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File: 970207_aadcr_007.txtpatients after the ATM'S redeployed. (2) There was no civilian medical support available or needed . (3) Aeromedical Evacuation is an integral part of our mission and its availability was generally timely. Flights during the war were not scheduled at a set time. Dedicated aircraft were available, but flight times were varied every day. After the war, flights generally left the AOR at 0100-0500 to arrive in Europe the next morning. All staff worked 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, to maximize availability. 11. Flight medicine program: Not applicable - no flying units supported. 12. Observations and Recommendations: a. Command and Control. (1) Observation: A re-evaluation of command and control of APSS's and TASF's needs to be accomplished. (2) Discussion: As a MAC gained, CENTAF (TAC) asset, there was a blurring of command and control once deployed. Although we were identified as a tactical (CENTAF) asset and reported through the MTF's and CENTAF, we operated as an aeromedical mission and worked very closely with MAC in the aeromedical evacuation of patients. In reality, we were at a MAC/TAG interface and this caused problems. As a tactical ASF, we were a relatively new entity to both MAC and TAC and neither command seems to strongly identify or be aware of our particular needs. Aeromedical evacuation in a tactical environment appeared to be a concept that TAC was not accustomed to directly supporting. On the other hand, MAC's familiarization with an aeromedical staging facility in a tactical environment had been limited to MASF's which are manned by AE squadrons that have more familiarity with aeromedical flight operations than APSS's. A tactical ASF is a larger facility with more patient care capabilities and are accustomed to caring for patients for a much larger period of time. MAC personnel treated us as a large MASF which is not what we are but which was their only available frame of reference. For example, problems such as expectations of specific load plans (which varied according to each different air evacuation crew) were foreign to us and yet expected from us. Moreover, as a tactical ASF in a contingency operation, we were used to dealing with conditions not normally allowed to occur during peacetime operations (e.g., loading of patients during refueling and accepting patients into the ASF without bravo messages). These differences further created a sense of non-familiarity between TASF operations and normal MAC operations. Support for a TASF is much greater than that required for a MASF due to both operational and size differences. Being a TAC Asset rather than a MAC asset facilitated obtaining this support as most bases in the AOR were
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