MEDICAL OPERATIONS DURING OPERATION DESERT STORM 9 NOV 91

File: 123096_sep96_decls2_0038.txt
Page: 0038
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









                 constraints meant that resupply from NSC Oakland or NSC Norfolk required 10 to
                 12 days. As an interim measure, COMNAVLOGSLIPPFOR planned to prestage
                 resupply blocks in Bahrain.

                      Had an amphibious assault occurred, the supply system would have responded to
                 reduce the time required for medical supplies to reach the CRTSS, but the magnitude
                 of the response and its implications for casualty care are unknown. The experience of
                 Desert Storm suggests that the amphibious ships may require a resupply point closer
                 than CONUS. Prestaging supplies or extending the SIM concept to the CRTS plat-
                 fozms offer possible solutions.

                      The long deployment phase of Desert Shield gave the Navy time to work out
                 many problems in the implementation of the SIM concept. The SMI concept will
                 work for class VIE resupply, but it has limitations and will only work in a timely
                 fashion if the Navy plans for its use. The SIM concept needs to be included in
                 training for medical logisticians and formalized in doctrine and OPLANs where
                 appropriate.


                 EFFECT OF CEMMCAL WARFARE                             T


                      The ability of the medical support system to operate in an environment threatened
                 by chemical weapons and to treat large numbers of chemically con           ted casualties
                 remains untested. This operation, however, demonstrated the need to modify the
                 Required Operational Capability (ROC@ected Operational Environ3nent (POE) for
                 deployable medical platforms to include the ability to operate in the presence of a
                 chemical threat. The Navy's echelon III medical facilities began this operation with
inst a chemical attack, shortages of
                 individual protective equipment (IPE) for both patients and staff, and no doctrine,
                 training, or adequate supplies for decontaminating patients.


                 Collective Protection


                      Collective protection, which offers overall protection to the platform, is @cult
                 to provide for fleet hospitals and hospital ships. A 500-bed corabat-zone fleet hospi-
                 tal covers over 28 acres of ground. The hospital ships are equivalent in square
                 footage to a ten-story building. During the deployment, using PVC pipe,
                 USNS Comfort developed a significantly improved washdown system that was
                 capable of quickly encasing the ship in a protective envelope of water. Effectiveness
                 testing of the system should be undertaken, however. Fleet hospitals adopted
                 procedures to harden the various types of shelters against the likelihood of




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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