FINAL REPORT 18JAN93

File: 123096_sep96_decls1_0003.txt
Page: 0003
Total Pages: 55

Subject: FINAL REPORT   18JAN93                                          

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box  ID: BX303801

Folder Title: VARIOUS BUMED DOCUMENTS FOLDER 8                                                                

Document Number:          2

Folder Seq  #:         12








             BACKGROUND

                   When Operation Desert Shield began, the need for disease surveillance

             among the troops deployed to the Middle East was recognized. In mid-August of

             1990, a U.S. Navy preventive medicine physician/epidemiologist established a

             surveillance system to track illness and injury patterns among U.S. Marine

             Corps (USMC) personnel deployed with the First Marine Expeditionary Force

             (IMEF). As each Marine Corps unit arrived in country, they were added to the

             surveillance system. Statistics were accumulated and reported on a weekly

             basis in order to track the occurrence of diseases and injuries that were not

             the result of combat (disease and non-battle injuries (DNBIs)). After the air

             war began, record keeping and reporting of DN81s was less consistent. When

             the ground war started and units were on the move, communication became

             increasingly difficult and documentation of medical visits diminished further.

             As the conflict intensified for the ground units, individuals with minor

             illnesses and injuries were less likely to seek medical attention in the face

             of greater threats to survival. Due to the above factors, there were

             significant gaps in the DNBI statistics beginning on January 17, 1991, when

             Operation Desert Shield was transformed by  the air war into Desert Storm.

                   With the declaration of a cease fire  for Desert Storm on February 28,

             1991, marking the end of armed hostilities  between the Coalition Forces and

             Iraq, a new and potentially serious hazard  filled the skies over Kuwait and

             northeastern Saudi Arabia. Smoke billowed   from 611 oil wells in Kuwait

             deliberately set afire by retreating Iraqi  forces'. Numerous international

dly assess the types and levels of pollutants
             being discharged by the burning oil'-'. Parallels were drawn between the Agent

             Orange exposures of the Vietnam era and the unknown threat of "Agent Oil".


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Document 55 f:/Week-37/BX303801/VARIOUS BUMED DOCUMENTS FOLDER 8/final report 18jan93:1217961126382
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-37
Box ID = BX303801
Unit = VAR. BUMED
Parent Organization = BUMED
Folder Title = VARIOUS BUMED DOCUMENTS FOLDER 8
Folder Seq # = 12
Subject = FINAL REPORT 18JAN93
Document Seq # = 2
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 = 17-DEC-1996