MEDICAL OPERATIONS DURING OPERATION DESERT STORM 9 NOV 91

File: 123096_sep96_decls2_0016.txt
Page: 0016
Total Pages: 57

Subject: MEDICAL OPERATIONS DURING OPERATION DESERT STORM 9 NOV 91       

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box  ID: BX303801

Folder Title: VARIOUS BUMED DOCUMENTS FOLDER 6                                                                

Document Number:          2

Folder Seq  #:         10









               (including hospital ships and fleet hospitals) and has the best information on overall
               theater medical requirements. Under this approach, however, conflicts between the
               Navy and Marine Corps may be resolved by an Army or Air Force surgeon who may
               not he knowledgeable about naval capabilities and problems.

                    During Desert Shield/Storm, under the latter structure, the Navy and
               Marine Corps were able to resolve an initial disagreement over the location of FH-5
               without CINCENT intervention. COMUSMARCENT had a clear interest in the
               placement of the echelon III medical assets to support his forces and had the best
               information on the relative safety of alternative locations; however, he was not in the
               best position to evaluate the support requirements for the fleet hospital, demonstrating
               the need to closely coo-@te the establishment of the medical support system.


                    COMUSNAVCENT delegated responsibility for medical support to comrs-
               NAVLOGSUPFOR, an echelon III commander located ashore in Bahrain. The
               NAVCENT surgeon was assigned ashore as an assistant chief of staff to
               COMNAVLOGSUPFOR. This arrangement facilitated formal and informal com-
               munications with the large medical establishment ashore, including the MTFs and
               the CINCCENT and other component medical staffs. Separation of the NAVCENT
               surgeon from other members of the staff, however, limited his involvement in the
               planning process and his ability to make timely and informed judgments on theater
               medical issues. For example, initial planning for an amphibious assault took place
               without representation from the NAVCENT surgeon's staff. The Seventh Fleet

               medical advisor but this provided an imperfect solution. Furthermore, this assign-
               ment of responsibilities was not conveyed during the turnover of command, causing
               confusion as to who represented naval medicine for COMUSNAVCENT. In addi-
               tion, assigning the NAVCENT surgeon to a subordinate command of COMUS-
               NAVCENT placed him at a lower echelon than the COMUSMARCENT, COMUS-
               CENTAF, and COMUSARCENT surgeons, creating the potential for liaison
               problems. Collc>cating the surgeon with the rest of the staff should help avoid the
               potential for misunderstanding the surgeon's identity and role.


                   Experience from Desert Shield suggests that command and control could be
               made more efficient and responsive. If the command structure places Marine Corps
               forces under the control of a Navy component commander, the Navy component
               commander's surgeon has dear overall responsibility for coordinating Navy and
               Marine Corps theater medical support. If the command structure has separate
               Navy and Marine Corps component commanders, other ways of improving medical
               command and control should be explored. Relationships with other components



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Document 57 f:/Week-37/BX303801/VARIOUS BUMED DOCUMENTS FOLDER 6/medical operations during operation desert storm:1217961126393
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 6
Folder Seq # = 10
Subject = MEDICAL OPERATIONS DURING OPERATION DESERT STORM
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