Getting troops injured in battle from the war zone to another location where they can receive more definitive care takes careful planning and coordination.

Such was the case Oct. 21, when members of the 386th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility at this desert base helped move 16 injured troops to Germany.

When the C-17 Globemaster III took off with the patients, it signaled another successful mission for facility members.

“It’s nice to see that we’ve gotten folks where they need to go,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tony Weary, the facility superintendent.

But doing that takes “a lot of coordination to ensure the right personnel take the right people to the right place,” he said. Airmen loaded four litter and 12 ambulatory patients on the C-17.

“It’s nice to know we’ve done our job to support the [air-evacuation] mission,” the sergeant said. So staging facilities are only a temporary stop for injured U.S. troops. But for many patients, being here provides them the first chance, after months in Iraq, to get a few of minutes of peace and quiet.

“Typically, they stay here 12 to 36 hours. Patients arrive stable, so we just continue medical care, making sure they stay stable so they can be airlifted,” said Lt. Col. Joe Kennedy, the facility commander.

Facility troops help move about 225 patients a month. They tracks inbounds, monitors current patients and ensures they are ready for air travel.

“We have to be very adaptable, though. We’ll get a [departure] time and it’ll change constantly,” Colonel Kennedy said. “We have to be flexible and keep matching staff and mission needs.”

A facility’s mission control center acts as the communications hub for air-evacuation operations.

“We coordinate with the lead nurse and ensure we have enough ambulances and vehicles -- in the right configuration -- for the number of litters and ambulatory patients we have,” physician assistant 2nd Lt. Ray Quenneville said. “We also stay in contact with the command post and control tower to ensure we’re current on aircraft arrival times.”

Once patients arrive and receive care, the staff begins preparing them for medevac.

When a mission departure is 30 minutes out, the normally quiet facility goes into a flurry of activity. Nurses and medical technicians account for patients and all their baggage, and that they are ready to go.

For the short time they are in the facility, patients get personal care. And not surprisingly, personal effects are of major interest to most patients.

“You’d be surprised how something as small as their scarf from home means so much to them. We spend a lot of time making sure people have these little things,” Lieutenant Quenneville said.

Indeed, the little things seem to be the stock in trade for the facility troops. And others have learned that, too.

A knitting-group in the lieutenant’s hometown of Rudyard, Mich., sent boxes of homemade knit caps for the patients after hearing how cold it gets in the transport aircraft that airlift them from here.

Other patients have received get-well and thank you cards from an elementary student, courtesy of medical technician Airman 1st Class Jennifer Alvior’s sixth-grade teacher.

“She teaches third-grade now and she had her whole class write letters. I’ll ask them [the patients] if they want to write back and sometimes they do,” Airman Alvior said.

The patients value the extra attention, said chief nurse Lt. Col. Lola Casby. That is especially true when they get things they don’t get in the field -- like good coffee.

“Patients are so appreciative, they always say thank you for everything we do -- all the little things, Colonel Casby said. “It’s fulfilling to give care to people who really appreciate it.”

One patient showed his appreciation.

“The staff should really be awarded for excellence for the caring of Soldiers and all branches,” Spc. Steve Anderson wrote on feedback survey. “It felt almost like R and R (rest and recreation) -- just without family.”

Medical technician Senior Airman Frank Fields said medical advances means more troops are surviving the war. But he said great to be part of the medevac mission -- getting people from “point A to B” for more definitive medical care.

“We’re just the hub,” he said. “But it’s cool to be a part of that whole process.”