KADENA AIR BASE, Japan  -- Team Kadena conducted a medical emergency management exercise to test readiness in a disease containment scenario here Sept. 21, 2015.

The exercise consisted of an incoming KC-135 Stratotanker from an unnamed Middle Eastern country with an aircrew member that had symptoms that raised concern for public safety.

"The goal of the exercise was to take a look at the wing's ability to evaluate a potentially infectious crew member coming into the base and how well they could medically take care of the person," said Lt. Col. Steven Lehr, 18th Medical Group chief nurse. "Then, really look at any of the dangers associated with the type of infection or disease that this person may have."

Lehr went on to say that the evaluation gave medical teams information needed to determine whether or not further steps are necessary in order to protect the base population.

The exercise was not only about the medical team's response, but also their ability to work with many other agencies on base to ensure a smooth and efficient process.

"Looking at the medic's response; they all did their jobs and exercised their pieces with respect to their expertise and they did it well," Lehr said. "But more importantly, they really communicated and coordinated well with the other wing agencies such as security forces, the fire department and local support groups."

The 18th MDG can face any number of unusual and life threatening situations, which is why exercises like this one play such an important part of their training.

"On any given day we may face an issue with a patient that has been redeployed or medically evacuated from the area of responsibility and there are certain illnesses and disease processes that could potentially cause a public health emergency," said Capt. Tarata Kanu, 18th Aerospace Medical Squadron flight surgeon. "That's why this exercise is a really good experience for us to see what our capabilities are and to judge logistically how we can move patients and how we can set up infection control and disease containment processes."

This exercise not only increased the participants' knowledge and ability to handle a potentially serious medical epidemic, but also provided realistic training and increased response and readiness.

"It's a good learning experience," Kanu said. "I think it forces us to reevaluate our previous processes and how we can do it better so we can serve our troops in a better capacity."