Afghanistan Deployment

Not long after arriving to Madigan Army Medical Center (MAMC) on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)I had an opportunity to speak with my Clinical Nurse Officer in Charge (Nurse Manager) and the Critical Care Department Section Chief about deployments. About the same time I was signing into MAMC the list of positions to be filled by nurses in Afghanistan was published by the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). On the list there were slots for Flight Nurses. This is a relatively new formal mission. While there have been Army nurses flying in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of both respective wars the official position was only created a year ago. The second 6-month rotation was just replaced and arrived home this past month.

Unlike my deplyment to Iraq where I was assigned to the 47th Combat Support Hospital as a Critical Care Nurse, this deployment I will be assigned directly to the Medical Brigade (Med BDE) who is in charge of all medical operations in Afghanistan. The 62nd Med BDE is getting ready to come home to JBLM as they are being replaced by the 44th Med BDE from Ft Bragg, NC.

There are multiple Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) and Forward Surgical Teams (FST) throughout the country all of whom fall under the command of the Med BDE. The currently system has the Army Flight Nurses co-located with the CSHs and the FSTs to be utilized anytime a soldier needs to be urgently or emergently medically evacuated to the Air Base being used for flights out to Germany. It is kind of an on-call mission that will probably have me helping in the CSH or FST when not flying.

I received a call from my Clinical Nurse Officer in Charge (CNOIC) a few weeks ago letting me know that I had been picked up for this mission leaving in June. I do not yet have official dates but am already making some changes in my spring and summer travels. As I know more, so will you. Of course I can't share everything, but I will keep you as up to date as I can.