The 34th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron (34 AES) is a unit of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
. It is part of the
302d Airlift Wing
The 302d Airlift Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Twenty-Second Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
The wing's mission is tactical airlift a ...
at
Peterson AFB
Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the No ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. It is a component of
Air Force Reserve Command of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
, and is part of the air force component of
United States Transportation Command
The United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and was established in 1987.
The USTRANSCO ...
.
34 AES provides tactical
aeromedical evacuation for
U.S. troops and regional Unified Commands using
C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...
Hercules and other aircraft. The unit is manned by
flight nurse
A flight nurse is a registered nurse who specialises in the field of providing comprehensive pre-hospital, emergency critical care, and hospital care to a vast scope of patients. The care of these patients is generally during aeromedical evacuat ...
s,
Medical Service Corps officers, aeromedical evacuation technicians, medical administration and logistics technicians, and radio and communications operators.
The 34th AES was activated in 1959 at Brooks AFB, Texas as part of the 433d Troop Carrier Wing which operated the C-119 "Flying Boxcar". The following year due to the closure of the Brooks airfield the 433d and its associated units moved a short distance west to Kelly AFB, in 1966 the flying mission converted to the C-124 "Globemaster" transport. From 1968 to 1969 the 34th was activated to federal service and assigned to Yokota Air Base, Japan where its members augmented aeromedical evacuation missions flown on the C-141 "Starlifter" flying wounded out of South Vietnam and on to the continental U.S.
In 1971 the mission changed to tactical air evac when the parent unit converted to the C-130 "Hercules", in 1976 the squadron became part of the newly activated 32d Aeromedical Evacuation Group. The 34th provide air evac support for U.S. military forces during Operation Just Cause in 1989 and was activated again in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm. As a result of new Air Force regulations in 1994 the unit was redesignated the 433d AES, in 2008 the 34th was brought back under the 302d Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colorado.
Aeromedical evacuation squadrons of the United States Air Force