Local officer part of historic medevac mission Published March 12, 2010 By Wayne Crenshaw 78 ABW/PA ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- An officer in the 78th Medical Group played a role in the first joint medical evacuation helicopter flight in Afghanistan. Maj. Demea Alderman is on a 6-month deployment to Bagram Airfield. He is serving as flight commander of patient administration at the airfield hospital. Alderman took part in coordinating the first joint medevac flight so that Afghan national patients could be moved out of the hospital and closer to their homes. The February flight was the first time members of the Afghan National Army Air Corps combined with U.S. forces for a medical evacuation using rotary wing aircraft. Alderman said the ultimate goal is for Afghan crews to perform medevacs by themselves, which will help create space in the hospital for patients needing more critical care. "This will definitely help out tremendously," Alderman said. "It will free up our air vac people to focus on coalition troops." Air Force units involved in the operation were the 438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group/Combined Air Power Task Force and the 455th Expeditionary Medical Group. Army units involved were Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and the 36th Air Support Medical Company. Alderman is on his first deployment to Afghanistan, and said his pre-deployment training at Robins has been crucial to his success. He offered some advice to Airmen getting ready to deploy. "Take your training seriously," he said, "because when you get here you don't want to think 'I wish I had done this,' especially here in Afghanistan. "The expectation here is that you will hit the ground running," said Alderman.