171st Air Refueling Wing certifies 911th Airlift Wing TCCC instructors Published March 18, 2022 By Tech. Sgt. Bryan Hoover 171st Air Refueling Wing Coraopolis, Pa -- The 171st Air Refueling Wing hosted 11 members from the 911th Airlift Wing Aerospace Evacuation Squadron in a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course on March 16, 2022. The 171st is well on its way to training all 171st Guardsmen in the All Service Members portion of TCCC by April 2023. Pennsylvania Air National Guardsman, 1st Lt. Heather Edsall, an Emergency Trauma Nurse assigned to the 171st has been assigned by wing leadership to implement the program and train the entire membership base. The requirement came in the 2018 edition of DOD instruction 1322.24 “Medical Readiness Training” stating all service members, regardless of the department of military will complete TCCC training by the deadline established by their specific branch. The Department of the Air Force established an implementation plan which requires all Airmen to be trained by April of 2023. 171st TCCC instructor Senior Airman Madison Posterivo enjoyed having likeminded medically trained members in the class. “They provided really good examples (during the lecture) from their previous experiences and asked a lot of questions,” said Posterivo. “They (911th reservists) really made the classroom environment better. It was nice because it wasn’t a guard versus reserves thing, it was just about saving lives.” The 911th AES recognizes the challenge in front of them to train roughly 1200 members assigned to the 911th within 12 months. Capt. Ashley Stough, a flight nurse assigned to the 911th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania reached out to Edsall for help. “Our wing is behind and we recognize that there is a lot we will need to accomplish to meet the deadline set by the Air Force,” said Stough. Stough along with 10 other members from the 911th AES had their first experience in TCCC and found the course to be a breath of fresh air. “I thought it was nice to get down to the bread and butter of our AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) and get back to the absolute basics,” said Stough. “Today’s training was about total force.” Stough and Edsall are in the process of implementing more joint classes between the two units including another train-the-trainer course this month and a Combat Life-Savers course during the 171st ARW exercise scheduled during the May 2022 regularly scheduled drill. For more information about TCCC, check out www.deployedmedicine.com or follow the 171st ARW at www.171arw.ang.af.mil.