Virginia Army National Guard aviators provide aviation

Virginia Army National Guard aviators provide aviation support during a National Disaster Medical System Full Scale Exercise held June 7, 2014, at the Chesterfield County Airport. The exercise included approximately 150 participants from over 20 local, federal and state agencies. The NDMS is a federally coordinated system that aims to prepare the nation for handling mass-casualty incidents by identifying reception sites where victims of a major disaster can be transported for medical treatment in order to avoid overwhelming local medical treatment facilities in the immediate location of the incident. The scenario for the exercise involved a notional earthquake near Memphis, Tenn., with 100 patients being sent notionally via military aircraft to the Chesterfield County Airport, an NDMS site. From there, the “patients,” played by actors from various agencies, were sent to hospitals in the surrounding area. The Virginia Guard aviators, primarily from the Chesterfield-based Detachment 2, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment, picked up two “patients,” played by members of the unit, transported them to the Charlottesville-Ablemarle Airport, where they were collected by University of Virginia ambulances and transported to the hospital, along with a medic, for notional treatment. Conducting a full-scale exercise is required to be conducted by NDMS sites every three years. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Terra C. Gatti, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)