Ohio
A look into how Ohio airmen train for the unpredictable in their flying hospital
DAYTON, Ohio — Have you ever wondered what it would be like if an ambulance could fly? For the 445th Air Lift Wing, it’s not a ‘what if’ but a ‘where and when’ as it pertains to transporting our nation’s heroes from hospitals and battlefields around the globe.
I was invited to take a flight with the 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron to get a closer look at how Ohio airmen are always preparing for their next mission.
“Within 24 hours I can be ready to go,” said flight medic Madi Potts.
She’s what’s called a traditional Air Force reservist. One day Potts might be in the classroom at her university or working as a nurse. The next day, she could have orders and be in her military uniform working on a C-17 or other type of military transport.
“I just got out of flight medic school for this about two months ago,” she said.
The 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron consists of both full-time military members and reservists. Training is the same for everyone.
On the tarmac at Wright Patterson Air Base, a C-17 Globemaster III sits whirling with activity as airmen work with training mannequins — and live actors — labeled with a variety of health conditions lying on transport litters.
While the pilots are busy readying the aircraft to taxi and takeoff; flight nurses and flight medics ensure patients are assessed and loaded. It’s a well-orchestrated process the airmen of the 445th appear to be able to do with their eyes closed.
Master Sergeant Brenna Pogoy, the mission clinical coordinator, is putting the airmen through a variety of scenarios to ensure the unit remains at the top of its game for when it matters.
“This is nothing like a real world but that’s because you’re not having a fire every flight on a real world, you’re not having an emergency landing all the time,” she said.
But the overload of events is to drive the nurses and medics to the brink of their ability, so they learn to dig a little deeper during an emergency.
“When it does happen and when a patient does have an emergency, or the aircraft has an emergency you are ready and there’s muscle memory in that,” Pogoy said.
The Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron’s mission is broad.
This crew could be called to transport service men and women from different military air bases within the U.S. from Walter Reed Hospital to their hometown hospital or military base, for example.
The mission can also take them near the front lines, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, picking up the wounded and transporting them to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany or other military bases for more treatment before returning to the U.S.
“On the C-17 we can max floor load, we can do 12 on the ramp and another 48 on the main floor,” Master Sergeant Marjorie Butcher said.
That’s a total of 60 patients on litters strapped to the floor at one time with a team of two nurses and three medical technicians providing care throughout the duration of the flight. In addition, depending on the severity of injuries full medical teams can set up a hospital-like setting within the transport planes.
“The Air Force trains us well and they trust us to do our job,” Butcher said.
Then there’s the mission Butcher would deem as unregulated. The unplanned scenario was seen around the world in August 2021 as the U.S. evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan as part of the U.S. withdrawal.
“My first deployment in the military was to Kabul. That was my first flight ever I’d never flown patients or anything,” Butcher said.
She enlisted in 2015 and received her wings to fly with the Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron in April of 2021, just months before the historic images seen around the world as hundreds of thousands of Afghanis flooded the Kabul airstrip trying to get on a C-17 to freedom.
“I was the last AE flight out of Kabul,” Butcher said.
At least one of those C-17s taking part in the evacuation was photographed with a reported 800 men, women, and children.
Colonel Michael Baker, Commander of the 445th Operations Group, told me that members of his unit on one of those flights dealt with a live birth on the flight out of Afghanistan.
Baker said what happened in Afghanistan was part of several debriefs and analyses on how to improve training and mission preparedness.
In all military training, there are checklists. The pilots go through them step by step and operators like flight nurses and medics within the 445th AES go through them. However, training must also prepare airmen for what’s outside those normal checklists.
“We put a lot of emphasis on what are called contingency operations where we really try to flex and push and challenge ourselves and get outside of the letter of our regulations and say where can we flex,” Major Issac Cade said.
Cade is the flight nurse on this flight and the medical crew director.
“We’ll run different scenarios just to see what happens, stress inoculation,” Cade said.
That stress inoculation allows them to run through multiple scenarios that push the limit way beyond the norms in an environment where it’s safe to do it.
“Ultimately the buck stops here,” he said. “If something goes wrong, we answer for it.”
For Cade, this is another day in the life of a reservist.
“I’m a nurse practitioner for Premier Health,” he said. “So tomorrow I will put on my civvies, my work clothes and then go into the office like nothing happened.”
It’s what tens of thousands of traditional reservists do regularly. Living their daily lives, contributing to the community they live in, ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice to answer the call for our country.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
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Last year, Ohio State Buckeyes fans were not exactly please with not having any intriguing home night games on their schedule. As a matter of fact, their only evening matchup was in Week 2 against Western Michigan. Not exactly a thriller.
Well, next season, it appears to be more of the same.
Ohio State will be playing an early night game at Ohio Stadium in September, but it will come against the Ohio Bobcats. Understandably, Buckeyes fans are peeved.
Ohio State will begin its season facing the Texas Longhorns at noon ET on Saturday, Aug. 30 before hosting Grambling at 3:30 p.m. ET the following week.
Based on what we saw from the Buckeyes’ schedule last year, this should not come as much of a surprise. Remember: fans routinely complained about too many noon starts in 2024, which lasted pretty much the entire regular season.
It would certainly be nice for Ohio State to play a meaningful game under the lights, but that obviously is not in the cards for the Buckeyes in 2025.
Ohio State is coming off of a national championship, so expectations are high heading into next season. However, because the Buckeyes lost a ton of players to the NFL Draft, there isn’t quite as much hype surrounding the team this time around.
That being said, Ohio State is still widely viewed as a College Football Playoff team and should have a great shot of defending its national title next year. It just unfortunately won’t be in prime time most of the way. Well, except against Ohio.
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Video: Buying recreational marijuana in Ohio? What it’s like
You can now legally buy recreational marijuana in Ohio. Walk through the process of what it looks like to make a purchase at the dispensary here.
- A new version of Senate Bill 56 eliminates jail time for passengers smoking marijuana, restricts home-grow locations and regulates hemp products.
- The bill changes how marijuana tax revenue is allocated, reducing funds for municipalities and eliminating money for substance abuse and social equity programs.
- Additional changes include capping dispensaries, restricting smoking locations, banning child-centric advertising and setting THC limits.
Ohio lawmakers are one step closer to changing the recreational marijuana law approved by voters in 2023.
A House committee unveiled changes May 28 to Senate Bill 56, an overhaul of the adult-use cannabis program that would impose new rules and change how the state spends marijuana revenue. Lawmakers worked behind the scenes for weeks to hash out a modified proposal, and more changes could be on the horizon.
“Our organization has worked diligently to ensure that policymakers hear from the industry before making any changes to the current statute,” said David Bowling, executive director of the Ohio Cannabis Coalition. “While there’s still more to assess, the proposal is an important step forward.”
Here’s where the bill stands now.
House scraps jail time for smoking marijuana as a passenger
The Senate created new penalties for people who smoke or vape marijuana while riding in a vehicle, including a mandatory three-day jail sentence for first-time offenders. House lawmakers got rid of that.
It would still be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana. The bill also requires anyone driving with marijuana to store it in the trunk or keep products in their original packaging.
Advocates for criminal justice reform said the bill is an improvement but doesn’t do enough to right the wrongs of cannabis prohibition. Lawmakers plan to eliminate a social equity program − which never got off the ground − that aimed to diversify the industry and study the impact of marijuana enforcement.
“We remain committed to our position that, in addition to legalizing cannabis, we must also repair the harms of past criminalization,” said Patrick Higgins, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
How much marijuana can you grow at home in Ohio?
The latest version of the bill maintains current rules for home grow: Adults 21 and older can grow six plants individually or up to 12 in a household with multiple adults.
But the legislation also adds some new restrictions. It bans growing at homes that serve as child care facilities or transitional housing. People who want to gift home-grown marijuana to another adult could only do so at their primary residence.
Hemp regulation added to mix
Lawmakers combined changes to the marijuana law with their efforts to crack down on delta-8 THC and other hemp-derived cannabis.
The bill now requires intoxicating hemp products to be sold at marijuana dispensaries with a tax rate of 10%. That includes anything inhaled or ingested with over 2 milligrams of delta-9 THC per package or 0.5 milligrams of other THC.
Retailers and breweries could sell beverages with no more than 0.42 milligrams of THC per ounce, which amounts to about 5 milligrams per 12-ounce can. There would be a $3.50-per-gallon excise tax on drinks.
New plan for spending marijuana tax money
The bill keeps the current tax rate of 10% on adult-use marijuana products, even though Gov. Mike DeWine and Senate Republicans pushed for an increase. But it changes where that money goes.
Lawmakers eliminated funds for substance abuse prevention and the social equity program. Instead, most of the money would go to the state’s general bank account.
The proposal does allocate 25% of the revenue to cities with dispensaries for seven years. That’s an upgrade from DeWine’s plan to scrap the fund altogether, but still less than current law, which gives municipalities 36% in perpetuity.
Many local leaders are frustrated that money promised in the voter-backed statute could decrease or go away entirely.
“We have a number of municipalities who went out on a political limb, often with great discussion, to create an environment for an emerging industry that’s somewhat controversial to emerge,” Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, said.
How else could Ohio’s marijuana law change?
The new version of Senate Bill 56 also:
- Limits the number of active dispensaries statewide to 400.
- Only allows people to smoke or vape at private residences and outdoor concert venues, provided the venue allows it.
- Bans advertisements and packaging that feature cartoons or other content geared toward children.
- Caps THC content at 35% for flower and 70% for extracts, although the Division of Cannabis Control could change or eliminate those limits.
- Requires the division to establish standards for delivery and online ordering at dispensaries.
- Allows Ohioans to apply for expungement for low-level marijuana possession convictions.
The House will hold at least one more committee hearing on the bill before it’s up for a full vote. It would then need to go back to the Senate.
State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@gannett.com or @haleybemiller on X.
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