The uncanny X-ray Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrew Moua
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Peering into the human body might sound like a super power out of a comic book, but to these Airmen it's a part of their everyday job.

These Airmen blast X-radiation, more commonly known as X-rays, into the human body through the use of specialized machines to see the deepest parts of the body and provide medical imaging to doctors.

"We receive patients who are referred to us through their Primary Care Manager," said Senior Airman Sean McCarty, 2nd Medical Support Squadron radiology technician. "When a patient arrives, we position them on the examining table and begin to X-ray. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to finish scanning a limb, but some sections of the body such as the chest may take up to a half hour."

There are a few types of imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging, used to view the internal structures of the body and typically used for soft tissue imaging; and computed tomography, mainly used for acquiring images of bone. After the images are taken, the technicians send them to the radiologist who examines the scans and then reports the results to the patient's PCM.

"A CT scan is like taking the body and turning it into slices of bread," said McCarty. "These small slices allow doctors to pinpoint and view a detailed image of the damaged bone or organ."

Airmen attend 18 months of technical school to learn the skill and develop the expertise needed to operate the machines and process X-ray imagery information.

"At our tech school we learn an array of skills in order to do our job," said Airman 1st Class Christina Blanco, 2 MDSS radiology technician. "The length of our school is so long because we have to learn how to use these machines and how to read and identify bone structure in order to find fractures which may or may not be obvious."

The radiology flight helps keep Barksdale's Airmen fit to fight through their knowledge and expertise of physiology and imaging techniques. This skill set helps them identify problems that might keep Airmen out of the fight.

"Without us here to provide these images, Barksdale's mission capability would slowly grind to a halt," said McCarty.