Med group squadron becomes 60th SGCS

  • Published
  • By Jim Spellman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  A change of command ceremony Aug. 22 at David Grant USAF Medical Center not only saw the reigns of leadership exchange hands between Col. (Dr.) Mike Eppinger and Col. (Dr.) Dave Simon at the 60th Surgical Operations Squadron, but a change in the unit's designation.

Effective the same day, the squadron's acronym changed to 60th SGCS from 60th MSGS to align with Air Force-level changes.

"Historically, the term surgeon meant essentially 'a doctor who accompanies troops into battle'. Historically, every doctor did surgery," said presiding official Col. (Dr.) Rawson Wood, 60th Medical Group commander. "As recently as the Civil War, the treatment for a gunshot wound to the arm was to amputate the arm, as the medical profession had not yet invented antibiotics and all the wounds were contaminated."

That uncomfortable thought from long ago earned doctors the unwelcomed moniker of "Sawbones" throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

According to Wood, most doctors today don't perform surgery as the profession has grown and become highly specialized over the last century, "but the terminology persists in terms like flight surgeon and surgeon general."

Like the professional surgeon at DGMC, 60th SGCS has grown to include open heart surgery and other specialized areas of treatment for a population of more than 130,000 TRICARE-eligible patients in the immediate San Francisco-Sacramento vicinity. With an annual budget of $10 million and almost 400 personnel on staff, the Airmen of the 60th SGCS have won numerous Air Mobility Command and Air Force-level awards with unprecedented success from every measure.

Pioneering cutting-edge procedures that have saved countless lives that would have been lost elsewhere -- both domestically and overseas in hostile war zones -- 60th SGCS personnel delivers general and plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, heart, lung, vascular surgery, ears, nose, throat, ophthalmology, urology, neurosurgery, anesthesia, obstetrics and gynecological health services to more than 500,000 Department of
Defense and Department of Veteran Affairs Northern California Health Care System-eligible patients. It sustains more than 1,800 surgical cases involving more than 8,600 specific surgical procedures, including 427 deliveries annually.

During the past couple of years, 60th SGCS has led a base-wide effort to reform how DGMC procures the medical equipment needed for complicated surgical cases.
Bringing together the best from the 60th Contracting Squadron, judge advocate, logistics and higher headquarters, 60th SGCS has fine tuned a system of blanket purchase agreements to minimize costs, maximize quality and avoid legal pitfalls. The results of 60th SGCS's efforts are now being used as a benchmark across the Air Force Medical Service.

The 60th SGCS also maintains readiness and supports worldwide contingency operations by supporting Air Expeditionary Force missions, 10 research protocols, five graduate-level medical education programs and a clinical Phase II training program for enlisted medical personnel.

The establishment of a call center within 60th SGCS has also allowed DGMC to fill its nine operating rooms with a complicated mix of patients to provide excellent care while keeping the medical staff trained, current, and, as its squadron emblem states, "on the cutting edge" in the latest medical procedures.