FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- The 92nd Medical Group participated in a week-long readiness exercise, dubbed Ready Eagle, here, August 23-27, 2021.
Ready Eagle is an Air Force Medical Readiness Agency-directed exercise to keep medical personnel prepared for the future fight.
“The goal of Ready Eagle is to enhance Medical Contingency Response Plan readiness and practice our Installation Medical All-Hazards Response skills,” said Col. Heather Nelson, 92nd MDG commander. “Ready Eagle helps the 92nd Medical Group standardize training and practice response scenarios in a ‘crawl, walk, and run’ format to ensure our medics can respond to a variety of emergencies on Fairchild Air Force Base.”
The exercise consisted of multiple training scenarios throughout the week, including individual training, table-top exercises, and a culminating capstone event that put everything together.
According to their website, the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency’s mission is to ensure medically fit forces, provide expeditionary medics and deliver trusted care to all they serve. For Ready Eagle, a team of professionals traveled to Fairchild to help facilitate and train for the exercise.
Since so much of the last year has been COVID-19 operations, exercises like Ready Eagle provide medical personnel a chance to train in ways they have not been able to.
“Due to our extensive operations involving COVID-19, it has been challenging to accomplish this vital training,” Nelson said. “The Ready Eagle training and exercise event allowed us to improve our core competencies in a format that has been standardized to support Air Force installations.”
During the capstone event, leaders and evaluators rigorously tested multiple aspects of medical emergency response, such as biological events, mass casualty scenarios, and emergency patient care.
“The 92nd Medical Group team continues to face all challenges head-on, and they always ensure the [92nd Air Refueling] Wing’s mission continues safely,” Nelson said. “I am exceptionally proud of this innovative and resilient team.”