JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The 628th Medical Group participated in exercise Operation Ready Eagle from Nov. 2-6, at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina.
The purpose of the exercise is to prepare members of the 628th MDG for real world scenarios.
“This is a medical specific exercise that encompasses all three of our squadrons underneath the 628th Medical Group,” said Master Sgt. Monique Roberts, 628th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron flight chief. “We have two contract companies that are here providing us necessary material and training to standardize our home station medical response across the Air Force medical service.”
Roberts emphasized the importance of having exercises of this nature in the medical field.
“You need to practice how you play,” Roberts stated. “If you don't play every day in real life, then you don't necessarily have the tools and the training required to get the job done when needed.”
Danny Glover, 628th Medical Support Squadron medical emergency manager, explained how Ready Eagle benefits different medical groups across the Air Force.
“For a long time the Air Force has had different teams trained in different ways at different installations,” said Glover. “The exercise actually brings all that training into one format for all teams, no matter where you go in the military and Air Force, you'll have the same type of background and training so that it would actually be beneficial.”
Glover said it not only helps the air base but also helps build relationships with the local community.
“We can go off base and help the local community, which enhances our capability and makes our teams more viable,” Glover said. “They actually work together and they can gain knowledge and cross training. It’s all beneficial for the one function of disaster response.”
Roberts stated that this kind of training helps strengthen bonds between community partners and the different entities that make up the medical group.
“Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19, we haven't really been able to get boots on the ground like we want to in training,” Roberts said. “So this has given us an opportunity to dust off some of the rust. I think that we have worked really well together as teams, and just thinking about things that we never really thought about.”
Exercises like Ready Eagle strengthen the capabilities of members in the medical field across the Air Force, helping them learn various ways to respond to different real-world scenarios they may face either at their home base or during a deployment.