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Scotia-based New York Air Guard members return from five month deployment

Twenty-four members of the 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron moved 1,300 patients from overseas to United States during mission

Stratton Air National Guard Base, Scotia, N.Y. (10/18/2019) — Twenty-four members of the New York Air National Guard's 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron recently returned from a five month deployment during which they helped transport 1,300 service members from war zones in the Middle East and Afghanistan to treatment facilities in the United States.

The 139th, a part of the 109th Airlift Wing based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, N.Y. deployed teams to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Al Udied Air Base in Qatar, and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

The Airmen deployed in May, 2019.

The deployed Airmen included flight nurses and medics, and medical administration and medical logistics personnel. The 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron's mission is to monitor patients being transported for more advanced medical care aboard modified C-130s.

The Airmen returned to Albany International Airport October 14-16.

Service members with critical injuries from blasts and burns were airlifted directly to Landstuhl Medical

Major Tammy Ostrowski, the senior flight nurse for the deployment, praised all of the Airmen for the work they did during the deployment.

Approximately 90 percent of the Air Force's aeromedical evacuation personnel are in the Air Guard and Air Force Reserve and they usually are deployed for four to six months every other year, Ostrowski said.

Ostrowski singled out 139th Staff Sergeant Bianca Bustamante for her outstanding work as a ground controller for evacuation flights during the deployment.

" She did all of our mission planning. She coordinated all of our transportation for crews, prepared all the paperwork and planning to launch every mission as well as recovering crews upon their return to base,' Ostrowski said.

Bustamante, who was on her first deployment, said it was gratifying to get a chance to do what she had trained for.

Media Attachments

Five 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron members get a warm welcome home from anxiously waiting family and friends at Albany International Airport in Latham, N.Y. on October 16, 2019 after a five months deployment to locations in Germany and Qatar. The squadron's members helped transport 1,300 patients from the Central Command area of operations to the United States between May and October , 2019. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Senior Master Sgt. William Gizara)

Family members wait for five members of the 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Albany International Airport in Latham, N.Y. on October 16, 2019. The Airmen were returning from a five month deployment in which they evacuated patients from the Central Command theater of operations to the United States. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. William Gizara)

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