Numbers represent hands on litters

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Collen McGee
  • 433rd Airlift Wing
LACKLAND AFB --  Numbers. The success rate of every military effort is always tied to a number. It's hard to see faces behind numbers. Ninety-eight percent. That is the number of wounded who get to an Air Force Theater Hospital in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility and survive. It is a number people see but can't fully understand because a number can't tell the full story of the human effort behind the total.
Those numbers represent people. The people we see in the flight suits as CNN follows high profile patients like Army Private Jessica Lynch, reporter Bob Woodruff and, not so famous men and women like Marine Corp. Eric Morante. Corporal Morante was recently wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device in Iraq and was accompanied by a reporter from the Dallas Morning News from a hospital in Germany to Texas. Soon his journey will appear in print and on the web.
During news coverage like that we learn about the heroes, their lives and family members, but seldom about the people whose hands carry the litters.Maj. Lisa Willis is one of those people. She's a flight nurse and the medical crew director for an aeromedical evacuation crew of Reserve and active-duty Air Force volunteers. Currently, Major Willis serves at Scott Air Force Base with the 775th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. Right now, she's caring for patients on their last flight before they get home to Texas or other stateside locations. As a reservist, Major Willis serves with the 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Lackland AFB. As a civilian, she is an Intensive Care Unit nurse at a hospital near Abilene, Texas. And at home, she is the mother of two grown sons who both serve in the Army. One is currently deployed to Northern Iraq.
"I can't think about that," said Major Willis when asked about how it feels to know that many of the war wounded she cares for are the same age as her own sons. She admits that sometimes when she looks at the young patients on her flight it does affect her. And because of that, she knows what kind of choice she has made when she volunteers to fly these wounded home.
"I always know it is the right thing to do," said Major Willis. "There are safer, cleaner ways to be a nurse." The major added. But to her none are more satisfying.
Whether it is overseas or in American skies, Major Willis isn't the only one to feel good about the mission they perform.
"All missions are the same, I just love what I do," said Tech. Sgt. Rick Bennett, a medical technician with the 433rd AES.
Sergant Bennet does admit the atmosphere and mood is lighter on the missions within the United States.
"We have fun and try to make everyone smile," said Sergeant Bennett. "On the last leg (of their journey home) most people are pretty happy."
One member of the crew transporting Corporal Morante was new to medical air transportation. He decided to change his specialty from medical technician to aeromedical technician. The trip transporting Corporal Morante was his third, and he was traveling with an instructor technician.
"I was working in a hospital in labor and delivery," said Staff Sgt. Michael Counts, an active-duty member of the 375th AES from Scott AFB. " I wanted something with a little more action and more high speed."
Sergeant Counts has not been disappointed with his decision.
"The reward of bringing these guys back home (that's) job satisfaction," said Sergeant Counts.
For reservists, sometimes job satisfaction is enough to make people walk away from those "easier and cleaner" ways of making a living just long enough to help with the mission. But it doesn't make the balancing act easier.
For those like Maj. Willis, there is a lot to juggle in order to be available to get this job done. It is a necessity that Reserve AE members walk away from civilian jobs and family to get this mission accomplished because there are only four AE squadrons in the active-duty Air Force. The volunteerism is desperately needed to keep the mission going and to keep the survival rate numbers high.
These reservists know lives depend on them because numbers don't lie. The survival rates are higher in the current conflict than in any other time in history. Maybe it's better body armor or detection equipment for IEDs. But mostly it is because skilled medical professionals can move the patient within the critical hours to the closest facility to meet his or her needs. The statistics don't tell that full story and neither will the news coverage of Corporal Morante's journey from the battlefield through recovery. But when he is shown being carried from one aircraft to another, it will be those hands on the litter that made it all possible.