{"id":26284,"date":"2023-09-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=26284"},"modified":"2023-09-07T06:41:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T06:41:52","slug":"airmen-reflect-on-lessons-learned-at-patriot-medic-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=26284","title":{"rendered":"Airmen reflect on lessons learned at Patriot Medic 23"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 433rd Medical Group returned home after validating its readiness to deploy by participating in Patriot Medic 23. The training, part of a larger exercise called Global Medic, involved more than 7,100 Reserve, active duty and allied forces as well as coalition partners.<\/p>\n

Seventy Reserve Airmen from the 433rd MDG spent 19 days undergoing rigorous and realistic training at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio and Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. On top of validating the Airmen\u2019s readiness to deploy, the annual exercise served to enhance interoperability between units, medics, individual reservists and the joint force.<\/p>\n

Patriot Medic 23 provided \u201cAlamo Wing\u201d reservists opportunities to sharpen their skills beyond what can typically be accomplished during monthly unit training activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m grateful for is that I\u2019d never seen our people in the 433rd Aeromedical Staging Squadron come together before, they\u2019d never had too before\u201d said Maj. Reginald Whittington, 433rd ASTS Bravo Flight commander. \u201cI was very impressed with the junior Airmen, the senior leadership \u2026 I would go to war with these people \u2026 we have people in the unit that I would trust with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participation in Patriot Medic led to learning moments for new Airmen and veterans alike. Airmen from the 433rd ASTS embedded with the 914th ASTS, based out of Niagara Falls ARS, New York as part of their training at the exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time in my career that we embedded with another unit,\u201d Whittington, who has served for more than 20 years, noted. \u201cWe literally came together with another ASTS who has the same challenges, the same successes, the same, or different, solutions to certain things, and we were able to maximize what works best.\u201d<\/p>\n

For several of the \u201cAlamo Wing\u201d reservists, this was only their first or second exercise with the unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went in there, honestly I didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d said Senior Airman Luis Martinez, a 433rd ASTS medic. \u201cMy job here is as a medic so that\u2019s my mentality, I\u2019m going to go be a medic \u2026 but it turned out to be a lot more than that. I learned new roles and responsibilities. I learned how to be a leader and I learned also how to be a follower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exercise not only tested the Reserve Airmen\u2019s knowledge of their jobs and their physical capabilities, but also their mental resiliency. Many of the lessons were learned the hard way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe failed a lot, which was a good thing because you need to feel that pain and then you come up with better solutions next time,\u201d said Senior Airman Lindsey Neubauer, 433rd ASTS medic.<\/p>\n

Both Neubauer and Martinez received challenge coins for their performance at the exercise, a traditional way for military leaders to recognize the efforts of their troops.<\/p>\n

Patriot Medic also allowed 433rd MDG senior leaders to evaluate and mentor their Airmen, while strengthening the bonds between the members of their teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in for 16 years \u2026 this is probably one of the most realistic ones,\u201d Master Sgt. Julie Fuleky, 433rd Medical Squadron Bravo flight chief, pointed out. \u201cAs we went through it, you started to see the team come together \u2026 it was a very valuable exercise because, where we normally only see each other two days a month, we were working closely together for 19 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Col. Michelle Van Sickle, 433rd MDG commander, served as the joint task force surgeon at Fort McCoy during the exercise. She observed after the exercise that many of the newer medics were able to fully understand their mission and the importance of training prior to deployment, while more seasoned medics expanded their knowledge about operating in a contested environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all came together to accomplish the mission, and all performed at, or above, the standard we expected,\u201d Van Sickle said. \u201cI am proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) — \u00a0 The 433rd Medical Group returned home after validating its readiness to deploy by participating in Patriot Medic 23. The training, part of a larger exercise called Global Medic, involved more than 7,100 Reserve, active duty and allied forces as well as coalition partners. Seventy Reserve Airmen from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26287,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26284\/revisions\/26287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}