Historical profile: AFMS Airmen enable AFDW’s global impact

Courtesy Story

Air Force Medical Service

The Air Force District of Washington was originally established as Bolling Field Command in December 1946 by the Headquarters Army Air Forces to serve as the single manager for assets in and around the nation’s capital. Since 1946, AFDW has experienced multiple organizational changes ­­- most recently it was reactivated in July 2005. While the organization has evolved over time, Air Force Medical Service Airmen have played a continuous role offering critical medical capabilities in the National Capital Region and operational medicine worldwide.

AFDW’s present-day medical assets include 13 members assigned to the direct reporting unit’s command surgeon’s office, or AFDW/SG; approximately 1,500 medics in the 316th Medical Group, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; and, numerous medics deployed to the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing. The 316th MDG, established in 1958 as the United States Air Force Hospital Andrews, is one of a dozen Tier 1 medical facilities that over the decades has provided significant medical asset deployment for the Air Force. In 1962, the Air Force redesignated USAF Hospital Andrews as the Malcolm Grow Medical Center in honor of the first Air Force Surgeon General Maj. Gen. Malcolm Grow who is considered a hero in both world wars for identifying and developing protections for air crew such as body armor and wind blast protections. Like Grow, several commanders from the medical center have become Air Force Surgeon General, including most recently, Lt. Gen. Robert I. Miller, who retired June 14, 2024.

The 316th MDG Aeromedical Staging Facility, operational since 1966, has been instrumental in repatriating injured service members from major U.S. overseas operations. When the Vietnam War drew to a close in January 1973, 39 prisoners of war returned to the United States by way of Andrews Air Force Base where their families welcomed them home and medical professionals at Malcolm Grow Medical Center provided care. Through operations such as Desert Shield, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom, the 316th MDG ASF has served as the East Coast’s aeromedical evacuation hub, with medics caring for thousands of wounded, ill and injured service members. During Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome, the Air Force’s largest ever non-combatant evacuation missions, AFDW medics provided care to 19 injured active duty service members and 586 Afghans – AFDW medics were credited for their life-saving actions and efforts in coordinating helicopter transportation to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a critically ill Afghan infant.

AFDW medics are vital in sustaining national security missions by providing a medically ready force, supporting families and veterans, and ensuring medical readiness for all AFDW missions. A testament to their work includes the 316th MDG’s contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 316th MDG medics performed approximately 53,000 screening and surveillance tests in direct support of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Intelligence Agency, White House Communications Agency, Office of Military Commissions, Joint Air Defense Operations Center, and 1,400 Presidential Support Program personnel. Providing 24/7 mission support, 316th MDG medics ensured hundreds of Air Force One missions for the president and thousands of Special Airlift Missions for vice president, first lady, cabinet members, and members of Congress with zero outbreaks. Additionally, the 320th AEW deployed groups of 30 Air Force medics to the White House Medical Unit for six-month intervals to support COVID screening, testing, vaccinations, and other Force Health Protection measures.

Through AFDW’s worldwide mission, medics provide individual medical readiness and operational medicine support to the approximately 39,000 Total Force Airmen and Guardians worldwide, including providing vaccines, preventative health assessments, flight medicine support, and medical standards and boards. Due to consistent efforts to maintain a ready force, AFDW achieved the highest level of medic readiness in the Air Force, as measured by the Comprehensive Medical Readiness Program for June 2024. AFDW/SG also established a MAJCOM Functional Manager training orientation, focusing efforts on support to and development of medics in the worldwide mission.

Through ensuring medical readiness for global operations, maintaining a medically ready force, and cultivating future leaders, AFDW/SG remains committed to excellence in providing unwavering, world-class support to service members, veterans and national security.

Editor’s Note: The Air Force Medical Service was established July 1, 1949. To celebrate AFMS’s 75th Anniversary, this article is one in a series of articles highlighting the contributions of medics to their major command or field command.