University of Maryland Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Austin Anderson, MSN, CRNA selected to serve on an elite special operations surgical team

Austin Anderson, MSN, CRNA is a Staff Nurse Anesthetist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology. He completed selection for a position on the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) Special Operations Surgical Team (SOST). The training was conducted over a grueling 11-week where he developed expertise in operational medicine, small unit tactics, and providing anesthesia in unconventional settings. The training culminated with the completion of Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) School. In addition to his clinical responsibilities at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Captain Anderson is now a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. Before joining AFSOC and becoming a CRNA, Captain Anderson served as a USAF Critical Care Nurse deploying to Afghanistan in 2018. He flew more than 20 combat missions and is a recipient of the Air Medal.

The SOST is an extremely lightweight, mobile, and rapidly deployable element that is medically and tactically trained to provide trauma resuscitation and life-saving surgical care on or near the battlefield. AFSOC SOSTs close the gap between the front lines and conventional medical care.