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     In both cases, the surgeons had been reported as filling

     authorized slots.


--   Their skills were not current.  Some doctors reported to

     their mobilization station after they had been in teaching

     positions and were no longer qualified in their field of

     specialty.  They had to be replaced before the units could

     deploy.


--   Their skills did not match specialty requirements.  A

     Reserve Thoracic Surgeon Team mobilizing at Fort Carson,

     Colorado, ii one example of a unit that did not have the

     required s)ci~1s. Surgical teams are small and specialized

     and designed to join a hospital in the field to augment the

     unit's surgical capability.  Total requirements for this

     unit were se~n personnel, including two thoracic surgeons.

     However, when the unit arrived at the mobilization station,

     it had no thoracic surgeons and was commanded by a

     gynecologist filling one of the two thoracic surgeon slots.

     According to the Fort Carson Mobilization team this

     physician admitted that he was not qualified for the

     position he was filling and, in fact, "the only chest he had

     opened was in medical school and belonged to a goat."

     Without thoracic surgeons, the unit could not perform its

     mission and was not deployable.  The mobilization team was

     subsequently able to transfer one thoracic surgeon into the


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