STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF

File: 110596_sep96_decls2_0006.txt
Page: 0006
Total Pages: 48

Subject: STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF        

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box ID: BX303818

Folder Title: USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992                                                  

Document Number:          4

Folder SEQ  #:         13










             fearful. Reliable information was.scarce, physical stresses
             were plentiful, and the social milieu aboard ship was alien.

                  Before the cruise began, the ship's crew was assembled
             in a large auditorium and briefed on what to bring and when
             to arrive at the busses for departure to the ship. A legal
             representative instructed everyone concerning power of

             attorney and personal wills. Some people shed their first

             tears of the deployment as they sat down and decided who

             should inherit their money, and who should care for their
             children in the event they died. This was the first tangible
             blow to the crew's myth of safety and security; the threat

             of death seemed all too real.



             Expectation of War



                  When the ship departed on August 13, war was imminent.

             The crew was told both that the ship would be protected and
             that allied warships would stay away from the Comfort in
             accord with the Geneva Convention. Everyone had a different

             fantasy of what this war would bring. These fantasies

             generated rumors that intensified the feelings of

             helplessness.

                 one rumor held that the Comfort was a primary target
             for Saddam Hussein, a despot who had destroyed hospitals in
             previous wars. The ship had huge red crosses painted on its



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Document 48 f:/Week-39/BX303818/USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992/stress and coping with trauma of war in the pers:1104960910243
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-39
Box ID = BX303818
Unit = VAR. BUMED
Parent Organization = BUMED
Folder Title = USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992
Folder Seq # = 13
Subject = STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERS
Document Seq # = 4
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 04-NOV-1996