At a moments notice: 459th OG mission diverted to safe infant's life

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Katie Spencer
  • 459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. --  The three pillars associated with the Air Force Reserve are family, reservist and employer. Reservists tend to their families, tend to the civilian-employers and tend to their country. So what happens when they need to leave their family and employer to tend to the country and someone else's family?

Members of the 459th Operations Group at Joint Base Andrews, Md., experienced this type of situation first hand during, what was supposed to be, a four-day mission to the West Coast.

The mission was simple: fly to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., for a routine Pacific Command Aeromedical Evacuation Support mission. This is a regular mission where the crew picks up an aeromedical team and their pallet of equipment for relocation to Hickam AFB, Hawaii.

While at Travis AFB, the crew received information from the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott AFB, Ill., notifying them of a mission change. The new mission was to wait for a specialized medical team from the 59th Medical Wing stationed at Lackland AFB, Texas to arrive at Travis AFB with their equipment and then travel to Japan where an infant's life was at risk.

A military dependent 6-week-old baby boy, Caleb, was admitted to a local hospital in Okinawa, Japan, for cardiac failure. The infant required respiratory and cardiac support and further care by a cardiac specialist but was too unstable for a regular transport, according to the 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs Office. The 59th Medical Wing is the only one of its kind in the Air Force; they have a specialized machine called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation which weighs 800 pounds. The ECMO supports a patient's heart or lungs which are too damaged to function on their own.

So, the 459th crew loaded the medical team and the 800-pound ECMO into a KC-135 aircraft and began the 13-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean.

Half way into the flight, the aircrew noticed there was a loss of functioning capability of the right hydraulic system.

"This is a fairly serious emergency," said Lt. Col. Mark Meacham, 459th Operations Group operation planner and air commander for this mission. "And even when you try to fix it, you lose a lot of the capabilities. It controls things such as the steering and the wing flaps which help to land and other important instruments. This was certainly not ideal, especially in the middle of the ocean while trying to get to a sick baby."

The team was not able to re-route and land at a different base to fix the issue because the mission was changed to a more specialized mission due to the urgency of the situation. Instead, they powered through their exhaustion, bad weather and turbulence using their training to complete the mission.

The aircraft would not be able to land with the right hydraulic system malfunctioning, said Meacham. So, they used a process called cross-over which is when parts of one system are used to supplement the other; and, both systems are equalized but not fully capable.

"We were up in the air for a while and had time to breathe, map out who was going to do what and troubleshoot the issue using our experience and training, " said Meacham. "But, the longer you're in the air and the longer the problem lasts, the more fuel you burn, and that's when you have to make smart, fast decisions."

After the cross-over procedure was completed, the aircraft was able to land safely at Okinawa. Once on the ground, the pilots had to maneuver the plane carefully, because the steering was not working. A tow team arrived and got the aircraft where it needed to be for the medical crew to de-board and tend to the sick infant.

"As a father, the only thing on my mind was 'We gotta get this done,'" said Staff Sgt. Jason Wesche, a boom operator for the 459th OG. "I would hope someone would do the same for me if one of my kids needed the help."

The original mission began March 27, and the team did not arrive home until late in the evening of April 7, which was Easter weekend. The whole Reserve crew; Meacham, Wesche, 1st Lt. Chris Colley, Staff Sgt Pablo Castro, Tech. Sgts. Greg Stern and Alex Yunker, all volunteered to stay on the mission to help another family in need.

"The expenditure of resources to take care of a dependent child speaks volumes about the commitment the Air Force has to family," said Meacham. "I am happy I was able to do my job and get the medical team there safely to aid the little boy."

Caleb was transferred from Okinawa to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., aboard a C-17 Globemaster III for advanced medical care. He is in stable condition and is currently on the transplant list for a new heart.