STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF

File: 110596_sep96_decls2_0040.txt
Page: 0040
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











             by a hospital corpsman on the flight deck. The team

             attended the memorial service for the deceased sailors, out-

             briefed the commanding officer, planned follow-up services

             with the ship's medical department, and then departed. The

             entire intervention lasted two days.

                  During the five months following the steam explosion,

             no crew member from the Iwo Jima was psychiatrically

             hospitalized for reasons related to the disaster. The ship

             was repaired and completed its mission in support of

             Operation Desert Storm. The ship's doctor reported that

             people continued to speak about their losses, anger, and

             fears of another accident, but they did their jobs and

             supported one another. over time the group's grief became

             less intense.

                  The Iwo Jima disaster had a profound effect on the crew

             of the Comfort. When word of the casualties was received,

             the burn unit on the Comfort was decorated for Halloween as

             a haunted house. Within hours, this room that had been

             prepared for a party, was converted back to an intensive

             care unit. Four Iwo Jima victims with burns over 90% of

             their bodies were treated. Many of the staff members in the

             ICU had never seen such catastrophic burns. Over the next

             20 hours the medical staff struggled to save the first burn

             victims to arrive on the Comfort. Tragically, they all

             died. There was sadness and a sense of demoralization even




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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