SOUTHWESTASIA -- When many deployed Airmen receive a tasking, they normally have a day or even a week to complete it. For one group of Airmen, there deadline is only minutes, and it could be the difference of life and death.

The responsibility of the men and women of the 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's flightline fire department is simple -- to respond to any incident and be ready to help someone who cannot help themselves in emergency situations.

To ensure they are ready to meet the tasks, Tech. Sgt. Timothy Grimes, flightline fire department assistant chief, said it takes a lot of exercising and training.

"We conduct training exercises at least twice a week," said Sgt. Grimes. "Our training consists of anything from a simulated aircraft crash to a structural fire."

Sgt. Grimes said the crew also trains for the out-of-theordinary responses that could come up.

"We've also trained on scenarios such as a person being stuck under a vehicle that fell off a jack," he said. "In this situation, we practice our requirements to stabilize the patient while using high pressure air bags to them from the vehicle."

According to a Tech. Sgt. Thomas Gervais, a former training instructor, training is vital because every situation is unique.

"No emergencies will be the same," said Sgt. Gervais. "The amount of passengers may vary or the aircraft may be different. Failure to train can only mean chaos. If you train properly, it becomes second nature."

The training of the 24 firefighters assigned to the station has proven to be critical as they have responded to more than 200 calls since they've deployed. One of them was a mass casualty accident involving Army personnel.

"We had a major bus accident occur off base. When we first arrived, the Army personnel were performing selfaid and buddy care," said Sgt. Grimes. "We immediately started assisting them until other medical personnel arrived. It was amazing watching how everyone came together from different branches of the military. The professionalism of everyone out there was critical to support patients being transported by ground and air."

Sgt. Grimes said it's situations like these that make training vital to a successful response.

"Our standard is no more than three minutes to be at the furthest point of the runway for an unannounced emergency. If we are pre-warned, we must cover the entire airfield in less than a minute from the time of the incident."

Sgt. Grimes said there is absolutely nothing more important than knowing the firemen are prepared to help someone else correctly and safely.

"If we don't train, we can't be there when others need us," he said. "We've seen a little of everything (while deployed here). I can honestly say, our guys have been there whenever and wherever the mission needed us."