An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | May 10, 2024

Alaska Guard Helps Provide Free Health Care to Kodiak Residents

By Alejandro Pena, Alaska National Guard

KODIAK, Alaska - Alaska National Guardsmen from the 176th Wing and the 207th Aviation Troop Command based out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson began Kodiak Arctic Care ‘24 on May 6, flying equipment and personnel to Kodiak.

Kodiak Arctic Care, scheduled May 9-21, is part of the Department of Defense-sponsored Innovative Readiness Training program. It delivers free medical, dental, optometry and veterinary services to Kodiak Island residents without regular access to comprehensive medical care.

Service members from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and active duty, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Naval Reserve, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Public Health Service are providing medical services at seven sites across the Kodiak Island Borough: Kodiak, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Larsen Bay, Karluk, Old Harbor and Akhiok.

Service members work closely with the Kodiak Area Native Association and other regional and community partners.

As part of the advanced echelon, Alaska Air National Guard aerial transport specialists assigned to the 176th Logistics Readiness Squadron worked with a C-17 Globemaster III aircrew from the 144th Airlift Squadron to transport essential gear, medical equipment and personnel from JBER to Kodiak.

Alaska Army National Guard aviators also staged three UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters at Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. The Black Hawks will transport medical personnel and equipment to each of the care sites.

The IRT program delivers joint training to increase deployment readiness while providing U.S. communities with key services, such as health care, construction, transportation and cybersecurity.

 

 

Related Articles
Alaska Army National Guardsmen from the 207th Aviation Troop Command and Bison Company, 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, load frozen meat for transport via UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter during an Innovative Readiness Training mission at the AKARNG hangar in Bethel, Alaska, Nov. 18, 2024. Two years ago, the community of Toksook Bay, whose population is almost entirely members of the Alaska Native Nunakauyarmiut Tribe living a subsistence lifestyle, lost thousands of pounds of meat that spoiled due to extended power outages caused by Typhoon Merbok flooding.
Alaska Guard Delivers Meat to Storm-Ravaged Community
By Alan Brown, | Nov. 25, 2024
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - Two years after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok flooded communities across thousands of miles of western Alaska, the community of Toksook Bay made a big step toward replenishing what...

Alaska Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Robert Neff, an engineering craftsman from the 176th Civil Engineer Squadron, cuts a tree as part of an Innovative Readiness Training project at Shepard Point near Cordova, Alaska, July 26, 2023. Twelve 176th Wing Guardsmen are clearing a 5.5-acre site for the Shepard Point Marine Tribal Transportation Oil Spill & Marine Casualty Response Facility.
Alaska National Guard Helps Clear Oil Spill Response Site
By Robert DeBerry, | Aug. 1, 2023
SHEPARD POINT, Alaska - When the Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, more than 11 million gallons of heavy crude oil spilled into the sound, impacting about 1,300 miles of coastline...

Alaska Air National Guard Senior Airman David Warren, 176th Air Defense Squadron surveillance technician, monitors Alaska airspace using a AN/FYQ-156 Battle Control System-Fixed Jan. 24, 2024, at the JBER-based 176th ADS Battle Command Center. The BCS-F consolidates previously stove-piped surveillance systems into a single “scope.”
176th Air Defense Squadron Fields State-of-the-Art Battle Command Center
By David Bedard, | April 9, 2025
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska –  Two Russian Tu-95 Bears and two Chinese H-6 Badgers with Su-30 and Su-35 Flanker fighter escorts speared across the sky July 24, 2024, in formation over the northern Pacific...