part of the call-ups after the attacks.

They went through the mobilization line in anticipation of deploying to Southwest Asia. They remained at Westover undergoing additional training and performing administrative duties before returning to Fort Hamilton to await orders March 7.

A squadron senior airman, whose name is not being used because he is among those deploying, was at Fort Hamilton on 9-11.

"You could smell the smoke," the medical technician said. "Even the next morning: I walked out of my building and it hit (me)."

The airman's frantic wife spent the day of the attacks trying to reach him, but all the telephone lines were down.

A long-time family friend was among the firefighters who responded to the attacks.

"His wife didn't hear from him for days," the airman said. "Slowly we came to the conclusion that we had lost him."

Fort Hamilton overlooks the Verrazano Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island. The 115-person squadron is the only Air Force Reserve Command unit stationed at the Army post. Unit members are trained and equipped to set up an aeromedical staging facility to provide medical care and evacuation of patients.

During the Persian Gulf War, the squadron served more than six months at King Khalid Military City and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

The 30 activated aeromedical specialists include a doctor, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and biomedical, dietary, pharmacy and supply specialists. They include a critical care action team to provide emergency care.

One medical technician, who is a Gulf War veteran, was in Manhattan during the attacks. He said, "We will be fighting terrorism to keep it away from our families and our own city, away from our back yard. That's the message to convey to our families." (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)