Air Force Surgeon General visits Yokota

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Eric Summers
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  The Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. James Roudebush visited Airmen at the 374th Medical Group here Jan. 14 to 16.

During the general's visit he talked about how the Air Force has the lowest injury and death rate, and about physical fitness in the Air Force.

"It's a big achievement for the Air Force to have the lowest died of wound rate in military history," General Roudebush. "It starts with medic saving a life. Using equipment like the wound fect and blood-clotting bandages allows a talented Airman to save a life, which allows us to get him to better treatment."

The casualty is then moved to the next level of care at a theater hospital like Joint Base Balad or Bagram Air Base. These hubs of the joint theater trauma system are where life-saving damage control surgery is performed by military surgeons. Once the casualty is stabilized, they are prepared for safe and rapid movement in the Air Force Aero-medical Evacuation system to Landstuhl, Germany, to an Army regional hospital manned by Army, Air Force, and Navy medics.

"One of our largest improvements is our equipment which has allowed us to better learn and understand injuries," the general said.

The wound fect which looks like saran wrap covers the wound and vacuum seals the wound which keeps it disinfected during aeromedical evacuations and helps with the patient's pain and comfort levels.

"These advances may seem small, but when looked at altogether it leads to enhancement of better health care overall," General Roudebush said.

Another concern that has come to the front in the field that the general talked about is Traumatic Brain Injury. TBI can be caused by an improvised explosive device, the signature weapon used by the enemy.

"There is great focus on knowing more about TBI and also treating it. We will continue to research this and get more information for the Airman who has stepped up to its nation's call," said the general.

Studies for TBI and other injuries are logged into the Joint Theatre Trauma Registry, where details about the cause, effect, location and other information is logged to find away to counteract it. Studies from the JTTR are used to help protect Airman from futher injuries such as the development of shoulder and groin plates for armory, ballistic eyewear, treatment and protocols.

"We are also sharing the information we learn from the field with our civilian counterparts," General Roudebush said. "As we better the care of our people our results should be shared with them."

Finally, the general addressed physical fitness in the Air Force.

"People from Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, on down are working to better the fitness test and make sure commander's troops stay fit." General Roudebush said. "There are some positive revisions on the way. We are looking at better ways to manage and conduct fit test."