A Fit, Fighting Force

The Air Force Nursing Services

Chronology

Col. Mary C. Smolenski, PhD

USAFR, NC (Ret)

Maj. Donald G. Smith, Jr., PhD

USAFR, NC

James S. Nanney, PhD

Historian

Office of the Air Force Surgeon General

Office of the Air Force Surgeon General

Washington, D.C.

2005
A portion of the costs for preparation of this document was obtained from the

Tri-Service Nursing Research Program, Grant number: 600–07065000–117.
Foreword

Since the Air Force Nurse Corps emerged from the Army Nurse Corps in July

1949, Air Force nursing service personnel have excelled in providing dedicated care to their customers. At first these customers were our own Air Force

members, families, and retirees. Today we often provide nursing care to other

federal employees, Americans in the private sector, and patients in countries

around the world.

Nevertheless, over the last fifty-five years the mission of the Air Force

Medical Service has basically remained the same, “to provide medical support

necessary to maintain the highest degree of combat readiness and effectiveness

of the USAF,” or in today’s words, “to maintain a fit, fighting force.” Air Force

nurses have contributed to this mission in both wartime and peacetime, providing leadership, caring, and quality care. Air Force nurses think of their customer-focused mission as a combination of “Global Nursing” and “Precision

Care.”

As we enter the new millennium, this chronology reminds us of our past

and recognizes the tremendous milestones and accomplishments of those who

came before us—role models who provided the mentorship and guidance that

helped shape today’s Air Force nurses. We are also inspired by our vision for

the future—the Total Nursing Force, a seamless interaction of Regular Air

Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, and civilian nurses to provide

the best in nursing care. In the future our Total Nursing Force will face many

challenges and great opportunities. I am certain we will add exciting new

chapters to our story and continue our legacy of devoted service to our nation.

BARBARA BRANNON, MAJOR GENERAL, USAF, NC

Assistant Surgeon General, Nursing Services

Office of the Air Force Surgeon General

iii

Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iii

Highlights and Turning Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

The Chronology of Air Force Nursing Services

World War Two and Its Aftermath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

The Fifties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

The Sixties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

The Seventies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

The Eighties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

The Nineties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

The New Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Appendices

Air Force Surgeons General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Air Force Nurse Corps Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Mobilization Assistants to the Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps . . . . .69

Nursing Awards

Outstanding Air Force Nurse of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Sarah P. Wells Outstanding Medical Technician of the Year . . . . . . .71

Air Force Association Juanita Redmond Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Dolly Vinsant Flight Nurse of the Year Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Aerospace Medicine Association Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

AMSUS Clinical Excellence Award for Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Tri-Service Research Awards (Air Force Recipients) . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Flight Nurse’s Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Flight Nurse Wings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Air Force Nurse Corps Badge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Bibliographic Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

v

Highlights and Turning Points

1943

January: The first strategic aeromedical evacuation (aerovac) flight had a

medical crew of two: one technician and Lt. Elsie S. Ott (Mandot), an Army

Air Forces (AAF) nurse. The mission transported five patients from Karachi,

India, to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., a trip of 11,000 miles which lasted

six and one-half days. For this mission, Lieutenant Ott received the first Air

Medal ever awarded to a nurse.

February 18: The first class of flight nurses graduated from the AAF School

of Air Evacuation, 349th Air Evacuation Group, at Bowman Field, Kentucky.

The first flight nurse ever awarded flight nurse wings was Lt. Geraldine

Dishroon-Brier.

July 27: AAF flight nurse Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner was the first nurse to be killed

in a theater of operations during the war. She was on an aerovac plane that

crashed in Alaska while on a mission.

1949

July 1: An independent Air Force Medical Service was established with the

Air Force Nurse Corps as an integral part.

1955

October 14: The first male nurse accepted a reserve commission in the Air

Force Nurse Corps.

1956

January 20: The Air Force Chief of Staff approved a new distinctive medical

insignia to be worn by Air Force flight nurses and flight surgeons. The designs

of the first Air Force Medical Service flight insignia from 1949 through 1955

had been based on the insignia created for medics of the AAF in World War

Two.

June: Public Law 845, passed by the 84th Congress, permitted appointment of

women in the National Guard and in the Air National Guard. Nurses could

now be commissioned in the Air National Guard without having had prior military service.

1
October: The Air National Guard commissioned its first nurse, Capt. Norma

Parsons, into the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Tactical Air Command

(TAC) Hospital, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York.

1961

April: The Regular Air Force began commissioning men in its Nurse Corps.

1966

March 3: A separate Air Force Specialty Code for flight nurses was approved.

The new code, 9765, was reflected in the Air Force Manual 36–1, Officer Classification Manual, of September 1966.

June 28: The first two nurses graduated from the aerospace nurse course at

Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. The course developer, Maj. Pearl E. Tucker,

later received recognition as the first aerospace nurse.

1970

June: American women were allowed to enter Reserve Officers’ Training

Corps programs in colleges and universities.

June 11: Col. Ethel Ann Hoefly was the first Air Force Nurse Corps chief promoted to the rank of brigadier general. She served as Corps chief from 1968

to 1974.

1971

Capt. Susan R. Struck, a registered Air Force nurse serving in Vietnam, was

the first female in the United States armed forces to win the right to remain on

active duty after becoming pregnant.

1972

September 1: The Air Force Nurse Corps no longer accepted applicants who

had graduated from nonaccredited schools of nursing.

1973

The Air Force accepted its first female medical technician.

1974

Nursing roles were expanded to include obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, primary care nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, environmental health nurses,

community health, and educational coordinators.

2
1977

The leadership of the Air Force Nurse Corps decided to work toward creating

an all-college-educated Nurse Corps.

1978

The Air Force planned to increase the proportion of its female medical specialists from 25 percent to 30 percent of the total enlisted medical specialists.

1981

November: A new position—902XX, consultant to the Chief, Air Force Nurse

Corps—was added to the Surgeon General’s office.

1982

December: The Nurse Corps began to require a minimum of a Bachelor of

Science in Nursing for all new Air Force nurses. The only exception was for

career fields deemed critical, such as anesthesia.

1983

The School of Aerospace Medicine established a course in battlefield nursing

as part of the Air Force Medical Service’s readiness training initiative. In the

first year, 258 nurses attended.

1985

July 1: Col. Beverly S. Lindsey was selected for brigadier general, the first

nurse general officer selected from any of the military reserve forces.

1988

July: Col. Gloria Hernandez became the first active duty nurse to be assigned

as the commander of an aerovac unit, the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation

Squadron, Clark Air Base, Philippines.

1989

March 16: Army, Navy, and Air Force Nurse Corps chiefs, including Brig.

Gen. Barbara A. Goodwin, USAF, testified before the Senate Committee on

Appropriations regarding nursing issues, the first occasion for military Nurse

Corps chiefs to present testimony in the Senate.

1990

April 27: Col. Judith Hunt became the first nurse to be commander of a medical treatment facility—the clinic at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina.

3
1991

A new comprehensive clinical career ladder gave Air Force nurses a choice of

either maintaining a clinical career track or adopting an administrative career

track.

January 11: A new position—Air National Guard Advisor to the Chief, Air

Force Nurse Corps—was added to the Surgeon General’s office. The first advisor was Col. Roberta Mills.

1993

July: The Medical Service’s conversion to the Objective Medical Group structure had a major impact on Air Force nursing, opening more avenues for career

advancement and leadership for nurses.

October: Nurses began to manage Air Force clinics with physician oversight.

Nurse-managed clinics freed doctors to provide more intensive or specialized

care.

Air Force nursing began to gain an expanded role under the new Department of Defense TRICARE health benefit program.

1994

May: The Air Force Medical Service initiated a pilot project to develop a Critical Care Air Transport Team.

1995

May 1: Brig. Gen. Linda J. Stierle became the first dual-hatted Air Force

Nurse Corps Chief as Director of Nursing Services and Director of Medical

Readiness, both in the Office of the Surgeon General.

November: The first Nurse Corps strategic planning conference initiated a

Nurse Corps strategic plan. Fifty active duty and reserve nurses, both officers

and enlisted, conferred to develop long-range goals.

1997

March: The first Total Nursing Force Executive Leadership Symposium was

held for both enlisted personnel and officers from the Regular Air Force, Air

Force Reserve, and Air National Guard.

October: All Air Force medical facility and aerovac commander positions

became corps-neutral, dramatically increasing the opportunity for Nurse Corps

officers to compete for leadership and commander positions.

4
1998

February: A TopSTAR (Sustainment Training to Advance Readiness) program for Air Force nurses was implemented in a two-week course that utilized

actual patients, state-of-the-art mannequins, and computer-based instruction.

June: Col. Barbara Brannon, NC, commanded the first designated Expeditionary Medical Group, the 31st, at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of Operation Allied Force.

1999

Col. Linda McHale, USAFR, NC, was selected to be command surgeon of the

Air Force Reserve Personnel Center. She was the first Air Force nurse selected to serve as a command surgeon.

October: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon became the first appointed Nurse Corps

Chief with command experience.

2000

July: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon, Director, Medical Readiness and Nursing

Services, became the first Nurse Corps officer to command one of the Air

Force’s five medical centers when she assumed command of the 89th Medical

Group at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

2002

January: The first Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) opened in Baltimore, Maryland. The training program included a

three-week advanced trauma-care course for Air Force nurses and a pre-hospital, trauma life-support course for Air Force medical technicians.

2003

August 1: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon, Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps, was

promoted to the rank of major general, the first Nurse Corps officer to achieve

that rank.

2005

June: Col. Melissa A. Rank, USAF, NC, the deputy assistant surgeon general

for healthcare operations, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. For

the first time in history, two active duty nurses were serving the Air Force as

general officers.

5

The Chronology of Air Force

Nursing Services

World War Two and Its Aftermath

1941

December 7: Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In all, approximately 59,000 nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps in World War Two.

More than 200 Army nurses died, 16 from enemy fire. Many of these Army

nurses supported the Army Air Forces (AAF), and one of their new specialties

was flight nurse.

1942

November 30: The War Department directed the 349th Air Evacuation Group

to train flight surgeons, flight nurses, and enlisted personnel for aeromedical

evacuation (aerovac) duty aboard troop and cargo carriers. Squadrons consisted of medical personnel but no planes. Headquarters, the housekeeping section, consisted of a commanding officer, chief nurse, and medical administrative corps officer. Each squadron had a headquarters and four flights. A flight

surgeon with six flight nurses and six flight technicians headed each flight. A

flight team included one nurse and one enlisted technician. Squadrons were

assigned to either troop carrier or air transport groups.

December 22: The 77th Congress authorized relative rank for Army Nurse

Corps officers from second lieutenant through colonel by passing Public Law

828. Previously, the highest rank a nurse could hold was major. Public Law

828 also provided for pay and allowances approximately equal to those granted commissioned officers who had no dependents.

1943

January: The first strategic aerovac flight had a medical crew of two: one

technician and Lt. Elsie S. Ott (Mandot), an AAF nurse. The mission transported five patients from Karachi, India, to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., a

trip of 11,000 miles which lasted six and one-half days. For this mission, Lieutenant Ott received the first Air Medal ever awarded to a nurse.

7
February 18: The first class of flight nurses

graduated from the AAF School of Air Evacuation, 349th Air Evacuation Group at Bowman

Field, Kentucky. The first flight nurse ever

awarded flight nurse wings was Lt. Geraldine

Dishroon-Brier. The first flight nurse on the

island of Guadalcanal was Lt. Mae E. Olson.

July 27: AAF flight nurse Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner was the first nurse to be killed in a theater of operations during the war. She was on

an aerovac plane that crashed in Alaska while

on a mission. She was 28 years old, originally

from Pennsylvania, and assigned to the 11th

Air Force of the Alaskan Defense Command

of the AAF. An Army Hospital in Chicago,

Illinois—Gardiner General—was named in

her honor.

1944

February 8: The Overseas Replacement Depot for flight nurses was activated at Randolph Field. Nurses reporting overseas were assigned there to ensure

that their records, clothing, equipment, health, and training were up to date.

February 12: Female nurse prisoners of war (POWs), including flight nurses,

were liberated on Luzon after three years of captivity. They were evacuated to

Leyte en route to the United States.

June: For the duration of War World Two all military nurses were given a temporary commission.

Capt. Leontine Stroup, a flight nurse, authored “Aero-Medical Nursing and

Therapeutics,” one of the first articles published on this topic, in The American Journal of Nursing..

June 6: After the invasion of Normandy, Army medics began to cope with

many casualties with severed spinal cords, severe head wounds, and pulmonary wounds. With no hospitals ashore, the sick and wounded needed to be

evacuated to England, but heavy surf hindered sea evacuation. By June 8 aviation engineers in Normandy completed an emergency landing strip in the mud

behind Omaha Beach.

June 9: Flight nurses of the 816th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron (MAES)

flew “blood runs” to Normandy, airdropping fresh blood.

8

Lt. Elsie Ott received the Air

Medal for the first strategic

aeromedical evacuation flight,

January 1943.
June 11: Official aerovac began on D+5 when 2d Lt. Grace E. Dunham, chief

nurse of the 806th MAES, flew into Normandy in a C–47 that was still painted with invasion stripes. Upon landing, she jumped from the airplane wearing

her oversized flight suit, provided care to the wounded, and flew with them to

England. By the end of the month, flight nurses had helped evacuate about

7,500 patients from France to England.

9

These Army Air Forces nurses, imprisoned on Bataan and

Corregidor, Philippine Islands, were freed after three years of

imprisonment. Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands, February

1945.

Flight nurse prepares for takeoff, North Africa, December 1942.
September 27: Lt. Reba Z. Whittle was

the first flight nurse to be imprisoned

by the Germans. Her plane was shot

down by antiaircraft artillery fire

behind German lines near Aachen.

Every person on board was injured, but

Whittle ignoring her wounds, helped

move the medical technician out of the

burning plane. Germans soon arrived,

provided first aid, and escorted Whittle

to Stalag 9C, a prison camp near Frankfurt. When she was not nursing British,

American, and Australian prisoners,

Whittle, the first female Allied prisoner

of the Germans, remained secluded in

her prison cell and never saw another

woman. She was exchanged in January

1945 for German prisoners held by the

Allies.

1945

As the war in Europe ended, more flight nurses were needed for domestic

aerovac and duty in the Pacific.

April 14: Flight nurse Wilma (Dolly) Vinsant was killed when her evacuation

plane, ferrying wounded Americans to hospitals behind the front line, was shot

down over Germany. She was one of three women in the Army Nurse Corps

killed by direct enemy action. Buried in the United States Military Cemetery

at Margraten, Netherlands, she was the only woman so honored.

1946

Before the AAF separated from the U.S. Army in September 1947 to become

the United States Air Force (USAF), it had already acquired its own medical

staff, a distinct sector of the Army medical community directed to provide

nondefinitive medical care for AAF bases worldwide. Definitive care for AAF

personnel, however, was still provided by the Army general hospitals.

1947

April 16: The Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947 (Public Law 36–80C) provided

permanent commissioned officer status for members of the Army Nurse Corps

in the grades of second lieutenant through lieutenant colonel, and provided for

10

Lt. Reba Whittle after her return to the

United States from captivity by the

Germans during World War Two.
the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps to serve in the temporary grade of colonel.

The act also established the Army Nurse Corps Section of the Officers Reserve

Corps.

1948

February: Air Surgeon Malcolm Grow noted that his monthly memorandum,

“Comments for United States Air Force Surgeons,” was not being distributed

to nurses in the field stations. He requested special care be taken to insure that

copies were made available to nurses. He repeated his request six months later

in August.

March: The procurement of new nurses with no previous military experience

was beginning to make definite progress. The number of nurses on active duty

who were receiving their officer reserve commissions was increasing daily as

well.

September: General duty and administrative nurses in Air Force station hospitals who had been trained as flight nurses were given the opportunity of practicing their specialty in aerovac duties with the Military Air Transport Service.

They replaced flight nurses who had been on duty with that organization.

1949

May 12: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson directed the U.S. Air Force to

assume responsibility for its own medical support, with the single reservation

that the Army would continue to operate the general hospitals. Secretary Johnson created a Medical Service Division within the National Military Establishment (later called the Department of Defense) through which medical

activities of the Army, Navy, and Air Force would be coordinated through the

Joint Army and Air Force Adjustment Regulation No. 1–11–62 dated May 16,

1949.

June 8: Department of the Air Force General Order No. 35 established the Air

Force Medical Service, its six officer corps, and the Office of the Air Force

Surgeon General. Air Force Regulation 21–10 described the general principles

and organization of the Air Force Medical Service.

July 1: An independent Air Force Medical Service was established with the

Air Force Nurse Corps as an integral part. The Air Force Nurse Corps was

formed by the transfer of 1,199 Army nurses, most of them already on active

duty (307 regular and 892 reserve officers), working in support of the AAF. Of

this total, 389 became “joint staff” in Army general hospitals. The Army hospital system continued to provide definitive care for the Air Force, and 30 per11
cent of Air Force medical spaces were assigned to Army hospitals as joint staff

to cover the workload created by Air Force patients.

African-American nurses assigned to the AAF transferred to the Air Force

as part of the original 1,199 members, making the Air Force Nurse Corps an

integrated corps from the very start.

In the new Air Force Surgeon General’s office, the Nurse Corps was

assigned to the Directorate of Medical Staffing and Education. Its first director was Brig. Gen. Edward J. Kendricks, Medical Corps, and its functions were

procurement, classification, assignment, training and education, promotion,

separation, and records maintenance of Air Force personnel. The Chief Nurse

was assigned to the Medical Support Group along with the Chief, Medical Services Corps, and the Chief, Women’s Medical Specialist Corps. The Women’s

Medical Specialist Corps consisted of dieticians, and physical and occupational therapists.

In addition to Capt. Verena Marie Zeller (who was promoted to lieutenant

colonel in 1950), three other nurses were assigned to the Office of the Air

Force Surgeon General: Capt. Ruth R. Weidner, Assistant Chief; Maj. Inez V.

McDonald, Assignment Officer; and Lt. Helen M. Ely, Procurement Officer.

The first Air Force Nurse Corps objective was to procure enough qualified

professional nurses. The Surgeon General’s office organized a recruitment

campaign. Five hundred radio stations in the Keystone Network and thirteen

key city radio stations agreed to carry a one-minute announcement. The American Broadcasting Company made its network available for thirteen quarterhour programs that publicized the work of nurses in the Air Force.

August 4: The first two nurses to be granted direct commissions in the Air

Force Nurse Service Reserve from civilian life were Lieutenants D. Kay Cowden and Dorothy Mae Horton.

October 1: The Military Air Transport Service became responsible for most

peacetime medical evacuation within the Department of Defense (DOD). In

wartime, aerovac was expected to become more important than it had been in

the past. The decision to switch to evacuation of the sick and wounded from

the three armed services by air was based on recommendations made to the

Secretary of Defense by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of DOD Medical Services, and the Surgeons General of the Army, Navy, and the Air Force.

At that time, flight nurses of the Air Force and Navy were trained at the Air

Force’s School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

12
The Fifties

1950

January 1: The Air Force Nurse Corps consisted of 90 administrative, 70

operating room, 30 anesthesia, 14 neuropsychiatric, and 925 general duty nurses. Seventy-nine nurses served as flight nurses in aerovac units; 91 others were

flight nurses not engaged in aerovac duties. By the end of the fiscal year in

July, the number of designated flight nurses was 256.

April 27: Capt. Verena M. Zeller, Acting Chief Nurse, was promoted to the

rank of lieutenant colonel. The Air Force Nurse Corps aim was to “provide

optimum nursing care for the Air Force personnel and their dependents.” In the

midst of a nationwide nursing shortage, active recruitment programs were initiated.

Korean War (June 25, 1950–July 27, 1953): At the onset of the Korean War,

only 181 of the 1,170 Air Force Nurse Corps nurses were designated as flight

nurses. During the war, however, Air Force nurses in Korea served mainly as

flight nurses because fixed Air Force hospitals were few in the Republic of

(South) Korea. At the peak of the Korean War, 2,991 Air Force nurses were on

active duty.

July 1: Air Force nurses were called up with less than forty-eight hours’ notice

for aerovac duty in Korea. Untrained nurses had to be sent to work with nurses who had been to flight training. Briefed as thoroughly as possible, nurses

found themselves within hours on planes carrying hundreds of badly wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. By mid-July, 200 nurses were actively engaged in the aerovac of patients in the Zone of the Interior and overseas.

September: Ella Best from the American Nurses Association was appointed

the first nursing consultant to the Surgeon General of the United States Air

Force.

September 26: Flight nurses Lt. Jonita Bonham and Capt. Vera M. Brown

received Distinguished Flying Crosses when their C–54 ditched in the Sea of

Japan. Captain Brown perished in the crash.

October 16: The flight nurse and medical technician courses of the School of

Aviation, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, moved to Gunter Air Force Base,

Alabama. Only the flight nurse class graduated in 1950. The Surgeon General

of the Air Force attempted to assign each graduate nurse to flying duty at least

once during her career. To qualify for flying duty, each nurse had to graduate

from the flight nurse course and be physically qualified for Flying Class III.

13
December 5: In Korea,

Air Force nurses helped

evacuate nearly 4,000

wounded Army and

Marine Corps patients in

one day, a record. The

Eighth Army had decided to empty all Korean

hospitals, fearing the

Chinese would overrun

the entire peninsula.

December 20: In Operation Christmas Kidlift,

Air Force nurses helped

fly over 900 sick and

starving orphans from

Kimpo, near Seoul, to safety on Cheju-do, an island sixty miles off the southern Korean coast.

1951

June: With 72.1 percent of all Air

Force patients hospitalized in Air

Force hospitals, joint staffing was

terminated. All Air Force nurses

were assigned to duty at Air Force

installations.

August: Chief Nurses were

assigned to major command headquarters. Charged with the responsibility of supervising nursing

activities within the command, and

overseeing the professional

improvement of nurses under their

command, nursing personnel were

more effectively utilized.

November: Publicity campaigns

were stepped up to attract doctors

and nurses. The film Cargo Critical depicted patient aerovac.

Republic Pictures in Hollywood

produced the Flight Nurse Story,

14

Flight Nurse Lt. A. Drisdale helps a wounded

combat soldier during a flight from Korea to

Japan, October 1952.

Lt. Doris Rataj medicating patients in the C–47 Skytrain

during an aeromedical flight from Korea, July 1952.
an account of the Nurse Corps and the numerous advantages it offered nurses.

A nurse recruiting brochure, “Career with a Future,” was in demand. Recruiting and publicity activities were ongoing.

1952

December: Progress was made toward establishing a career program for Air

Force nurses. Five specialty codes were established: administrative, operating

room, anesthetist, psychiatric, and general.

1953

Capt. Lillian Kinkela, USAF, NC,

one of the most decorated flight

nurses of World War Two and the

Korean War, served as technical

advisor to the 1953 film Flight

Nurse which starred Joan Leslie

and Forrest Tucker.

April 21: The return of American

POWs from North Korea began in

Operation Little Switch. The 801st

MAES accompanied 36 POWs on

a C–124 flight to Tachikawa,

Japan.

June 1953–March 1954: Nurse

Corps losses were 706 against a

gain of 399. Losses derived mostly from mandatory release requirements after two years’ service or from pregnancy or marriage. The nurse shortage continued as the corps strength steadily declined. A drop in recruitment of

about 50 percent led to a declining number of nurses in the face of expanding

Air Force needs. Among the actions taken to reduce turnover and make the Air

Force more attractive was to shorten overseas tours from thirty-six to twentyfour months. An additional enticement was that professional skills would be

better utilized and nonprofessional duties, curtailed. Brookley in Alabama was

the first base in the Air Force where all airmen possessing subprofessional

nursing skills were assigned to the nursing service, a practice being introduced

at other bases. A nurse career program was established for each of five specialty areas: anesthesia, operating room technique and management, nursing

administration, neuropsychiatric nursing, and flight nursing. The Air Force

Manual of Hospital Administration, AFM 160–20, was published.

15

Capt. Lillian Kinkela, one of the most decorated Air Forces nurses of World War Two and

the Korean War.
1954

April: Career development in the Nurse

Corps was redesignated “career planning,” and career patterns were revised

to extend to the grade of lieutenant

colonel, rather than to colonel, with a

career path of twenty rather than thirty

years. The Air Force began to attach

nurses as mobilization designees to Air

National Guard medical groups requesting them. Designees were reservists

especially qualified for a specific job in

times of mobilization. According to the

National Defense Act, only males could

be members of the National Guard;

however, the Air National Guard medical group Table of Organization

required six nurses. Fifty Air Reserve

Centers were organized, and future

plans called for a total of 200.

June 30: The active strength of nurses was 2,609; 3,039 were authorized

against a required strength of 3,083. Regular Nurse Corps strength was 392

with 549 were authorized.

July: The Air Force Surgeon General submitted bills to Congress to change

the laws to authorize certain service credit for nurses and women medical specialists appointed in the Regular Air Force and Regular Army, and to adjust the

dates of rank of certain nurses and women medical specialists in the Regular

Air Force and Regular Army.

1955

May 2: Colonel Zeller presented a progress report on the Air Force Nurse

Corps at the convention of the National League for Nursing. A survey was conducted of all Air Force women to discover areas where improvement was indicated. A nurse was assigned to the Medical Inspectors Group to determine how

better utilization and more effective distribution of nurses could be achieved

and how better staff education and on-the-job training could be attained.

June 27: A completed staff study outlined the changes in the structure of the

medical reserve forces to make reservists immediately available in the event

of hostilities. It pointed to the difficulties involved in building a medical

16

An Air Force nurse helps a volunteer in a

respirator experiment in the early 1950s.

School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph

AFB, Texas.
reserve along normal peacetime lines. After years of work with the reserve

medical groups in the Air Force Reserve Training Center, only one unit was

manned to 60 percent of its authorization. The two barriers identified were the

inability to make the usual type of reserve program attractive to medical

reservists and the need to be immediately available at the outbreak of hostilities in the event of nuclear war. The medical service needed to be highly

mobile and at a high degree of training and readiness. Concerns were that the

traditional period to prepare for mobilization was not likely to exist in the

future.

August 9: Public Law 294 of the 84th Congress authorized reserve nurse commissions and nurse medical specialist enlistments for males as well as for

females, and for those who had declared an intent to become citizens, as well

as for citizens if they were otherwise qualified. This law did not originate within the DOD, but the DOD supported it. Regular commissions in these specialties were open only to women. Public Law 294 further changed the name of

the Women’s Medical Specialist Corps to the Medical Specialist Corps.

October 14: The first male nurse accepted a reserve commission in the Air

Force Nurse Corps.

1956

January 20: The Air Force Chief of Staff approved a new distinctive medical

insignia to be worn by Air Force flight nurses and flight surgeons. The designs

of the first Air Force Medical Service flight insignias from 1949 through 1955

had been based on the insignia created for medics of the AAF in World War

Two.

April: Legislation was proposed to the DOD to improve career incentives for

nurses and medical specialists in the regular components. Stimulated by President Eisenhower’s concerns over the inadequacy of career incentives for military nurses, the Army, Navy, and Air Force in early 1956 drafted their titles to

a new bill (DOD 84–285) which would enhance career attractiveness for both

nurses and medical specialists. Separate titles were submitted by each service

in April 1956. The Air Force proposal would eliminate nonessential distinctions among the various categories of Air Force officers. The aim was to bring

nurses and medical specialists under the procurement, promotion, and retirement policies of the Officer Personnel Act and the Army and Air Force Vitalization and Retirement Equalization Act “in so far as that is practicable.”

Major Air Force features were that the appointment grade for individuals with

less than three years of professional experience would be second lieutenant;

for individuals with three but fewer than seven years, it would be first lieutenant. Nurses with seven years’ professional experience would be appointed

17
as captains. Appointments were contingent on meeting the age limitations:

captains would be limited thirty-nine years of age; first lieutenants, to thirty

years; and second lieutenants, to twenty-seven.

June: Public Law 845, passed by the 84th Congress, permitted the appointment of women in the National Guard and Air National Guard. Nurses could

now be commissioned in the Air National Guard without having had prior military service. Those with no military service would not be appointed for

extended active duty after the age of thirty-five. This would allow completion

of twenty years’ service before reaching the mandatory retirement age of fiftyfive.

The minimum height for female flight nurses was lowered from sixty-two

inches to sixty inches because practical experience had shown that this adjustment would not affect an individual’s performance on an evacuation aircraft.

The height standard for male flight nurses corresponded to that of other male

applicants for flight training.

Seventy-nine male nurses were on active duty.

October: The Air National Guard commissioned its first nurse, Capt. Norma

Parsons, into the New York Air National Guard’s 106th TAC Hospital, Floyd

Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York.

October 31: For the first time since the Air Force came into being, Unit Manning Documents were on file in the Surgeon General’s office. Previously, these

authorizations had been formulated on estimates. The Air Force Medical Service strength of 52,303 represented 4.3 percent of the total Air Force military

strength; it included an Air Force Nurse Corps strength numbering 2,856.

Authorized grades for Nurse Corps officers included 1 colonel, 28 lieutenant

colonels, 56 majors, 861 captains, and 1,910 lieutenants.

1957

For the first time since the 1949 establishment of the Air Force Medical Service, there was no shortage of doctors and nurses. It was now possible to be

selective in offering commissions to reserve or regular officers. Late in 1957

the Air Force Surgeon General’s office established procedures for assigning

nurses by name to new duty stations. This resulted in an improvement both in

the career management of the individual nurse and in the staffing of medical

facilities.

January: The Chief of the Nurse Corps cautioned medical facility commanders of the dangers of overworking nurse specialists, such as anesthetists and

operating room nurses, who were usually assigned on the basis of only one

specialist for each Air Force hospital.

18
August: Criteria were established to clarify schools of nursing acceptable to

the Surgeon General. The age limit on nurses appointed to the Air Force

Reserve who were not on active duty was increased to the age of forty.

Congress passed the Career Incentive Act of 1957 (Public Law 85–155)

which provided more liberal promotions, greater retirement benefits, and an

increased age for appointment of nurses in the Regular Air Force Nurse Corps.

One of the most influential changes was the mandatory promotion of all qualified nurses and medical specialists to the grade of permanent major upon

completion of fourteen years of service. This was the most significant legislation affecting the Nurse Corps since its creation in 1949.

1958

June: In the Air Force Surgeon General’s office, “Chief Nurse” was deleted as

an adjunct to the Directorate of Professional Services and established as its

own department of nursing under the Directorate of Professional Services.

1959

April: Starting in April, a temporary shortage of nurse anesthetists arose

because of unexpected separations. Shortages in obstetrical and pediatric nursing also developed.

June: The Nurse Corps Chief attended the House Armed Services Committee

meetings on behalf of Air Force nurses regarding amendments to the Reserve

Officer Personnel Act. The desire was to bring promotion and retirement

opportunities for reserve nurses in line with the same opportunities offered to

Regular Air Force nurses.

19

Air Force Surgeon General Dan Ogle and his nursing staff, Washington, D.C., 1950s.
July 6: The Air Force Uniform Board approved a distinctive insignia and

badge for Air Force nurses. (See page 87 for illustrations.)

October 1: The School of Aviation Medicine, along with its medical training

courses, was organizationally transferred from the Air University to Air Training Command and was assigned to the new Aerospace Medical Center at

Brooks Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas. Instead of reuniting the entire

medical branch school at Gunter with its parent organization at Brooks, the Air

Force decided to return to Texas only that training which was related to the

practice of aerospace medicine: the flight nurse course, physiological training

for officers, and aeromedical specialist and technician instruction.

The Sixties

1960

Lt. Dolores (Dee) O’Hara, an Air Force nurse, served several months with

space pilots training for the first U.S. launch into outer space. In addition to

assisting the space pilots with their many physical examinations, O’Hara also

supervised the preparation and serving of their specially prescribed diet.

Called the Air Force Nurse for the Astronauts, O’Hara assisted Air Force

recruiting by describing her activities to more than 500 nursing officials. For

the next few of years, O’Hara was the only nurse working directly with the

astronauts.

January 4: The Gunter Branch, School of Aviation Medicine, established in

October 1950 and now a part of Air Training Command, became the Medical

Service School. The School of Aviation Medicine was assigned to the new

Aerospace Medical Center at Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, and

renamed the School of Aerospace Medicine. It focused on the medical effects

of flight while the Medical Service School at Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama, trained Air Force personnel in nursing and other nonflight aspects of medical care. In an effort to reflect the current austerity of all Air Force training,

school materials not directly job-related were deleted from the curricula.

1961

April: On the basis of the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s interpretation

of existing statutes, the Regular Air Force began commissioning men in its

Nurse Corps. However, Congress did not formally authorize DOD to commission male nurses until September 1966.

20
September 1961–December 1962: When male nurses were finally authorized

to apply for the Regular Air Force, thirty-two applied for regular commissions.

Because restrictions remained in effect on how many officers could serve at

one time in the Air Force Nurse Corps in the ranks of major and above, the

newest nurses were not promoted very quickly. This particularly affected male

nurses.

October: The Air Force announced its intention to shift the Aerospace Medical Center, composed of the School of Aviation Medicine and the USAF Hospital, Lackland, from the Air Training Command to Air Force Systems Command (formerly, Air Research and Development Command). The Medical Service School at Gunter, which was not actively involved in research, remained

under the jurisdiction of Air Training Command.

October: Flight nurses of the 1454th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron

(AES) at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, participated in the first use of jet aircraft for the aerovac of patients. Nurses accompanied twenty-four litter

patients, twenty-four ambulatory patients, and one Stryker-frame patient in a

C–135 Boeing Stratolifter. Less than ten hours after departing Germany, the

flight landed at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, the first nonstop transatlantic, jet aeromedical flight. The officer in charge of the medical crew was

Isabelle H. Rumianek. Two flight nurses, Lieutenants Delia F. Greer and Elwin

Robertson (the first Air Force male nurse) and three aeromedical technicians

assisted her.

1962

May 1: Air Force Surgeon General Oliver K. Niess accompanied the first nonstop C–141 jet aerovac flight in the Pacific flying from Yokota Air Base,

Japan, to Travis Air Force Base, California. Three flight nurses and four technicians usually constituted the medical crew.

September: In staff visits to Air Force medical facilities, the Chief of the

Nurse Corps and the Medical Specialist Corps noted minor discrepancies in

the wearing of medical uniforms. Because no single document gave full

instructions on wearing the various nursing uniforms, the Chief of the Nurse

Corps issued guidelines in the USAF Medical Service Digest.

1963

In the U.S. Congress, the Surgeon General of the Air Force proposed H.R.

1034 to clarify language authorizing the commissioning of male nurses as

Regular Air Force Nurse Corps officers. The language would change the present law and clarify this authority.

21
February 12: Col. Dorothy Zeller met with Army and Navy Nurse Corps

Chiefs and the education section of the National League for Nursing in New

York City to discuss significant trends in nursing education. Associate-degree

programs were on the increase, possibly limiting the sources for qualified Air

Force appointments. (Military services did not grant commissions to graduates

of associate-degree programs.)

February 27: Lt. Col. E. Ann Hoefly attended the Federal Nursing Council

meeting where Mrs. Appolena Adams, U.S. Public Health Service, presented

the Report of the Surgeon General’s Consultant Group on Nursing. The consultant group recommended that the nursing profession study the present system of education in relation to the responsibilities and skill levels required for

high-quality patient care. The study was initiated immediately with funds

obtained from private and public sources. The group recommended that the

federal government substantially expand and add to its present program of

support and assistance to nursing and nursing education.

April 4–6: The 20th Anniversary Celebration of Flight Nursing was held at

Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. Colonel Zeller attended. The speaker was the

first American military nurse to receive flight wings (in 1943), Lt. Geraldine

Dishroon, AAF, who was now Mrs. William Brier and the wife of an Air Force

colonel.

April: For the first time, nurses were asked to present at a scientific session of

the Association of Military Surgeons. Colonel Zeller attended and made a presentation on Air Force nursing. She recalled, “I remember that very well. I was

petrified—all those doctors sitting out there in the audience.”

April 12–15: Lt. Col. E. Ann Hoefly began looking for accredited programs

that would best meet the needs of Air Education and Commissioning Program

candidates. She conferred with Dr. Eleanor Lambertsen, Dean, Division of

Nursing Education, Columbia University; Dr. Martha E. Rogers, Chairman,

Department of Nurse Education, New York University; and Dr. Rena Boyle,

Director of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs, National League for

Nursing, Headquarters, New York City.

June 19: The first class of nine Air Force nurses graduated from the nursing

service administration course at the Medical Service School, Gunter Air Force

Base, Alabama.

June: A command nurse position was established at Air Force Logistics Command. This position was carried on the hospital staff, functioning as the command nurse for the Logistics Command. The first nurse to fill this position was

Lt. Col. Haralee Hodgson.

The Air Force nursing procurement objective was nearly met with 606 nurses assigned. In view of the changing trends in nursing education, an intensive

22
study was made of the three-year diploma program. As a result, the Surgeon

General modified the policy to accept students graduating from a National

League for Nursing–accredited school of nursing offering a three-year academic or a twenty-seven-month program.

July: The Flight Nurse Section of the Aerospace Medical Association was

established.

September 1: The 1086th Medical Service Squadron, 1070th Medical Service

Group at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, was established to provide liaison

between the Office of the Surgeon General and the new Air Force Military Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. In addition, the 1086th Medical Service Squadron was to implement procurement, selection, and staffing

and was to establish policies and physical standards for selection, retention,

and retirement.

1964

During the first half of 1964, the Air Force planned two specialized courses for

nurses. Now that five Air Force hospitals were using radioisotopes as a therapeutic tool, a course was needed to produce 10 to 12 nurses who could identify problems and who were knowledgeable in protective measures associated

with the use of radioisotopes.

The Air Force also recognized that “a need exists to prepare a sufficient

number of qualified Nurse Corps officers to supply nursing support in Bioastronautics. It is anticipated that two flight nurses could be trained in a 24-week

course once a year.”

The Air Force stated that Air Force nurses did not need a doctorate and that

no funding would be provided for doctoral studies. With nurse anesthetist

requirements being met, the Air Force planned to transfer fourteen nurse anesthetist training spaces to universities for fiscal years 1964, 1965, and 1966 and

to delete an additional ten spaces in fiscal years 1966, 1967, and 1968.

University of Maryland courses for Air Force nurses in advanced operating

room practices and advanced obstetrics were canceled after the final class that

began in February.

March: The Aerospace Medical Division, Air Force Systems Command,

began seriously to consider an aerospace nursing course on the basis of a proposal submitted in 1963 by Capt. Pearl E. Tucker, Patrick Air Force Base,

Florida.

Manned space flight operations transferred from Patrick Air Force Base to

Houston, Texas, where Lt. Dolores (Dee) O’Hara established the Flight Medicine Clinic. She conducted experiments, collected medical research data, and

worked closely with astronauts and their families.

23
May 13: The Flight Nurse Section of the Aerospace Medical Association held

its first official meeting and chose Lt. Col. Agnes Arrington, Chief of Nursing

Services, Andrews Air Force Base, to be its first elected chairman. The theme

of the meeting was “Nursing Problems in an Aerospace Age.” Shortly after the

flight nurse section was established, the Aerospace Medical Association

selected associate fellows from among its members.

1965

February 7: Vietcong rebels in South Vietnam attacked Pleiku Air Field, producing the first significant casualties in the Vietnam War. As the fighting

spread and intensified in Vietnam, and as the casualties rose, the Air Force

augmented the 9th AES, Clark Air Base, Philippines, with temporary duty personnel from local sources—four nurses, six aerovac technicians, and one Medical Service Corps officer. As the fiscal year drew to a close, the 9th AES badly

needed permanent personnel. Incidents like those at Pleiku produced a sharp

increase in the number of aerovac patients processed by the USAF Hospital,

Clark Air Base.

April: Clark Air Base increased its bed size from 200 to 250.

July: At Cape Kennedy, Florida, the Air Force inaugurated the aerospace nursing course, a one-year training program in flight medicine, occupational

health, and military public health.

August 17: Lt. Helen Glavinovich, an Air Force Nurse, was the first person to

receive the Unsung Heroine Award. Lieutenant Glavinovich was stationed at

Torrejon Air Base, Spain, and received the award from the Ladies Auxiliary of

the Veterans of Foreign Wars at its annual convention in Chicago, Illinois.

1966

Aerovac increased nearly fourfold due to intratheater and intertheater patient

moves required for servicepersons in Southeast Asia. Most noteworthy developments were concerned with the support of military operations in Vietnam.

Female nurses were again assigned to Osan, Korea, a position formerly filled

by male nurses.

Miss Lauretta M. Schimmoler received a citation from the U.S. Surgeon

General as the first honorary flight nurse. Although not a nurse herself, she was

the founder, in 1936, of the Aerial Nurses Corps of America, an organization

that foreshadowed the AAF flight nurse corps created during World War Two.

Female married nurses who had no dependents under the age of eighteen

and who would accept worldwide assignments became eligible for commissioning in the Air Force Nurse Corps.

24
January: Because of

the buildup for the

Vietnam War, a special

Selective Service draft

call for male nurses

was initiated. Although

the Air Force did not

participate in this draft,

it received an increased

number of applications

for male nurses. Requirements in Southeast Asia led to an

increased procurement

objective for Air Force

nurses from 769 to

970.

February: The first contingent of female nurses was assigned to duty in Vietnam. The first Air Force hospital to be established in Vietnam, the 12th USAF

Hospital, Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, received thirteen of them.

March 3: A separate Air Force Specialty Code for flight nurses was approved.

The new code, 9765, appeared in AFM 36–1, Officer Classification Manual,

of September 1966.

April: A permanent nurse advisory

committee was established in the

DOD. Its ten members included its

chairman, Shirley C. Fisk, M.D.,

Assistant Secretary of Defense; the

chiefs of each of the military nurse

corps; Comdr. Arlene Duerk, USN,

NC; and five nondepartmental

members.

April: A course in advanced obstetrics/gynecology nursing was established at Wilford Hall Hospital,

Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

June 4: The Medical Service

School, Gunter Air Force Base,

Alabama, relocated to Sheppard Air

Force Base, Texas. The relocation

25

An Air Force nurse in whites performs casualty triage at

Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, 1966.

Flight nurse checks patients aboard an

ambulance bus on their return from Vietnam

to the United States. Phillipines, 1969.
involved transferring most of the Air Force nurse training to Sheppard. The

school’s nursing branch, previously part of the Department of Clinical Medicine, now became the Department of Nursing.

June 28: The first two nurses graduated from the aerospace nurse course at

Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. The course developer, Maj. Pearl E. Tucker,

later received recognition as the first aerospace nurse.

September 30: Public Law 89–609

(legislative bill H.R. 420), signed by

the President, authorized appointment

of male nurses in the regular components of the military Nurses Corps.

October: Maj. Sarah E. Beard was

named Nurse of the Year by the Air

Force Association for her research on

accomplishing medically safe

extravehicular activities in space.

November 28-30: The first Nursing

Service Management Symposium

was conducted at the Medical Service

School, Sheppard Air Force Base,

Texas. Thirty attendees, in addition to

nurses assigned to nearby Air Force

bases, participated. Dr. Hildegarde

Peplau, nurse consultant to the Surgeon General, addressed the symposium.

1967

The Vietnam War continued to require considerable numbers of professional

personnel. In Southeast Asia, many positions formerly limited to males were

now filled by females. Female flight nurses were now assigned to in-country

aerovac operations. The first three were Captains Lorraine M. Klinghoffer,

Louise J. Nichols, and Joanne C. Meier. An urgent need for male flight nurses

in overseas areas required waiving the rule that trainees must be career officers

before entering the flight nurse course. Realignment of flight nurse slots was

effected to provide coverage to fighting units.

An increased number of nurses were assigned to the aerospace research and

development programs. One Nurse Corps officer was assigned to test aerovac

equipment; another was assigned to the Manned Orbital Laboratory project.

Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force

26

Two captains, residents in the Aerospace

Nursing Course, don fully-pressurized

suits for their high-altitude indoctrination.

School of Aviation Medicine, Brooks Air

Force Base, Texas, 1966.
Base, Ohio, created a new

nurse position to work on a

special anthropometric project to determine average

sizes for females in the Air

Force.

January 31: Lt. Col. Helen

Hennessey, the last survivor

of the Bataan March still on

active duty with the Air

Force, and a POW from

May 1942 through February 1945, retired at Keesler

Air Force Base, Mississippi, after twenty-six years of

service.

April: The Flight Nurse Exchange Program with Canada was initiated with

the first nurse, Capt. Catherine L. Farrar, selected to spend twelve months in

Trenton, Ontario, Canada, and twelve months in Comox, British Columbia. In

turn, the Canadian Forces Medical Service assigned one of their nurses to

Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, for a similar length of time. This was a first in

Air Force nursing history.

May 12: At the National League for Nursing convention in New York, Maj.

Pearl E. Tucker, the pioneer of aerospace nursing, presented a paper, “To an

Orbital Hospital.”

June 3: Lt. Col. Alice Bakutis was the first Air Force nurse to earn a PhD in

adult education at the University of Texas, Austin. She earned this degree

through off-duty education courses. Capt. Leland Bennett was the first Air

Force nurse approved under Operation Bootstrap to receive education at the

doctoral level. He enrolled at Boston University as a PhD candidate in nursing

education.

September: The first female flight nurses were assigned to in-country

aeromedical flights in Southeast Asia, formerly restricted to male flight nurses.

December 11: The Air Force Chief of Staff approved distinctive badges for

senior and chief flight nurses.

27

An Air Force nurse administers blood to patient at the

Cam Ranh Air Base Hospital, with Vietnamese nurse

at her side. Vietnam, 1968.
1968

January 15: The Air Force celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of flight

nursing in conjunction with the Operational Aeromedical Evacuation Symposium and the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Aerospace Medicine at

Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. Col. Ethel Kovach participated in the ceremonies.

Spring: Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air

Force Base, Ohio, created a new nurse position as a task scientist on a special

anthropometric study of Air Force women. The project surveyed 1,900 Air

Force women to facilitate the design of clothing and personal equipment.

May 5: The Aerospace Medical Association established the first Flight Nurse

of the Year award, which Douglas Aircraft Company sponsored. Maj. Virginia

M. Alena, the award’s first recipient, was cited for her work as task scientist

on a project to improve patient care during aerovac. (The award was later

renamed the Mary T. Klinker Award in honor of the Air Force nurse who lost

her life in the C–141 crash during Operation Babylift in Vietnam in 1975.)

June 30: The total number of nurses on flying status increased from 314 to

409.

August: The first of eight McDonnell Douglas C–9A aeromedical jets arrived

at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, for service in the 375th Aeromedical Airlift

Wing. By July 1970 the Air Force had purchased twenty-one C–9As for use

within the continental United States. Designed to carry nurses as part of its

standard crew, this jet aircraft reduced the need for aerovac squadrons from

four to one. Aerovac squadrons were replaced by detachments, and the number of nurses assigned to aerovac was reduced from 409 to 349. The C–9A

Nightingale was named for British nurse Florence Nightingale. Lt. Col. Mary

Ann Tonne, Chief Nurse, Military Airlift Command, selected the name. Mrs.

Elsie Ott Mandot, who flew the first strategic aerovac mission in 1943, christened the first C–9A.

1969

The Surgeon General’s office filled Southeast Asia requirements for male

flight nurses without resorting to involuntary second tours. The office filled

Southeast Asia requirements for females with volunteers. The total number of

nurses on active duty decreased from 4,178 to 3,889. To alleviate a shortage of

nurse anesthetists, ten additional slots per class was initiated at Wilford Hall

Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Also, eight nurse anesthetists

assigned to duties as aerovac flight nurses were returned to the practice of

anesthesia.

28
The Surgeon General’s office developed a pilot plan to train one nurse at

each base to perform cancer detection screening examinations for active duty

and dependent females throughout the Air Force. Too few physicians were

available to perform this function.

March 7: In Southeast Asia, Air Force flight nurses evacuated 711 patients, a

record high out of Vietnam, on twelve separate missions that day.

June: A exchange program for an Air Force flight nurse and a British Air

Force nurse for one year was finalized.

The Seventies

1970

June: American women were allowed to enter Reserve Officers’ Training

Corps (ROTC) programs in colleges and universities. Of the schools with

ROTC programs, sixty-five had schools of nursing, allowing future nurses to

acquire military training while still a student. Beginning in the early 1970s, the

temporary rank of first lieutenant was awarded to graduates of baccalaureatedegree nursing programs.

June 11: Col. Ethel Ann Hoefly was the first Air Force Nurse Corps chief promoted to the rank of brigadier general. She served as Corps chief from 1968

to 1974.

29

A Nurse Anesthetist group receiving an education update at

Randolph AFB, Texas, 1967.
August: Maj. Joseph H. Goff, who matriculated at Northwest University, Denton, Texas, in September 1970, was the first Air Force nurse to enter an Air

Force Institute of Technology doctoral program.

September: A pilot course for pediatric nurse practitioners (PNP) was initiated at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

November 13: Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Crouch, Deputy Surgeon General,

USAF, encouraged the Air Force Medical Service to begin using midwives. He

cited the nurse anesthetist program as an example of training nurses to perform

work previously done by doctors. The wider use of nurses compensated for the

current reduction in the number of Air Force physicians.

1971

Capt. Susan R. Struck, a registered Air Force nurse serving in Vietnam, was

the first female in the United States armed forces to win the right to remain on

active duty after becoming pregnant. Air Force regulations did not permit

women officers or enlisted women to give birth while on active duty, regardless of marital status. Captain Struck won her case after appealing to the U.S.

Supreme Court. A Roman Catholic, she refused to abort the fetus she was carrying and arranged for the baby’s adoption at birth. The Air Force abandoned

its policy of automatically discharging women for pregnancy.

David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, California, began a

pilot study of community health nursing, which in certain cases designated a

nurse to act as an Air Force patient’s advocate in finding supplemental community health care. By 1980 the program had expanded to six Air Force medical treatment facilities.

January: Air Training Command began a Pediatric Nurse Associate Program.

It required a one-week course at USAF Hospital Sheppard and fifteen weeks

training with a preceptor pediatrician at a base of assignment.

January 12: Lt. Col. Sarah P. Wells

presented the commencement address

to the first graduating class of the

medical technician (vocational nurse)

course at Sheppard Air Force Base,

Texas.

April: At the 42d annual meeting of

the Aerospace Medical Association

convention in Houston, Texas, Air

Force Reserve nurses learned they

30

Lt. Amy Parish plays with baby who has

tracheotomy while in a long-term care

unit of the Wilford Hall nursery.
would begin participating in an Air Force associate program. Reserve medical

personnel could now join Regular Air Force personnel in live, aerovac missions.

June 7: The Medical Service School, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, became

known as the USAF School of Health Care Sciences. The School’s Department of Nursing, in collaboration with the USAF Regional Hospital, Sheppard

Air Force Base, and the USAF Medical Center, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, provided the bulk of Air Force nursing service training.

November: The Air Force Chief of Staff approved the senior and chief nurse

badges.

1972

To continue to fill its Southeast Asia requirements, the Air Force Nurse Corps

found it had to resort to using many nonvolunteers who had never had a tour

in Southeast Asia.

February: The McDonnell Douglas aircraft company delivered the first of

four C–9As assigned to the Pacific Air Forces.

March 15: The C–9 Nightingale flew its first operational mission into Southeast Asia, landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. The C–9 had

already been used for aerovac for three and a half years within the United

States. It replaced the larger C–141 Starlifter in transferring patients within the

Pacific Air Forces area. The aerovac crew on this first Pacific flight included

Capt. Patricia Kennedy, a nurse, and three medical technicians.

April 24: Authority was granted to recruit nurse graduates of associate-degree,

diploma, and baccalaureate-degree nursing programs that had been accredited

or were provisionally accredited by the National Professional Nursing Agency

and recognized by the National Commission on Accrediting as acceptable to

the Surgeon General of the United States Air Force.

May: The Air Force received the first of four C–9As to be operated by U.S.

Air Forces in Europe.

June: The Air Force Uniform Board approved distinctive insignia for senior

nurses and chief nurses.

July: The first three associate-degree nursing graduates were commissioned as

second lieutenants in the Air Force. Forty other associate-degree graduates

were on active duty with the Air Force Nurse Corps.

31
September 1: The Air Force Nurse Corps no longer accepted applicants who

had graduated from nonaccredited schools of nursing.

Fall: The Air Staff approved a student nurse financial assistance program to

assist Nurse Corps recruiting. Assistance would be provided to students in

their final two years of a baccalaureate-degree nursing program. The program

was designed to produce 200 first lieutenant nurses per year.

1973

Using Air Force nurses, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

completed a series of tests designed with the idea of putting women in space

shuttle flights.

Married Air Force nurses were finding it easier to be stationed with their

spouses as a result of increased specialization within the Nurse Corps.

The Air Force accepted its first female medical technician.

February 12–April 1: Flight nurses flew on several Operation Homecoming

missions repatriating 591 American POWs from North Vietnam, South Vietnam, China, and Laos. Most POWs were flown in a C–141 (the “Hanoi Taxi”)

from Gia Lam air base in Hanoi to Clark Air Base, Philippines, for a debriefing and initial medical evaluation before their final return to the United States.

March: The Air Force Nurse-Midwife Residency Program was established as

a nine-month course. The first class of six nurses began training at Malcolm

Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

June: The Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force approved the implementation of the nursing prototype study designed to examine, evaluate, and redefine the roles of the various types of nursing service personnel. The study comprised an experimental unit, in which planned changes and nursing roles would

occur, and a control unit, in which no role changes occurred.

June–July: Nursing service personnel were involved in implementating the

physician extender program. Nurse practitioners cross-trained as C–130,

C–141, and C–9 medical crew members.

Flight nurses assigned to the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Group, Pope Air

Force Base, North Carolina, supported the African Disaster Relief Operation

in Mali. Reserve encampments of the Eastern Region provided staff assistance

visits to Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units and participated in the

annual field training exercises at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

November: Certification procedures were initiated to qualify nurses as obstetrics/gynecology practitioners and PNPs.

32
The first nurse-midwives to be graduated

from a military training program completed

their residency studies at Malcolm Grow

Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base,

Maryland. Their certifying examinations

were through the American College of

Nurse-Midwives.

1974

Nursing roles were expanded to include

obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, primary

care nurse practitioners (PCNPs), nursemidwives, environmental health nurses,

community health, and educational coordinators.

February 4: Air Force obstetrics/gynecology and PNP courses were established at the

School of Health Care Sciences. Six students

entered the four-month obstetrics/gynecology nurse practitioner course and ten students entered the four-month PNP

course.

April: The role of PCNPs progressed from being merely screening nurses to

being providers of care. By the end of fiscal year 1974, sixteen nurses were

functioning as PCNPs. An Air Force PCNP program was established with

twelve Air Force nurses enrolled in a six-month course at the University of

Arizona with a follow-on clinical practicum. Comparable educational experiences were being developed at the School of Health Care Sciences so that an

in-house capability for training PCNPs would be realized during fiscal year

1975.

October: The Air National Guard Nurses Association was established.

1975

For the first time in the Air Force Nurse Corps, a reserve nurse was assigned

as a mobilization augmentee to the Office of the Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps.

Col. Marion E. McKenna, BSN, MEd, EdD, Dean, School of Nursing, University of Kentucky, was selected for this position.

April–August: Nurses of the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation Group, Clark Air

Base, Philippines, were active in three rescue operations—Babylift, Frequent

Wind, and New Life—in response to the rapid deterioration of the South Viet33

Capt. Flo Chesnick, a nurse with

the 2d Aeromedical Evacuation

Squadron, fires an M–60 machine

gun during the Fourth Annual

Staff Soldiers Cup, a survival test

hosted by the 7th Special Operations Squadron, 1977.
namese government. Babylift evacuated about 2,000 South Vietnamese

orphans; Frequent Wind and New Life evacuated South Vietnamese refugees.

A similar orphan rescue operation, Eagle Pull, was organized in April in Cambodia, and in May the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation Group assisted in rescuing

the crew of the USS Mayaquez, captured by Cambodian forces.

April 4: A C–5A Galaxy carrying

about 250 Vietnamese orphans as part

of Operation Babylift crashed at Ton

Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon, South

Vietnam. Soon after takeoff, the C–5A

experienced a rapid decompression

and crashed short of the runway,

killing many orphans and two medical

crewmembers. Capt. Mary T. Klinker

and SSgt. Michael Paget were the first

two medical crewmembers in the history of the 10th AES to be killed in the

line of duty. The Mary T. Klinker

award (formerly the Flight Nurse of

the Year award) was named in her

honor. She was the last military nurse

to die in Vietnam. A survivor, Capt.

Regina Aune, a flight nurse, was

awarded the Cheney Award for her

valor during this mission. Operation

Babylift ended on May 6.

34

Flight nurses and medical technicians involved in Operation Babylift,

spring 1975.

Col. Regina Aune. While a lieutenant

flight nurse in Operation Babylift, 1975,

she became the first woman to receive

the Cheney Award.
October: A change to AFM 36–1, Officer Classification Manual, was submitted. This change eliminated Air Force Specialty Code 9766A, aerospace nurse,

and established in its place 9786, environmental health nurse.

1976

January: At a meeting of command nurses and other nursing personnel held

at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, the following goals for the next five

years for the Air Force Nurse Corps were presented and accepted:

1. Upgrade educational requirements subsequent to appointment in

the Nurse Corps

2. Provide opportunity for professional growth and development

3. Improve utilization of professional skills

4. Stress the team concept within the Air Force Medical Service

5. Promote improved utilization of nursing personnel of the Air

Force Reserve and the Air National Guard

This constituted an effort to continue to provide the ultimate in health care to

all members of the Air Force community:

March 23: The 100th flight nurse class graduated.

December: The U.S. Air Force continued to educate many individuals in

nurse practitioner roles. In December 1976, 330 nurses were functioning as

practitioners in primary care, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics.

1977

The leadership of the Air Force Nurse Corps decided to work toward creating

an all-college-educated Nurse Corps. To begin this campaign, the Air Force

created a four-year program to pay $3.8 million for 159 nursing baccalaureates

and $847,000 for 31 nursing graduate school degrees.

March 15–18: The Air Force Nurse Corps career development board met at

Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and made the following recommendations:

1. Institute an internship program for initial active duty nurses

2. Devise staffing patterns to increase the utilization of nursing

personnel, especially critical specialists, to improve patient care

3. Promote problem-oriented charting as a better way to document

nursing care given

March 27–30: When a Boeing 747 aircraft crashed at Tenerife in the Canary

Islands, the 69th AES from McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, volunteered

a medical crew within three hours to evacuate survivors. Air Force nurses

35
accompanied survivors of the crash on a C–130 to Las Palmas in the Canary

Islands and then continued on a C–141 to the continental United States.

October: At all of its medical centers, the Air Force Medical Service began an

internship program for initial-term, active duty nurses. The internship consisted of twenty weeks of instruction for new Air Force nurses under the guidance

of experienced clinical nurse preceptors. More than 90 percent of new Air

Force nurses were recent graduates of basic nursing programs and, in the past,

had often had difficulty adjusting to military nursing routines.

November: Along with nineteen other representatives from the American

Nurses Association, Brig. Gen. Claire Garrecht, Chief of the Air Force Nurse

Corps, spent eighteen days touring Chinese hospitals, schools, factories, museums, and farms. She later contributed to the article “Medicine Behind the

Great Wall” which appeared in the September–October 1978 issue of USAF

Medical Service Digest.

1978

The Air Force planned to increase the proportion of its female medical specialists from 25 percent to 30 percent of the total enlisted medical specialists.

Because the number of women in the Air Force had increased so significantly,

female medical specialists were needed to perform both chaperone and medical duties.

At David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, California, the relative shortage of physicians and a large retired military population resulted in

an expanded role for medical center oncology nurses. Their role in patient education, medical care, and coordination of associated clinical research with the

outpatient clinic gradually increased.

February: All Ready Reserve nurses not actively engaged in their profession

as civilians had to meet certain professional proficiency and participation standards to remain in the program.

June: By the end of June, the internship program for initial active duty nurses had been implemented at four more Air Force medical centers.

October: At Sheppard Air Force Base, a 1,000-bed dormitory was dedicated

in memory of Col. Rosemary Hogan, one of the original Air Force Nurse

Corps members and a POW in the Philippines during World War Two.

November 19–21: After the Jonestown massacre in Guyana, reserve flight

nurses from the 315th AES at Charleston, South Carolina, moved nine survivors of the Port Kaituma airstrip ambush from Georgetown, Guyana, to Mal36
colm Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. In that

ambush, Congressman Leo J. Ryan of California and others from his party

were killed or injured.

1979

May: The Career Development Board approved a program to place a senior

medical technician superintendent in the office of each command nurse in the

major commands. A 902XX consultant had been assigned to the U.S. Air

Forces in Europe, command nurse since 1977, but other commands had only

obtained such expertise through additional-duty assignments. Consultants

were usually concerned with emergency medical technician training, medical

readiness training, and the independent-duty technician program.

August: The Air Force decided to accept baccalaureate graduates into the Air

Force Nurse Corps after they had taken their state board exams, even though

they may not have received their results. After a two-year test, the program

would be reevaluated.

October: The Fraternity of Air National Guard Nurses met in October 1979 in

San Diego, California, and changed its name to the Association of Air National Guard Nurses. At the time, its membership consisted of 196 of the 402 Air

National Guard nurses. In addition to concerns about standards and evaluation,

training, recruiting, goals for the 1980s, career development, and communications, the association continued its efforts to obtain a nurse position in the

National Guard Bureau.

November 26–30: The first Medical Red Flag exercise, designed to train medical personnel in battlefield medicine, occurred at Keesler Air Force Base,

Mississippi. Medical Red Flag exercises combined classroom instruction and

hands-on field medicine. Air Force nurses were active participants in many

Medical Red Flag exercises.

The Eighties

1980

The Air Force continued to make progress toward its goal of a college-educated Nurse Corps. In 1980, 67 percent of nurse officers held, minimally, a bachelor’s degree, compared with 41 percent who were college-educated in 1978.

April: 2d AES flight nurses evacuated five servicemen injured during the

April 25 aborted hostage rescue attempt at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran.

37
June: Air National Guard nurses from the 156th Tactical Clinic, Puerto Rico

Air National Guard, volunteered to provide nursing support to the Cuban

Refugee Program at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. They diverted from Homestead Air Force, Florida, to Eglin for their annual tour.

1981

January 20: Flight nurses of the 2d AES evacuated the fifty-two American

hostages released by Iran after 444 days of captivity. The hostages were flown

to Wiesbaden USAF Medical Center, Germany, where they received an interim medical evaluation before returning to the United States.

March 10–13: For the first time, consultants to command nurses with Air

Force skill code 902XX (medical service technician) attended the Air Force

Nurse Corps career development board at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

The 902XX consultants attended many general sessions, and they received

special briefings and discussion periods conducted specifically for them.

July 1: A new position—Air National Guard Advisor to the Chief, Air Force

Nurse Corps—was added to the Air Force Surgeon General’s office. The first

incumbent was Lt. Col. A. Marlene Ausen. The Air National Guard authorization included 533 nurses, and 453 were assigned in July.

October 21–22: The Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps, Brig. Gen. Sarah P. Wells,

participated in a two-day meeting sponsored by DOD to develop civilian volunteer programs intended to reduce a predicted nurse shortage in the event of

mobilization. A tour of Medical Red Flag V facilities at Andrews Air Force

Base, Maryland, helped increase the conferees awareness of medical requirements for wartime.

November: A new position—902XX, consultant to the Chief, Air Force Nurse

Corps—was added to the Air Force Surgeon General’s office. Its first incumbent was CMSgt. Garland W. Love.

November 4–7: Medical Red Flag 4N, a combat training course for nurses,

concluded at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

The program provided a simulated look at combat casualties and field conditions for more than 450 Air Force nurses.

1982

The School of Aerospace Medicine established an advanced development program in chemical warfare defense. Its manager, Lt. Col. Donna L. Gaughan,

NC, supervised a casualty transportation study; a systems analysis of the four

38
echelons of care; the development of a single patient, gas-operated portable

ventilator; development of a vital signs monitor; and a design study of a twoway expandable hardwall shelter.

January 13: After a DC–10 crashed at Malaga, Spain, nurses from the 375th

Aeromedical Airlift Wing, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, assisted with the

evacuation of sixty-six patients and family members directly from Malaga to

McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, on a C–141.

December: The Nurse Corps began to require a minimum of a Bachelor of

Science in Nursing (BSN) for all new Air Force nurses. The only exception

was for career fields deemed critical, such as anesthesia.

1983

Significant staffing increases occurred in the Nurse Corps of the air reserve

forces (the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve) in keeping with the

Total Force Policy. As of December 31, 1983, 1,547 Nurse Corps members

were assigned to the Air Force Reserve and 511, to the Air National Guard. In

addition, greater numbers of reserve nurses were involved in professional

medical education by correspondence.

The School of Aerospace Medicine established a course in battlefield nursing as part of the Air Force Medical Service’s readiness training initiative. In

the first year, 258 nurses attended.

39

Air Force medical personnel assist simulated casualties during a mass casualty evacuation drill at Kadena Air Force Base, Japan. December 1982.
May: The Surgeon General of the Air Force proclaimed each May as Air Force

consumer health education month. More nurses began to move into positions

as health education officers, eventually counting for 90 percent of all Air Force

health education coordinators.

June: Lt. Col. A. Mariene Ausen attended the National League for Nursing

meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the most attendees voted the

BSN as the entry level for the practice of professional nursing.

The Chief Nurse Residency Program was established for any chief nurse

who had no prior administrative experience. Six chief nurses completed their

residencies at various Air Force hospitals.

June 8-15: Medical Red Flag VII, the final formal Medical Red Flag combat

training exercise, was held at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. The seven Medical Red Flags exposed more than 4,000 Air Force medical personnel, including nurses, to combat training.

October 23–December 9: After the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, 2d AES flight nurses and nursing technicians helped

airlift a total of seventy-eight injured Marines to Wiesbaden USAF Hospital

and two Army general hospitals in Germany.

October 25–November 19: In Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, flight nurses and aerovac technicians from the 1st AES, Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, along with reserve flight nurses from the 37th Aeromedical Evacuation

Group, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and the 31st AES, Charleston Air

Force Base, South Carolina, evacuated 159 injured solders to Puerto Rico and

the United States in twenty-three missions.

1984

Nurse accessions did not meet the recruiting goal. Lt. Gen. Max B. Bralliar,

the Air Force Surgeon General, approved a plan to increase Nurse Corps

accessions at the expense of other corps in fiscal year 1984. The major commands were encouraged to continue using Air National Guard and Air Force

Reserve nurses, contractors, and civilian overhires to counter the nursing

shortage. Nurse anesthetists were at critical manning levels. The BSN requirement for entry into the Air Force was again waived for nurse anesthetists in

hopes of increasing accessions.

June 12–14: Col. Beverly S. Lindsey, Nurse Corps, attended the Air Force

Reserve objective plan council. She was the first nurse and first female to be

represented on this council.

40
October 25: Lt. Gen. Max Bralliar approved the use of the Army and Navy

workload management system for Air Force nursing. The tool introduced

“acuity of nursing care” into the manpower management process in hopes of

specifically validating Air Force nurses employed in each nursing specialty.

Mid-1980s

The first Air Force Nursing Research Program was developed at Wilford Hall

Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, when two doctorate nurse

researchers were assigned there. The program quickly became tri-service, with

joint annual nursing research conferences held in San Antonio, Texas.

1985

July 1: Col. Beverly S. Lindsey was selected for brigadier general, the first

nurse general officer selected from any of the the military reserve forces. In

April 1984, she had been the first reserve nurse mobilization assistant to the

Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps.

1986

Medical readiness and executive management nursing fellowships were implemented in fiscal year 1987.

March: Lt. Col. Irene Trowell-Harris was appointed commander of the 105th

USAF Clinic, Newburgh, New York. She became the first nurse in Air National Guard history to command a medical clinic. Later she was promoted to

major general rank and served on active duty as the Air National Guard advisor to the Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps and as the Air National Guard

assistant to the Director of Medical Readiness and Nursing Services in the

Office of the Air Force Surgeon General.

August: The Air Force Nurse Corps was included in the group of senior officers eligible for assignment as hospital commanders.

November 1: Air National Guard nurses celebrated their thirtieth anniversary.

Col. Norma Parsons Erb (retired), the first nurse commissioned in that organization, was the guest of honor. Colonel Erb had previously been commissioned

in the Army Air Corps and Air Force Nurse Corps prior to her National Guard

commissioning.

41
1987

March: DOD sponsored a National Nursing Executive Conference to address

the national nursing shortage and the wartime nursing shortage. As a result,

DOD published objectives intended to decrease nursing shortfalls and proposed recruiting incentives, such as a loan repayment program and increasing

the age limit for reserve duty.

July: A master’s program in nursing for nurse anesthetists was approved by

the Air Force Surgeon General. The first class at the San Antonio School of

Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center, enrolled in the fall of

1989.

November 3: The Surgeon General approved a plan to consolidate all environmental health functions into the Biomedical Sciences Corps (BSC).

1988

The three military Nurse Corps, the Public Health Service, and the Uniformed

Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) began exploring the possibility of a Uniformed Services School of Nursing.

Maj. Carl L. Anderson won the competition for an Air Force Nurse Corps

song. The song was the unofficial Nurse Corps song written about nursing services, a morale builder for nurses and medical technicians alike.

42

Medics from the 2d Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron treat

wounded Afghan freedom fighters who are being transported

aboard a C–141B Starlifter aircraft from Pakistan to the United

States for treatment. Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, December

1986.
February 1: Environmental health was eliminated as a Nurse Corps specialty.

Future environmental health personnel were to be accessed through the Biomedical Sciences Corps.

April 1: The School of Health Care Sciences, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas,

which directed all nursing services training in the Air Force, was redesignated

the 3790th Medical Services Training Wing.

July: Col. Gloria Hernandez became the first active duty nurse to be assigned

as the commander of an aerovac unit, the 9th AES, Clark Air Base, Philippines.

July 6: Brig. Gen. Carmelita Schimmenti presented the first donation to the

Air Force Sergeants Association’s Medical Service Technician Scholarship

Fund. The fund encouraged enlisted personnel to pursue a career in professional nursing.

September: The Air Force Nurse Corps established an affiliation with

Georgetown University’s master’s program in nurse-midwifery. Clinical training was received at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base,

Maryland.

1989

January: Col. Clara B. Wallace, Nurse Education Branch, Air Force Personnel Center, was appointed to the American Nurses Association Board of

Accreditation for a two-year term. Her position assured Air Force input in

national education and accreditation policies.

43

A flight nurse and medical technician assigned to the 2d

Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron apply medication to a U.S.

Navy sailor injured in the Persian Gulf in April 1988.
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal years 1990 and 1991 created special pay for nurses. In each twelve-month period, a $5,000 accession

bonus with a four-year obligation to serve was available for nurses. An incentive specialty pay of $6,000 was available for certified registered nurse anesthetists.

March 16: Army, Navy, and Air

Force Nurse Corps chiefs,

including Brig. Gen. Barbara A.

Goodwin, USAF, testified

before the Senate Committee on

Appropriations, specifically

addressing the nursing shortage

and special pay issues. This

marked the first occasion that

military Nurse Corps chiefs

were invited to present testimony in the Senate.

June: The House of Delegates

of the American Nurses Association approved a courtesy seat on that professional body for a representative of

the Federal Nursing Service Council.

September: The San Antonio School of Nursing, University of Texas Health

Science Center, began its first class leading to a master’s degree for nurse

anesthetists.

September 21: The Air Force Surgeon General was briefed on the second Air

Force medical management engineering team study, which examined the

Nurse Corps grade structure. As a result, the Air Staff approved increasing

Nurse Corps field grade requirements by 16 colonels, 82 lieutenant colonels,

and 296 majors.

October 17: When a major earthquake hit San Francisco, California, Air Force

nurses from local bases, including reservists and guardsmen, triaged many

civilian casualties.

December 4: An interim progress report on the Uniformed Services School of

Nursing was presented to the Federal Nursing Chiefs. The task force evaluated various options for types and levels of programs, curricula, and payback

requirements.

December 20: Operation Just Cause in Panama began. Reserve, active duty,

and National Guard nurses participated in aerovacs from Panama to Wilford

Hall Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center.

44

Nurse anesthetists at work in the operating

room.
The Nineties

1990

March 29–30: The associate-degree nurse initiative was underway as a possible answer to the nursing shortage. Phase 1 included soliciting medical technicians who would be prepared as associate-degree nurses to work one year in

hospitals at MacDill Air Force Base and Homestead Air Force Base, both in

Florida, and to evaluate and refine the methodology and clinical roles of associate-degree nurses in the Air Force. Phase 2 was the actual training of medical technicians at the associate-degree nurse level. The Nurse Corps would

also consider non-BSN nurse accessions if recruiting fell below 15 percent of

accession goals, with the understanding that non-BSN nurses would work as

technical nurses within a limited scope of practice.

April 27: Col. Judith Hunt became the first nurse to be a medical treatment

facility commander of the clinic at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. This

was the first time in the forty-three-year history of the Nurse Corps that a nurse

was a commander of a fixed medical treatment facility. (Previously, nurses

were commanders of aerovac facilities and units.)

July 11: Lt. Col. Darlene Grubor, head of the Medical Wartime Hospital Integration Office, met with the tri-service nursing group to discuss the development of a training package for Deployable Medical Systems. Training already

included basic tasks like erecting tents and triage. The nursing group proposed

that the package further include tasks to manage casualties in austere environments, for instance, cardiopulmonary technical assistance, infection control,

calculation of intravenous injections, setting up infusions without mechanical

infusion pumps, preparing casualties for aerovac, and managing medications

without the unit dose system.

August 9: The build-up of Air

Force medical deployment for

Operation Desert Shield, in

response to the Iraqi invasion of

Kuwait, began. This deployment

was to be the largest since the

Vietnam War. Nurses were deployed to four contingency hospitals in Europe and one in the Middle East.

45

Capt. Brenda Jones, a nurse with the 833d

Medical Group, checks a patient at an Air

Force field hospital during Operation Desert

Shield, 1990.
Fall: Initiation of the Stop Loss program, in which separations, discharges,

and retirements of nurses during Operation Desert Shield and Operation

Desert Storm were frozen, became necessary.

November 5–6: The civilian nursing consultant of the Air Force recommended replacing the Air Force certification of nurse practitioners with a national

certification.

1991

A new comprehensive clinical career ladder gave Air Force nurses a choice of

either maintaining a clinical career track or adopting an administrative career

track.

The PNP program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, closed, and the Air

Force Institute of Technology began to sponsor the program.

For the first time in the history of military nursing, Congress designated $1

million for “military nurses to conduct clinical nursing research.”

January 11: A new position—Air National Guard Advisor to the Chief, Air

Force Nurse Corps—was added to the Surgeon General’s office. The first advisor was Col. Roberta Mills.

January 15: Lt. Col. Joellen de Berg became the first nurse to serve as Congressional Nurse Fellow in Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s (D–HI) office.

April: After Operation Desert Storm, the Stop Loss program terminated for

active duty nurses. The program had affected a total of eighty nurses. In September 1991 the program terminated for reservists as well.

June: Ten enlisted candidates were

selected for the associate degree in

nursing program.

Summer and Fall: Air Force nurses in Europe deployed to the air

transportable hospital in Silopi,

Turkey, in support of Operation

Provide Comfort during the summer and fall of 1991.

September 17–18: The joint Graduate Nursing Program in Anesthesia, a collaborative effort between

the Air Force and the University of

46

Lt. Larry Franklin, center, a nurse with the

146th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron,

California Air National Guard, takes steps to

prevent an injured Iraqi prisoner of war from

going into shock as medical technicians

observe during Operation Desert Storm,

1991.
Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, was awarded full accreditation

for four years by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Education

Programs.

1992

Col. Gloria K. Lamoureux was assigned as hospital commander at Loring Air

Force Base, Maine. She was the first nurse officer to serve as a hospital commander.

The Air Force’s associate-degree nursing program was changed in several

ways that offered increased opportunities to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a commission.

The Air Force Nurse Corps participated in the Tri-Service Corporate Information Management initiative, a business improvement project for nursing

sponsored by the DOD Health Affairs office.

Nurse Corps fellowships for managed care and medical manpower were

initiated at Air Staff level.

April 22: Col. Roberta V. Mills, NC, was promoted to the rank of brigadier

general, becoming the first female in the Air National Guard to attain the rank

of general officer (the Air National Guard Assistant for Nursing to the Chief of

the Air Force Nurse Corps).

May 13: Ten medical technicians graduated from Lewis-Clark State College,

Lewiston, Indiana, with associate degrees in nursing.

July 22: The nursing career path review, which had been initiated in April, was

briefed to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Career paths were developed for

all nursing personnel, both officer and enlisted, and all education, training, and

manpower requirements were formally reviewed.

October: Two fellowships, managed care and medical manpower, were established for the Nurse Corps in fiscal year 1993.

November: The celebration at Brooks Air Force Base, “Fifty Years of Flight

Nursing,” marked the 75th anniversary of both the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and Brooks Air Force Base. Among the 6,000 attendees were

flight nurses from seven nations.

November 13: Air Mobility Command dedicated the aeromedical annex of

the Edward H. White II Museum, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. The annex

displayed many artifacts from the history of flight nursing.

47
November: Congress approved $1 million to plan and implement the master’s

nurse practitioner program at USUHS, Bethesda, Maryland. Air Force nurses

and Public Health Service nurses joined USUHS to develop the graduate nurse

practitioner program.

1993

USUHS, Bethesda, Maryland, created its Graduate School of Nursing in

response to the increase in advanced-practice nurses in the Air Force and other

Services.

January: David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, California, began its inhouse master’s program in medical and surgical nursing in conjunction with

California State University, Sacramento.

February: David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, California, expanded its

test of a nursing automation system. The system’s modules supported patient

care documentation, workload management, quality assurance, staffing, and

scheduling.

July: The Medical Service’s conversion to the Objective Medical Group

(OMG) structure had a major impact on Air Force nursing, opening more

avenues for career advancement and leadership for nurses. OMG reorganized

Air Force medical units with the following four goals in mind:

Align medical units to the Line of the Air Force’s objective wing

Create a squadron structure that was more similar to that of the

Line

Provide a clearer chain-of-command

Identify and developing leaders

Although the OMG reorganization caused several problems, it successfully

met its original objectives.

October: Air Force nurses from the 49th Fighter Wing Hospital, RAF, Lakenheath, United Kingdom, deployed to Camp Pleso, Croatia, to support NATO

peacekeeper troops deployed in the Bosnian theater.

Brig. Gen. Sue Turner, Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps, sought and

received an increase in the incentive pay for certified registered nurse anesthetists. The incentive pay increased from $6,000 to $15,000 while the accession pay remained at $5,000. This program was extended through fiscal year

1996.

Nurse Corps job titles were standardized and renamed to more accurately

reflect responsibilities under the new OMG. The new titles, similar to those

used by the Line of the Air Force, assisted Nurse Corps officers being considered by promotion and selection boards.

48
The Air Force Nurse Transition Program went into effect in response to

concern over the national nursing shortage. This program was a two-and-onehalf-month course to assist new active duty nurses’ transition into military

nursing. It allowed the Air Force to double the number of new, inexperienced

nurses accessed by decreasing the current training time from five to two and

one half months, and to save costs associated with Permanent Change of Station moves. Under this program, most newly accessioned nurses remained at

one of the six major medical centers where they had trained, decreasing the

likelihood they would have to move upon completion of their training. This

program replaced the Nurse Internship Program.

Nurses began to manage Air Force clinics with physician oversight. Nursemanaged clinics freed doctors to provide more intensive or specialized care.

The Graduate School of Nursing Honor Society was formally established to

recognize academic excellence of students and the community contributions of

nurse leaders.

October 1: TRICARE, a managed care approach to control medical costs

while maintaining high-quality service, was formalized and put into effect by

the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs). The fifty

states were divided into twelve regions with a military medical center serving

as the lead agent for all DOD medical treatment facilities in that region. Air

Force nursing began to gain an expanded role under TRICARE. Nurses

became involved with managed care, utilization management, case management, discharge planning, and health promotion. TRICARE expanded the use

of advanced nurse practitioners through cost containment and assisting physi49

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Maj. Judy Young, Nurse, 2d Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, assists a Norwegian UN medic

administer an IV. On Saturday, February 5, 1994, an

exploding mortar round hit the Markale market killing

more than 63 people and wounding 206 others. Requested

by the UN, aircraft from Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany,

and the Red Cross were sent in to Sarajevo to airlift the

wounded to Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
cians. Advanced nurse practitioners were involved with patient teaching, primary care, and referrals.

Fall: Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D–HI), through an act of Congress, called for

a demonstration program to prepare family nurse practitioners for the uniformed services.

1994

Col. Mary Post, NC, served as the chief of managed health care programs in

the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General. She supervised the latest Air

Force initiatives in a new field known as utilization management.

March 23: Air Force nurses treated and transported victims of a military aviation crash at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. An F–15 crashed and skidded into a C–141 while 200 Army paratroopers were boarding, necessitating

that more than twenty severely burned victims be taken to Fort Sam Houston,

Texas, for burn treatment.

May: Air Force personnel of the 59th Medical Wing, Lackland Air Force

Base, Texas, and the 81st Medical Group, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, initiated a pilot project to develop a Critical Care Air Transport Team

(CCATT) which would include a flight nurse and medical technicians trained

in critical care. Their goal was to enable the Air Force to perform aerovacs of

critically ill patients over long distances with substantial amounts of life support equipment.

50

Capt. Holy A. Matkewicz, Nurse, 2d Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Ramstein

Air Base, Germany, places ID tags on all

patients aboard the aircraft.
1995

The Office of the Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps distributed two surveys to the

field, the first to Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard

chief nurses and senior enlisted members, and the second to chief nurse executives and operating room nurse supervisors. Results indicated that the field

wanted increased career potential for nurses, mentorship, educational training,

equity, and increased management training for middle managers.

The Air Force developed a separate Air Force specialty code for family

nurse practitioners. Family nurse practitioners had a broader scope of practice

than did primary care/adult health nurse practitioners; their responsibilities

extended to all age groups.

April 14: Brig. Gen. Sue Turner provided congressional testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. This requirement for the Air

Force Nurse Corps Chief to testify was due to the work of Senator Daniel K.

Inouye (D–HI), a strong and active supporter of military nursing.

April 24-27: The Air Force Professional Executive Symposium, traditionally

a meeting of nurses, invited Major Command medical service managers and

other officer specialties to attend.

May: Requests went out to all major commands to develop a list of nursing

initiatives. More than seventy initiatives were collected, which resulted in millions of dollars worth of savings in the medical treatment facilities. Brig. Gen.

Linda J. Stierle used the data in her congressional testimony to illustrate how

the Nurse Corps was cost-effective for the Air Force Medical Service.

May 1: Brig. Gen. Linda J. Stierle became the first dual-hatted Air Force

Nurse Corps Chief as Director of Nursing Services and Director of Medical

Readiness Plans and Programs, both in the Office of the Surgeon General.

Education with Industry fellowships were initiated for three nurse corps

officers. The nurses worked in two health maintenance organizations and the

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

November: The first Nurse Corps strategic planning conference initiated a

Nurse Corps strategic plan. Fifty active duty and reserve nurses, both officers

and enlisted, conferred to develop six long-range goals:

1. Develop and Support Strong Leaders

2. Champion Customer Driven Nursing Practice

3. Be a Full Partner in Building Healthy Communities

4. Champion an Integrated Ready Force

5. Effectively Use Our Resources

6. Foster the Appropriate Employment of Technology

51
1996

Advanced practice nurses with current licenses and national certifications

were awarded “regular” privileges and appointed to the medical staff.

Col. Aleda J. Ahlgren, Chief Nurse Executive of the Air Force Academy,

Colorado, championed a package that allowed Air Force Academy cadets to

attend a bachelor’s or master’s program in nursing at Vanderbilt University,

Nashville, Tennessee, after graduating from the Academy. Upon completion of

the program, graduates were to enter the Nurse Corps. Implementation was

projected for fiscal year 1997.

The Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia Program at the USUHS was

underway. Nurses received academic training at USUHS with a clinical phase

at a military treatment facility.

February: The Graduate School of Nursing at USUHS was given official

approval and recognized as a Graduate School of Nursing by the Office of

Health Affairs in the DOD.

June: The first class of ten family nurse practitioners graduated from USUHS.

June: The Air Force successfully concluded its CCATT pilot project with the

decision to incorporate CCATT units into the aeromedical system in fiscal year

1998.

August–September: Nurses who were health care providers, had a master’s

degree in a nursing clinical specialty, and were board-certified in their specialty became eligible for board certification pay.

November 10–15: The Total Nursing Force (TNF) Strategic Plan was formally deployed during the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States

conference. Brig. Gen. Linda J. Stierle provided opening remarks. Members

from each “goal and breakthrough area” discussed their objectives and

progress. Brig. Gen. Irene Trowell-Harris from the Air National Guard and

Brig. Gen. Sharon Mailey from the Air Force Reserve shared their visions and

expectations.

1997

The Tri-Service Nursing Research Program increased the dissemination of

research findings by chief nurse researchers. In 1997 more than thirty Air

Force nurses presented fifteen research posters at national conferences, presented three papers at research conferences, and submitted five manuscripts

for publication in professional journals. From 1996 to 1997, twenty-two nursing research studies were approved. Of these,

52
11 were completed by lieutenants or captains,

14 were by first time researchers,

6 were studies supporting Air Force Institute of Technology students,

7 were related to medical readiness,

9 related to prevention,

3 related to treatment, and

3 related to utilization management.

January: Eleven nurses were selected as medical group commanders. Nine

were new to their positions, and the two incumbents were selected for greater

responsibility at military treatment facilities providing higher levels of care.

One-third of the new commanders were selected to command an intermediatesize facility rather than a small-size facility, the traditional career path.

March: The first TNF Executive Leadership Symposium was held for both

enlisted personnel and officers from the Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve

and Air National Guard.

May 27-30: The first Air Force Medical Service Integrated Forecast Board

met to determine personnel training requirements. Air Force Institute of Technology and fellowship opportunities were projected for Nurse Corps members.

July: Regular Air Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve nurses

were involved in the reengineering of the contingency hospital systems into

the new Air Force Theater Hospitals. This change responded to the need for

both flexibility and larger inpatient facilities needed in the new modular,

deployable Medical Service.

Fall: Two Air Force Academy graduates entered the bridge program at Vanderbilt University to obtain a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing. The

Nurse Corps was attempting to develop a generation of nurses who would be

serious competitors for the position of Surgeon General of the Air Force. This

was the first year that Air Force Academy graduates were allowed to choose

nursing as their career field.

October: All Air Force medical facility and aerovac commander positions

became corps-neutral, dramatically increasing the opportunity for Nurse Corps

officers to compete for leadership and commander positions. Eighteen of the

fifty-eight selectees at the commanders’ board were nurses.

November: The first TNF Day was held at the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States’ meeting. Nursing leaders—active duty, reserve,

and National Guard—discussed many professional topics and reviewed a

modeling of nursing uniforms, past and present.

53
November 10-14: The Air Force Medical Service participated in the Central

Professional Military Education Board. This was the first opportunity for the

Medical Service to participate with the Line of the Air Force and other nonline categories in a central board format. Two nurses (of eight students selected from each school) were selected to attend Air War College and Air Command and Staff College.

December 12: The Air Force closed its Nurse-Midwifery Education Program,

partly because of increased outsourcing of obstetrical services.

1998

An informational video on the TNF Strategic Plan was distributed, reinforcing

the importance of the plan and its link to operations. An implementation guide

provided the field with a detailed report of the plan’s tasks and subtasks in support of goals and objectives.

The revised Nurse Corps career progression path was deployed. This product integrated operational, staff, and executive leadership tracks under the

OMG reorganization, aligning it with a format utilized by the Line of the Air

Force. It facilitated realistic career planning for Nurse Corps officers.

A requirement for a nurse on the staff of the Office of Preventive Health

Services Assessment was established. This position provided on-site nursing

input and expertise on Building Healthy Communities and provided a point of

contact within the Preventive Health office.

The Surgeon General’s office required medical treatment facilities to establish health care integrator positions to ensure that nurses were allowed to

expand their duties in “disease management, critical pathway development and

implementation, case management, informatics, call centers, plus telephonic

nursing and nurse managed clinics.”

Senior Nurse Corps leadership made the corporate decision to limit recruiting of novice BSN nurses and to recruit ROTC and enlisted members who had

completed their BSN. Entering nurses now were required to have both a BSN

and a minimum of one-year acute care experience.

A CCATT course was implemented at the Nursing Department of the

School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas.

The Integrated Forecast Board approved nurse fellowships in executive

nursing, risk management, and medical readiness planning. Competition for

these fellowships was open to all components of the Nurse Corps.

February: A TopSTAR (Sustainment Training to Advance Readiness) program for Air Force nurses was implemented in a two-week course using actual patients, state-of-the-art mannequins, and computer-based instruction. Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and Travis Air Force Base, California, hosted the

training.

54
June: Col. Barbara Brannon, NC, commanded the first designated Expeditionary Medical Group, the 31st, at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of Operation Allied Force.

June: At the Executive Leadership Symposium, the TNF Executive Team

adopted the following standalone logo that could not be confused with other

programs or initiatives:

The TNF marketing team then developed a commemorative coin. One side of

the coin was engraved with a C–9A aircraft flanked by the nurse corps officer

and medical enlisted badges. The opposite side of the commemorative coin

had the TNF logo. The team selected the C–9A aircraft because it is the only

active aircraft in the Air Force inventory solely dedicated to aerovac. Although

other aircraft support that system, the C–9A was readily associated with Air

Force nursing. The coin, back and front, is shown below:

The TNF Executive Team established an Association of the Total Nursing

Force, a nonprofit organization to foster fellowship, promote activities that

increase job satisfaction and quality of life, and provide a venue for recognition of individual and group achievements. The following is the TNF Strategic

Plan that they developed for 1998:

55
Goals

Goal #1: Cultivate, Identify, and Advance Strong Leaders

(Leadership)

Goal #2: Spearhead Customer-Driven Nursing Practice

(Practice and Prevention)

Goal #3: Forge Ahead as a Full Partner in AFMS Building

Healthy Communities

(Practice and Prevention)

Goal #4: Champion an Integrated Ready Force

(Ready Force)

Goal #5: Effectively Use AF Nursing Resources

(Resources)

Goal #6: Employ and Integrate Technology and Research

(Research and Technology)

Vision

“Global Nursing...Precision Care...Maintain a fit fighting

force by collaborating with the total force to engineer a customer-focused, affordable health care system emphasizing disease prevention and promoting healthy life styles. Develop

leaders who maximize readiness through effective use of

resources, education, training, research, and technology.”

Mission

“Air Force Nursing...A ready total force engaged in

customer-focused global care.”

Core Values

Integrity First

Service Before Self

Excellence in All We Do

November: Col. Regina Aune was inducted in the American Academy of

Nursing as a Fellow, the only active duty nurse awarded this title.

1999

The Air Mobility Command vice-chief of staff chartered an Aeromedical

Evacuation Tiger Team to review the entire aerovac system. The team evaluated how the transition to an expeditionary aerospace force, the growth of TRICARE, and the pending retirements of the C–141s and C–9s affected flight

nurses.

56
By 1999 more than 60 percent of all medical treatment facilities had established nursing health care integrator positions.

The nursing staff in the Air Force Surgeon General’s office developed a

mentoring guide to incorporate into each facility’s leadership training program.

An ambulatory care working group began to standardize the role of ambulatory nurses.

The TopSTAR training platform was established at David Grant Medical

Center, Travis Air Force Base, California, that increased training capability by

approximately 400 slots per year for nurses and technicians. A module to provide post-decontamination care to casualties of biological attack was developed and incorporated into all TopSTAR curriculums.

Col. Linda McHale, USAFR, NC, was selected to be command surgeon of

the Air Force Reserve Personnel Center. She was the first Air Force nurse

selected to serve as a command surgeon.

Forty-seven nurses served in Operation Southern Watch/Joint Guard in

Southwest Asia. Nine nursing personnel were assigned in Europe to aerovac

liaison teams, mobile staging facilities, and support cells. Six nursing personnel were deployed to Incirlik, Turkey, to augment nursing care for deployed

forces.

January: The Air Force Medical

Operations Center in the Pentagon,

Washington, D.C., started assigning

two nurses to its operations team.

February: The Maj. Gen. Irene

Trowell-Harris Mentoring Award,

105th Airlift Wing, Newburgh, New

York, was the first mentoring award

named for a nurse in Air National

Guard history.

April–June: Nurses from U.S. Air

Forces in Europe were active in

Operation Allied Force in Kosovo

and later in the humanitarian operation, Operation Shining Hope, for

ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing

Kosovo to Albania and Macedonia.

The approximately 300 Air Force

medics deployed to the Balkans

included many nurses assigned to the

new Expeditionary Medical Support

units.

57

Capt. Terry McDaniel, operating room

director, and Lt. Mark Kenna, a nurse,

clean a surgical area at Al Jaber Air

Base, Kuwait, during Operation Southern Watch, 1998.
April: Air Force Nurse Corps officers commanded 25 percent of Regular Air

Force medical facilities, 37 percent of Air Force Reserve medical units, and 12

percent of Air National Guard medical units.

June: The Federal Nursing Association was created with Col. Terri Page serving as the Air Force representative.

July: Nursing personnel served as observer controllers in a feasibility study

for a Military Trauma Fellowship program at Ben Taub General Hospital,

Houston, Texas. The fellowship included a thirty-day training program for Air

Force Nursing personnel assigned to Expeditionary Medical Support.

August: Brig. Gen. Verna Fairchild advanced to the rank of major general in

the capacity of Assistant to the Director of the Air National Guard.

September: Lt. Col. Donna Lake, NC, served as commander of the Mobile

Aeromedical Staging Facility, Skopje, Macedonia. She also performing important nonmedical duties. The Air Force Surgeon General later awarded her a

Bronze Star for her distinguished service in support of Operation Shining

Hope (April–July 1999).

October: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon became the first appointed Nurse Corps

Chief with command experience.

The New Century

2000

Active duty nurses commanded 29 percent of Regular Air Force medical

groups, 29 percent of Air Force Reserve medical squadrons, and 15 percent of

Air National Guard medical squadrons.

July: A survey of the entire Nurse Corps revealed that 89 percent of its members worked in medical treatment facilities and 4 percent held aerovac positions. The remainder served as executive officers or worked full-time in positions such as clinical informatics, infection control, medical readiness, or quality.

July: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon, Director of Medical Readiness and Nursing Services, became the first Nurse Corps officer to command one of the Air

Force’s five medical centers when she assumed command of the 89th Medical

Group at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

58
October: Crews from the 75th Airlift Squadron and the 86th AES earned the

2000 Mackay Trophy for evacuating survivors from Europe across the Atlantic

Ocean to Norfolk, Virginia, after a terrorist attack in the Middle East. The

twenty-eight casualties were victims of the attack on the U.S. Navy warship,

the USS Cole, on October 12 while it was docked at Aden, Yemen. The attack

left six dead and a 20-by-40-foot hole in the ship’s hull.

2001

June: When a disastrous flood struck Houston, Texas, Air Force nurses and

other medics responded as part of a 25-bed Expeditionary Medical Support

team that deployed from Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force

Base.

September 11: Terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center

in New York City prompted immediate action by Air Force nurses and other

medics in Operation Noble Eagle. Air Force nurses from various continental

U.S. units helped respond to the New York City attack by deploying to augment the 305th Medical Group, McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. The

medics at McGuire prepared to provide backup medical support for the first

responders in Manhattan, but the low injury rate at the World Trade Center

resulted in a speedy standdown by September 18. At the Pentagon, an Air

Force Reserve nurse in the DiLorenzo TRICARE Health Clinic, Capt. Bernetta Lane, helped rescue and treat casualties, as did Surgeon General Paul Carlton along with several members of his staff and medics from the Air Force

Flight Medicine Clinic.

59

Critical Care Air Transport Team onloading patients from the

bombing of the USS Cole, Aden, Yemen, October 14, 2000.
October 6: In Operation Enduring Freedom, Air Force nurses

deployed to Afghanistan in support of the campaign to eradicate the Taliban and other terrorist organizations in that country. To support this operation,

Air Force doctors and nurses of

the 376th Expeditionary Medical Group deployed to Manas,

Kyrgystan, where they jointly

staffed a hospital alongside

medics from the 924th Medical

Group, Republic of Korea. Over

300 nurses deployed as members of Expeditionary Medical

Support units.

2002

January: The first Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) was opened at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland. This training program included a three-week advanced trauma-care course for Air Force nurses and a pre-hospital, trauma life-support

course for Air Force medical technicians. By April 2003 more than 200 Air

Force personnel had been trained at the C-STARS.

November 6: The Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed the creation of a

development team for the Nurse Corps. Its charter was to provide the best

developmental experience to future leaders of the Nurse Corps career field and

the Medical Service and to provide advanced professional development and a

rewarding career to qualified officers choosing not to pursue command path

opportunities.

December: Twelve nurses and technicians from Yokota Air Base, Japan,

deployed to Guam to assist in medical support in the aftermath of the devastating typhoon Pongsona. Arriving in the middle of the night, they established

initial medical capability to triage and treat casualties within twenty-four

hours.

2003

Eight Air Force Academy graduates chose nursing as their career field, the

largest number since the option was initially offered in 1997.

60

Flight nurse assisting a patient, Operation

Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, 2002.
Six Air Force nurses deployed as Expeditionary Medical Support commanders.

USUHS expanded its Graduate School of Nursing to include a PhD program in nursing science.

January: A second C-STARS program opened at Saint Louis University, Missouri, primarily for Air National Guard team training. A third C-STARS program for Air Force Reserve teams opened at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Ohio.

April: In Operation Iraqi Freedom, Air Force nurses deployed in support of

the invasion of Iraq and removal of its leader, Saddam Hussein. More than 400

Air Force nurses and nursing technicians deployed in Expeditionary Medical

Support facilities; hundreds more were prepared and awaiting orders to deploy.

August 1: Brig. Gen. Barbara Brannon, Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps, was

promoted to the rank of major general, the first Nurse Corps officer to achieve

that rank.

2004

April: A three-member CCATT from Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland

Air Force Base, Texas, completed the first CCATT mission to Antarctica. The

team evacuated three patients, one of whom required critical care, from the

61

Nurses receive readiness skills training at Wilford Hall

Medical Center's TopSTAR program which was initiated

February 1998.
National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station to more advanced medical

care in New Zealand.

May: The 375th AES at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, participated in an exercise with the Department of Homeland Security, responding to an assumed

chemical weapons attack in Gulfport, Mississippi. When the local hospital and

medical system were overwhelmed, military flight nurses and other medics

helped move more than 700 patients out of the city during the course of two

and a half days

2005

January: Col. Melissa A. Rank, USAF, NC, the deputy assistant surgeon general for healthcare operations, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

For the first time in history, two active duty nurses were serving the Air Force

as general officers.

62
Appendices

Air Force Surgeons General

The Air Force has had eighteen Surgeons General since Air Force

General Order No. 35 of June 8, 1949, created the Air Force

Medical Service, effective July 1, 1949.

1. Maj. Gen. Malcolm C. Grow, July 1, 1949–November 30, 1949

2. Maj. Gen. Harry G. Armstrong, December 1, 1949–June 31, 1954

3. Maj. Gen. Dan C. Ogle, July 1, 1954–November 30, 1958

4. Maj. Gen. Oliver K. Niess, December 1, 1958–December 1, 1963

5. Lt. Gen. Richard C. Bohannon, December 2, 1963–November 30, 1967

6. Lt. Gen. Kenneth E. Pletcher, December 1, 1967–April 30, 1970

7. Lt. Gen. Alonzo A. Towner, May 1, 1970–July 31, 1972

8. Lt. Gen. Robert A. Patterson, August 1, 1972–July 31, 1975

9. Lt. Gen. George E. Schafer, August 1, 1975–July 31, 1978

10. Lt. Gen. Paul W. Myers, August 1, 1978–July 31, 1982

11. Lt. Gen. Max B. Bralliar, August 1, 1982–July 31, 1985

12. Lt. Gen. Murphy A. Chesney, August 1, 1985–July 31, 1988

13. Lt. Gen. Monte B. Miller, August 1, 1988–July 31, 1991

14. Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Sloan, August 1, 1991–July 11, 1994

Maj. Gen. Robert A. Buethe (Acting), July 12, 1994–September 25,

1994)

15. Lt. Gen. Edgar R. Anderson, Jr., September 26, 1994–November 14, 1996

16. Lt. Gen. Charles H. Roadman II, November 15, 1996–October 10, 1999

Maj. Gen. Michael K. Wyrick (Acting), October 11, 1999–October 30,

1999)

17. Lt. Gen. P. K. Carlton, November 1, 1999–October 14, 2002

18. Lt. Gen. George P. Taylor, October 15, 2002–Present

63
Air Force Nurse Corps Chiefs

64

Col. Verena Zeller Pettoruto

1949–1956

Col. Frances I. Lay Wilson

1956–1960

Col. Dorothy Zeller

1960–1963
65

Col. Ethel R. Kovach Scott

1963–1968

Brig. Gen. E. Ann Hoefly

1968–1974

Brig. Gen. Clare Garrecht

1974–1978
66

Brig. Gen. Sarah P. Wells

1978–1982

Brig. Gen. Diann A. Hale

1982–1985

Brig. Gen. Carmelita Schimmenti

1985–1988
67

Brig. Gen. Barbara A. Goodwin

1988–1991

Brig. Gen. Sue E. Turner

1991–1995

Brig. Gen. Linda J. Stierle

1995–1999
68

Maj. Gen. Barbara Brannon

1999–Present
Mobilization Assistants to the

Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps

Reserve

1985–1989 Brig. Gen. Beverly Lindsey

1989–1994 Brig. Gen. Marcia Clark

1994–2000 Brig. Gen. Sharon Mailey

2000–Present Brig. Gen. Linda Hemminger

Air National Guard

1991–1993 Brig. Gen. Roberta Mills

1993–1998 Brig. Gen. Irene Trowell-Harris

1998–2001 Brig. Gen. Ruth Wong

2001–Present Brig. Gen. Marie T. Fields

69
Outstanding Air Force Nurse of the Year

Awarded by the Office of the Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps, to

recognize and reward the outstanding individual achievement of

active duty nurses and their contributions to the Air Force

Medical Service and the profession of nursing.

2003

Company Grade: Capt. Kristin L. Kalina

Field Grade: Lt. Col. Joanne Henkenius-Kirschbaum

2002

Company Grade: Lt. Kimberli A. Goodner

Field Grade: Lt. Col. Judith I. Rosen

2001

Company Grade: Capt. Brenda Morgan

Field Grade: Maj. Lista Benson

2000

Company Grade: Capt. Bonnie Stiffler

Field Grade: Lt. Col. Sandra Bruce

1999

Company Grade: Capt. Christine S. Taylor

Field Grade: Maj. Debra L. Doty

1998

Company Grade: Maj. (S) Allison W. Bowden, AFMC

Field Grade: Lt. Col. (S) Dorothy L. Carter, PACAF

1994

Company Grade: Capt. John S. Murray

Field Grade: Maj. Karla Herres

1993

Company Grade: Capt. Catherine Mary Younker,

Field Grade: Lt. Col. (S) Lee Ann J. Harford

1992

Company Grade: Capt. Susan L. Heglar

Field Grade: Maj. Patricia L. Davis

70
Sarah P. Wells Outstanding Medical

Technician of the Year

Awarded by the Office of the Chief, Air Force Nurse

Corps, to an outstanding technician who has demonstrated exceptional duty performance and professionalism while working in the

health care field.*

2003

Senior NCO: MSgt. Lewis H. Sutton III

NCO: SSgt. Kent A. Willette

Airman: SSgt. Kelsi L. Basom

2002

Senior NCO: SMSgt. Robert Bradley

NCO: TSgt. John C. Yun

Airman: A1C Daniel Hoffman

2001

Senior NCO: MSgt. David R. Nordel

NCO: TSgt. Lori K. Lucas

Airman: SrA Yarnily Cruz-Soto

2000

Senior NCO: CMSgt. Tony Weary

NCO: TSgt. Anthony Weary

Airman: SrA Kenneth Beadle

1999

Senior NCO: MSgt. Jerold A. Maynard

NCO: TSgt. David L. Martin

Airman: SrA Heidi J. Michat

1998

Senior NCO: MSgt. Mark L. Withers USAFE

NCO: TSgt. Daryl E. Webb AFSPC

Airman: SrA Yolanda J. Pratt USAFE

71

*In the years 1983–1990 there was only one award. From 1990 to 1994 an

NCO and an Airman Award existed; after 1995 there were three awards when

the first official Senior NCO Award was added.
1997

Senior NCO: SMSgt. Danny E. Corprew PACAF

NCO: TSgt. David R. Nordel ACC

Airman: SrA Paul W. Bott AFSPC

1996

Senior NCO: MSgt. Rodney L.Bright AETC

NCO: SSgt. Alexander Hunt ACC

Airman: A1C Jennifer J. Bowles AFMC

1995

Senior NCO: SMSgt. Peggy J. Kennedy AFMC

NCO: SSgt. Tyrone W. Clarence ACC

Airman: SrA Joey L. Gilbar PACAF

1994

NCO: TSgt. Corey E. Weber AETC

Airman: SrA Jennifer A. Watkins AETC

1993

NCO: TSgt. James V. Suttles PACAF

Airman: SrA David J. Barnum USAFE

1992

NCO: SSgt. Robert A Spencer AETC

Airman: SrA Jacqueline K. Foster PACAF

1991

NCO: SSgt. Fredrick W. Grimes USAFE

Airman: SrA John L. Dolan SAC

1990

NCO: MSgt. Stuart T. Eberle TAC

Airman: Sgt. Robert C. Murphy SAC

1989

NCO: SSgt. James E. Lee, Jr. USAFE

1988

NCO: TSgt. Fred D. Campbell USAFE

1987

NCO: Sgt. Mark L. Withers TAC

72
1986

NCO: TSgt. Herman M. Hertog Classified

1985

NCO: TSgt. Glenn L. Moffat AFSC

1984

NCO: TSgt. Richard Tenace TAC

1983

NCO: TSgt. Robert Ortega TAC

73
Air Force Association Juanita Redmond

Award

The Juanita Redmond Award is presented in memory of former

Army nurse Juanita Redmond Hipps who served on Bataan and

Corregidor in World War Two. She wrote I Served on Bataan, a

bestseller in 1943 and impetus for the subsequent movie So

Proudly We Hail, a story of Army nurses. She was noted as

among the first to earn Golden Flight Wings, and she assisted in

establishing the Army Air Corps Flight Nurse Program.

Criteria

Presented to a junior Air Force nurse—company grade officer with less than six years...who provided significant contributions to the health care of an Air Force individual or

family, demonstrated excellence in clinical nursing, or

accomplished a special achievement resulting in improvement of nursing care.

Recipients

2003 Capt. Scott Sanders Lackland AFB, Tex.

2002 Capt. Christie Lennen McChord AFB, Wash.

2001 Capt. Denise J. Roberts Lackland AFB, Tex.

2000 Capt. Thomas G. Fevurly Lackland AFB, Tex.

1999 Capt. Judy Stoltman Robbins ARB, Ga..

1998 Capt. Virginia C. Johnson Yokota Air Base, Japan

1997 Capt. Mary Ellen Tucker F.E.Warren AFB,Wyo.

1996 Capt. Mona P. Mayrose Pope AFB, N.C.

1995 Capt. Cynthia Wright Travis AFB, Calif.

1994 Capt. Melanie J. Nelson Bitburg Air Base, Germany

1993 Capt. Julie M. Stola Wiesbaden, Germany

1992 Capt. Linda J. Cashion 48th Medical Group, USAFE

1991 Capt. Judith M. Daly 9th AES

1990 Capt. Michael Bagwell USAF Reg Hosp, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

1989 Capt. Jean M. Bell Andrews AFB, Md.

1988 1Lt. Laurie J. McMullin Clark Air Base, Philippines

1987 1Lt. Vennessa J. Hagan Clark Air Base, Philippines

1986 Capt. Glory N. Gill Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.

1985 Capt. Cynthia L. Murray USAF Reg Hospital, MacDill AFB, Fla.

1984 Capt. Janet S. Barber Sheppard AFB, Tex.

1983 Capt. Carol P. Major USAF Reg Hospital, Carswell AFB, Tex.

1982 Capt. Susan A. Brokish Pease AFB, N.H.

1981 1Lt. Christy Henderson Cannon AFB, N. Mex.

74
Dolly Vinsant Flight Nurse of the Year Award

The Dolly Vinsant Award was established by the Confederate Air

Force (renamed the Commemorative Air Force on December 7,

2001) to pay tribute to Lt. Wilma (Dolly) Roland Vinsant who

was killed in action over Germany during an aerovac mission on

April 14, 1945.

Criteria

“The type of person we should be seeking for the

award...would put patient care above self; who will volunteer at great personal risk, to fly missions in order to bring

caring help to ill or injured military personnel.” The nurse

must be a flight nurse (46F3), on active duty, a reservist, or

a member of the National Guard, who is engaged in live

aerovac missions. The individual must have contributed significantly to in-flight patient care within the past calendar

year. He or she must possess the highest military and professional standards.

Recipients

2003 Capt. Jeffrey T. Combalecer

2002 Capt. Michael McCarthy

2001 Capt. Karey Dufour

2000 Lt. Michael McCarthy

1999 Capt. Darin J Gunnick

1998 Maj. Laurie A. Hall

1997 Maj. Cynthia D. Coles

1996 Capt. Rose Anne Skirtich

1995 Capt. Robin L. Schultze

1994 Maj. Judy A. Young

1993 Capt. Barbara J. Lippard

1992 Maj. Farley J. Howell

1991 Capt. Marion F. Myron

1990 Capt. Nima D. Reavis

1989 Capt. Diane Rauschenbach

1988 Capt. Marjorie Graziano

1987 Lt. Jan Rhoads

1986 Capt. James K. Nickerson

75
Aerospace Medicine Association Awards

Mary T. Klinker Award

The award is named in honor of Mary T. Klinker, who lost her life

in the crash of the C–141 Babylift mission. It is given to an

Aerospace Medicine Association member.

Mary T. Klinker Flight Nurse of the Year Award Recipients

Sponsored by CIBA Pharmaceutical Company

1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Virginia M. Alena, USAF, NC

1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Helen D. Kopczynski, USAF, NC

1970 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Pearl E. Tucker, USAF, NC

1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Gertrude M. Campbell, USAF, NC

1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Anne R. Spurlin, USAFR, NC

1973 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Mary K. Littlejohn, USAF, NC

1974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. LaDonn B. Cramer, USAF, NC

1975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Patricia A Farrell, USAF, NC

1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Dorothy R. Novotny, USAF, NC

1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Mary M. Thomas, USAF, NC

1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brig. Gen. Claire M. Garrecht, USAF, NC

1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Phyllis N. Goins, USAF, NC

1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Margaret M. Korach, USAF, NC

1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Melba M. Gillane, USAF, NC

1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Norma Jean Butler, USAF, NC

1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Mary Lou Havens, USAF, NC

1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Karen D. Kimmel, USAF, NC

1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Maragret A. Seibold, USAF, NC

1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Grady F. Allen, USAF, NC

1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Sandra L. Stanley, USAF, NC

1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Patricia A. Land, USAF, NC

1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Sharon L. McConnell, USAF, NC

1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Nancy M. Chaloult, USAF, NC

1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. George A. Tirabassi, USAF, NC

1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Gail Parker, USAF, NC

1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Marian B. Sides, USAFR, NC

1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Linda L. Brickley, USAF, NC

1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Eileen S. Hadbavny, USAFR, NC

1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Judy Read, CAF

1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Sheila Millette, USAF, NC

1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Kirk Nailling, USAF, NC

1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Virginia Schneider, USAF, NC

76
2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jillian R. Barclay, RN, MEd

(Maj. Royal Australian Air Force Reserves)

2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Charles R. Tupper, USAFR, NC

2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Lisa Dedecker, USAFR, NC

2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Diane L. Fletcher, USAF, NC

Brig. Gen. E. A. Hoefly Award

Nominations from the Flight Nurse Section of Aerospace

Medicine Association. Award is given to an Aerospace Medicine

Association member.

Brig. Gen. E. A. Hoefly Award Recipients

Sponsored by SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals

1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Bettie J. Vierra, USAF, NC

1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Mary Lou Havens, USAF, NC

1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Sue E. Turner, USAF, NC

1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Suzanne A. Bayley, USAF, NC

1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Rosa Lee Cook, USAF, NC

1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Betty K.M. Green, USAF, NC

1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Kathleen M. Gardon, USAF, NC

1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Monica Messer, USAF, NC

1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Patricia A. Clark, USAF, NC

1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Lynn A. Francis, USAF, NC

1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Glenda L. Bruce, USAF, NC

1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Nancy B. Bjerke, USAF, NC

1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Jane M. Holtz, USAF, NC

1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Marian B. Sides, USAFR, NC

1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Arthur Don Johnson, USAFR, NC

1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Phyllis A. Luttman, USAF, NC

1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Georgia Hale, USAF, NC

1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Patricia C. Ravella, USAF, NC

1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Patricia M. Moss, USAF, NC

1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Maryann Cardinalli, NC

1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. S. Lynn Taylor, USAF, NC

1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oi Saeng Hong, PhD, RN

1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Charles R. Tupper, USAF, NC

1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Penny F. Pierce, USAF, NC

2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Mona Ternus, USAFR, NC

2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Tammy L. Smith, USAF, NC

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Hans Krakauer Award for Nursing Excellence

Honors a junior nurse for outstanding accomplishments in aerospace, clinical practice, education, management, or research.

Dr. Hans Krakauer Junior Flight Nurse Award

Sponsored by Dr. Hans Krakauer

1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Angela M. Whinnery, USAFR, NC

1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Irene Benson, USAF, NC

1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Shari L. Taylor, USAFR, NC

1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Lisa Fuentes, USAF, NC

Capt. Beverly J. Coyner, USAF, NC

Capt. Robert Marks, USAF, NC

1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Joyce M. Rosenstrom, USAFR, NC

2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Danney R. Roper, USAF, NC

2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Healther L. Rogerson, USAF, NC, ANG

Brig. Gen. Claire E. Garrecht Award

Sponsored by Educational Enterprises Incorporated

1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Michele M. Brady, USAF, NC

1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Joan B. Burke, USAFR, NC

1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Michaela Schafer, USAF, NC

1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Garye Jensen, USAF, NC

1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Sarah Wright, USAF, NC

1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Marion K. Nailling, USAF, NC

1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ms Jill Barclay

1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Penny F. Pierce, RN, PhD, Col, USAFR, NC

2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Mona P. Ternus, USAFR, NC

2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Pat Ravella, USAF, NC

Edward R. Iverson, Sr., Allied Health Professional of

the Year Award

Sponsored by the Iverson Family

2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SMSgt. James McCormick, USAF

2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SrA Doran Kolasa, USAF

2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TSgt. John Hammer, USAF

78
AMSUS Clinical Excellence Award for

Nursing

Established in 1989 to recognize and honor accomplishments and

work performance in clinical nursing, resulting in contributions of

an outstanding and sustained nature by a nurse, which has had

substantial impact on the mission of a Federal Health Agency.

First award given in 1990.

Criteria

Any professional nurse whose current duty assignment is in clinical

practice in the Federal Nursing Services is eligible to compete for this

award. All nominees must be members of or eligible for membership in the

Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. The recipient should

be one who:

Evidences resourcefulness and dedication in helping to accomplish the

mission of the Federal Health Agency.

Demonstrates professional and technical skills and competence raising

the quality of nursing.

Shows evidence of exceptional ability to apply nursing standards of

practice.

Remains involved in continuing education as a participant, organizer,

or sponsor.

Is of such excellence as to merit AMSUS recognition.

Air Force Recipients

1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Michaela Rae Shafer, USAF, NC

1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Susan B. Connor, USAF, NC

2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. John S. Murray, USAF, NC

All Recipients

1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. Michaela Rae Shafer, USAF NC

1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maureen O’Keefe Doran, VA

1992 . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Kathy Marie Graham, MS, RN, AN, USAR

1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shirley M. Pfister, RN, MS, RRT, CCRN, VA

1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj. Susan B. Connor, USAF, NC

1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Ann Morgester, RN, VA

1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joanne M. Krumberger, RN, MSN, CCRN, VA

1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patricia L. Brown, MSN, RN, CNS, VA

1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Pamela J. Hildreth, AN, USA

79
1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. Elizabeth A. Mittelstaedt, AN, USA

2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marilyn Lynn, MSN, VA

2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Col. Linda H. Yoder, AN

2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Col. John S. Murray, USAF, NC

2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lt. Comdr. Mark Martineau, USPHS

80
Tri-Service Research Awards

(Air Force Recipients)

1999

Janice Agazio, Lt. Col., USA

Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Simulator in Sustainment Training

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Laura Brosch, Lt. Col., USA

Preventable Hospitalization in Older Military Retirees

Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.

Catherine Cox, Comdr., USNR

Training Grant: The Lived Experience of Nurses Stationed Aboard

Aircraft Carriers

George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.

Karen Dorn, Lt. Col., USANG

Dietary and Exercise Intervention to Improve Readiness

Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.Dak.

Diep Duong, Maj., USAF

Management of HTN Patients by CNS in Military Settings—A Supplemental Study

81st Medical Group, Keesler Medical Center, Biloxi, Miss.

Joann Hollandsworth, Lt. Col., USA

Effects of Telehealth Augmentation of a Home Nursing Care Program

for Women with Children at Risk for Child Abuse and Neglect

Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii

Michael Jorden, Maj., USA

Outcomes from a Nurse-Managed COPD Rehabilitation Program

Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

Caterina Lasome, Maj., USA

E-mail as a Communication Tool in Army Nursing Management

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C.

Paul Lewis, Maj., USA

Community-Based Smoking Prevention in Military Schools

Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

81
Stephen Mazer, Maj., USAF

Skin Interface Pressure Associated with the NATO Litter

Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

Deborah Messecar, Lt. Col., USANG

Virtual Health and Wellness Center for the Oregon Air National Guard

Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oreg.

Carol Pierce, Col., USA

Identification of Trauma Skills for Nursing Personnel

Army Medical Department Center and School, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

Kathy Prue-Owens, Maj., USA

Effectiveness of Telenursing in Managing the Heart Failure Patient

Population

Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii

Laura Rice, Maj., USA

Training Grant: “Telenurse” Service in a Military Managed Care Setting

William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Tex.

Kimberly Smith, Maj., USA

Evaluation of Staff’s Retention of BCLS and ACLS Skills

Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

Mary Smolenski, Col., USAFR

A History of the U.S. Air Force Nursing Services

American Nursing Association, Washington, D.C.

Nancy Staggers, Col., USAR

Validating Mobilization Competencies for AF Clinical Nurses

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Catherine Sykes, Maj., USAF

Wartime Competencies for the USAF Nurse: Training for Sustainment

59th Medical Wing, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

Linda Yoder, Lt. Col., USA

Longitudinal Outcomes from a Military Burn Center

United States Army Institute of Surgical Research, Brooke Army Medical

Center, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

82
1998

Diep Duong, Maj., USAF

Management of Hypertensive Patients by CNS in a Military Setting

81st Medical Group, Keesler Medical Center, Biloxi, Miss.

Penny F. Pierce, Lt. Col., USAFR

Air Force Women’s Health Surveillance Study

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Marilyn Ray, Col., USAFR

Impact of TriCare/Managed Care on Mirror Force Readiness

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fla.

Joseph Schmelz, Lt. Col., USAF

Preventing Suctioning-Induced Hypoxemia at Altitude

Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

1997

Arthur Don Johnson, Col., USAFR

Effects of 3 Fluids on Hydration During MOPP Training

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Arthur Don Johnson, Col., USAFR

Effects of Chest Tube Position on Drainage and Pressure

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Darla Topley, Capt.,USAF

Critical Care Nursing Expertise During Air Transport

Wilford Hall, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

Delores Turner, Col., USAF

Experience of Chief Nurses in Military Operations Other than War

University of Minnesota

1996

Marilyn Anne Ray, Col., USAFR

Econometric Analysis (I,II) of the Nurse-Patient Relationship

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fla.

Sarah Elizabeth Wrenn, Lt. Col., USAF

Effects of a Model-Based Intervention on Breastfeeding

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

83
James Patrick Ronan, Maj., USAF

Preventive Services: Role of the Nurse Practitioner

University of Arizona

Penny F. Pierce, Lt. Col., USAFR

Health of Persian Gulf War Veteran Women

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Michaela Rae Shafer, Maj., USAF

Nurses During Deployment to Croatia: A Grounded Theory

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,

Rockville, Md.

Cheryl E. McRae-Bergeron, Col., USAFR

Assessment of Health in First-Increment Medical Personnel

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,

Rockville, Md.

Joseph Otto Schmelz, Lt. Col., USAF

Prenatal Care of Women in and out of the U.S.

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,

Rockville, Md.

1995

Marilyn Ray, Col., USAFR

Nurse-Patient Relationship Patterns: An Economic Resource

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fla.

Arthur Don Johnson, Col., USAFR

The Effects of Culturally Sensitive Messages and Health Beliefs

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Margaret Murphy, Maj., USAF

Lung Sounds as Indicators for Endotracheal Suctioning

Boston College

1994

Penny F. Pierce, Lt. Col., USAFR

Readjustment of Gulf War Veteran Women: A Follow-Up

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Patricia Chamings, Col., USAFR

Flight Nursing and the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

84
Barbara Nelson, Lt. Col., USAFG

Activation Experiences During the Persian Gulf War

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

1993

Victoria Slater, Col., USAFR

The Effect of Healing Touch on Postoperative Pain

Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tenn.

Susan Hall, Capt., USAF

Impact of Storytelling on Burnout and Nursing Expertise

David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, Calif.

Arthur Don Johnson, Col., USAFR

The Effects of a Health Belief Teaching Strategy

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Stephanie Condron, Capt., USAF

Cancer Prevention and Early Detection in Military Nurses

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

Deborah Messecar, Maj., USAFG

Family Stress Associated with Wartime Separation

Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Ore.

Brenda Mueggenborg, Lt. Col., USAF

Thrombus Prevention in Tunneled Central Venous Catheters

Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

1992

Penny F. Pierce, Lt. Col., USAFR

Health and Psychosocial Readjustment of Gulf War Veteran Women

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

85
Flight Nurse’s Creed

As a Flight Nurse...

I will use my knowledge, skill and energy in the best interest of the persons

entrusted to my care.

I will maintain and preserve the dignity of the patients using all the means

available to me.

I will be mindful of the trust placed in me and do nothing to diminish that

trust.

I will accept my responsibilities as an aeromedical team member and

acknowledge the contributions of each member toward successful mission

accomplishment.

I will hold faith with those Flight Nurses who have preceded me, and

endeavor to bring honor and respect to the Air Force Nurse Corps.

This I will do. I will not falter in peace or in war.

86
Flight Nurse Wings

The Air Force flight nurse wings, approved in 1956, are similar to those that

the Army adopted on August 13, 1943. The Air Force Medical Service adopted the Army flight nurse wings with the two-snake, or caduceus, design and

later changed the single snake, or staff of Asclepius, design to match other Air

Force medical insignia. The original flight nurse wings of the Army were gold

colored, two inches wide, with the letter O superimposed upon the Army

Nurse Corps badge. In 1944 the color of the wings was changed to oxidized

silver; later, the Air Force nurse insignia replaced the Army Nurse Corps

insignia and the O was eliminated. Today the wings are shiny silver. Basic

flight nurse wings are awarded upon graduation from flight nurse school.

Senior flight nurse wings and chief flight nurse wings carry the senior and

chief nurse corps badges at their centers.

Air Force Nurse Corps Badge

All Air Force medical badges have a unifying design, a snake coiled around a

staff, the staff of Asclepius, a mythical Greek physician. The staff of Asclepius

has been the symbol of medicine and the healing arts for more than 2000 years.

The Air Force Nurse Corps insignia and badge was approved July 6, 1959, and

authorized for wear by all Air Force nurses. It is worn above the row of ribbons on all uniforms. The silver shield, which is taken from the coat of arms

of the U.S. Air Force, bears the staff of Asclepius and the burning lamp of Florence Nightingale. The snake-entwined staff crosses the center of the lamp

with the serpent’s head and burning spout of the lamp facing the wearer’s

right. Senior nurse badges and chief nurse badges carry an additional single

star and a star surround, respectively.

87
Bibliographic Note

Many significant events have occurred during the fifty-five years of Air Force

nursing The Nurse Corps and enlisted nursing technicians have made many

valuable contributions to the Air Force in terms of leadership, health prevention and promotion, readiness, personnel and resource management, and integration of technology and research into nursing care. During the decades documented in this chronology, Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air

National Guard nurses worked side by side, leading to the formal recognition

of the Total Nursing Force.

Identifying the truly significant highlights in this chronolgoy is difficult

because nearly all the events recounted here contributed in some way to create

the proud historical foundation of the Air Force Nursing Services. However,

this short history, even in its abbreviated form, can begin to help identify solutions to the challenges that Air Force nursing personnel will face in the new

millennium.

This chronology was extracted from many historical documents, but the

most relevant among them were three research papers completed in partial fulfillment of Air War College requirements:

Baker, Jill V., Col., NC. “What Influenced the Development of the Air Force

Nurse Corps through 1968 and a Chronological List of Historical Events in

Nursing from the American Revolution through 1968.” A research paper

submitted to faculty of Air War College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force

Base, Alabama, April 1998.

This paper highlights the influences of war, the creation of a separate Air

Force Medical Service, and other key events through 1968.

Rank, Melissa A., Col., NC. “What Influenced the Development of the Air

Force Nurse Corps from 1969 through 1983.” A research paper submitted

to faculty of Air War College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base,

Alabama, April 1999.

This paper highlights the influence of the nurse practitioner movement, the

influence of the Air Force Reserve on the creation of the Total Nursing Force,

the influence of baccalaureate-degree nursing programs, and the need for a

nurse internship program for new officer accessions.

Lindberg, Kerrie G., Lt. Col., NC. “The History of the Air Force Nurse Corps

From 1984 to 1998.” A research paper submitted to faculty of the Air War

College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, April 1999.

88
This paper highlights the influence of the nursing shortage, the retention problem, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, military operations other

than war, and the influence of the Objective Medical Group.

Many thanks go to these individuals for their hard work and dedication in

capturing this history from a variety of sources. Many other compilations documenting individual accomplishments and specific events could be made from

these same sources. The possibility of further historical work in this field is

apparent.

Mary C. Smolenski, EdD, MS, NP-C

Colonel, USAFR, NC, Retired

89
90