KAUA'I, Hawaii - Members of the U.S. armed forces - working together jointly - recently provided free health services to Hawaii residents during the worst rain storm seen here in many years.
Active duty, National Guard and Reserve service members from the Air Force, Army and Navy set up three field-operated medical facilities in Kapa'a, Lihue, and Hanapepe on the island of Kauai, as part of an Innovative Readiness Training mission.
Tropic Care IRT was an Air National Guard led, multi-service/interagency training event, coordinated with civil authorities, the Kauai District Health Office, and the Hawaiian Department of Health.
The purpose of the IRT was to provide deployment and readiness training to military members while providing free health services to Hawaii residents from Feb. 26 to March 10.
IRT missions focus on training for deployments to a post-disaster location and providing medical services to those in need of care.
Military members were deployed to the remote island of Kauai for the IRT mission, and encountered heavy winds, flooding and torrential downpours uncommon to the island, which assisted with their real-world disaster recovery mission.
"We are working with groups, agencies, populations, and weather we would most likely encounter if we were to be involved in a post-disaster response," said Air Force Col. Jerry Arends, Tropic Care IRT commander.
"This is a true field deployment, where members shut down their medical practice, or leave their job, pack up and deploy to a sub-tropical environment where there has been a disaster," he said.
The service members worked together to provide medical, dental, ophthalmology and civil engineering support services to underserved portions of Kauai, while conducting deployment and readiness training. Mental health and chaplain services were also provided free of charge.
"The primary mission here is to provide training to Guardsmen and Reservists on readiness training, to deploy quickly in response to a natural disaster or other contingency, and to provide real-world medical care," Arends said.
"This is a super training environment and great resilience training, dealing with different people. There are unexpected conditions, torrential rains and high temperatures where military members are sleeping in armories with a hundred other people, working twelve hour shifts in order to assist patients," he said.
The IRT Mission increased the quality of life of fellow Americans while conducting mission essential training. Junior members developed more skill and all members were able to benefit from the real world event that took place in Kauai. Military members served over six thousand patients as a result of the IRT mission and readiness training.
"This is an outstanding training opportunity that Guard and Reservists would not get if we did not have the IRT program," Arends said.
Guard members and Reservists can utilize their annual training days to be a part of an IRT mission, where they can train and develop skills by assisting fellow Americans. The IRT mission is the largest recurring joint medical readiness and logistics training exercise, providing real-world humanitarian assistance in the most isolated regions of the U.S.