ARLINGTON, Va. - For military service members, long duty days and being far away from home can be tough. A chance to speak with or see a loved one can often offer a relief from the stresses of deployment. Ask almost any Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine deployed overseas and they will tell you that family and friends are always on their mind.
For one Air Guard father-and-son duo, the Air Guard’s Critical Care Air Transport Team mission offered them the opportunity to have this relief, if only for a moment.
“Having the opportunity to cross paths with my son was just an added bonus to the mission,” said Air Force Col. Charles Myers, state air surgeon for the Arkansas National Guard. “It was great to be participating in the same mission with someone who had grown up within my own Guard family.”
Myers’ son, Air Force 1st Lt. Brian Myers, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot, 183rd Airlift Squadron, Mississippi National Guard, flew some of the missions that Col. Myers had the opportunity to be a part of.
Myers said he was very proud to be working with his son on such an amazing mission, even though his son spent time in-flight inside of the aircraft cockpit.
“My son was about 5 or 6 years old when I first became involved with the Air National Guard,” said Myers, “so he kind of grew up with [the Guard].”
Brian Myers said that growing up with his dad was the inspiration and the drive that motivated him to join the Guard later in life.
“I took my first flying lessons in high school,” he said, “and I definitely knew that I wanted to be in the military, knew about the Guard and the Guard family, so it really influenced me when I was in college to enlist.”
For Brian, the opportunity to be a part of the CCATT mission was a rewarding experience, one that was only made better by working with his father.
“I certainly was honored to be working on the mission with my dad, even though I was up in the front and he was in the back with the patients on board,” said Brian.
“To be able to bring those wounded back is always a good feeling, but to do this with my dad was a great experience.”
Col. Myers said the CCATT is a great opportunity for the Air Guard and its Airmen.
“Historically, the ANG medical service has focused on the operational mission instead of specialty care, so most physicians in the ANG don’t get the opportunity to practice anything close to what their civilian specialty is.
“We have a lot of these specialists in the ANG,” he said, “and since the CCATT mission requires physicians in these certain critical-care specialties, we’re able to provide them for that mission.”
Myers said the Air Guard CCATT mission augments the regular Air Force medical evacuation mission, which was designed to move stable patients.
“However, in today’s world, we have those patients that have been stabilized, but are still critical and still need to be moved,” he said.
“So basically it is an intensive care unit in the air.”
Each CCATT team has a physician in a critical-care specialty, a critical-care nurse and a respiratory technician who can take care of this type of patient.
Col. Myers said with the CCATT mission, “sometimes the duty hours can be long and the stresses of the environment can be hard to handle.
“But being able to do this for our wounded service members is very rewarding.”
Both father and son seem to find the experience even more rewarding after having a chance to see one another, if only for a moment.