The airmen who deployed to Angol, Chile, on March 8 as part of an expeditionary medical support team to help treat victims of last month’s violent earthquake in the South American nation are now operating out of a mobile hospital there that they helped construct. The US contingent, which includes 60 USAF medics is working side-by-side with Chilean medics in treating about 225 patients a day at this clinic, which took three days to erect and became fully operational on March 13. Two days later, the first surgery was performed there to repair an ankle fracture. “The Americans here have helped out a lot [and] we feel very grateful that they all are helping our country and our people,” said Chilean army Second Corporal Jonathan Cuevas, a paramedic working in the mobile hospital. (Angol report by SSgt. Vanessa Young)
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S. The bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.