KADENA AIR BASE, Japan. -- The 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron tested their tactical combat casualty care skill sets in during a routine readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base, May 7, 2025.
All U.S. service members receive TCCC training as part of their regular training to maximize available care in any situation. The ability of every individual in a force to be capable of making rapid decisions and rendering life-saving care to their teammates drastically increases the survivability of that force.
“We have to practice how we fight,” said U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Lucas Amerson, 18th LRS fuels operations officer in charge. “We can’t do it for the first time when it happens.”
While its value is proven repeatedly in regular life – often to the benefit of the community that hosts our military bases, the end goal of TCC is to keep warfighters alive in a contingency environment until they can be seen at a medical care facility.
“If you train a process step-by-step over and over again, you don’t need to think to do it,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Megan Hill, 18th LRS fuels knowledge operations craftsman. “That’s what you need in a combat environment.”
After they moved their simulated casualties to the 18th Medical Group as training subjects for the Kadena Clinic, the remaining fuels Airmen determined the simulated damage to their building compromised its integrity, and they “bugged out” to work from a secondary location nearby to continue their mission of fueling Kadena’s aircraft.
Learning from planned and executed operations, the 18th Wing will continue to flex its enhanced operational abilities to respond to real world scenarios as the Keystone of the Pacific.