TAB C-6 – Delousing Operations

I.  OVERVIEW

Coalition forces captured 86,743 enemy prisoners of war (EPWs). Four US-operated EPW camps in Saudi Arabia processed approximately 69,822 prisoners. The Army’s 800^th Military Police (MP) Brigade was responsible for the theater EPW mission — charged with escorting, processing, and interning EPWs in a safe, secure environment.^[724]

The four EPW camps, with their subordinate military police (MP) battalions, directly supported both the Army and the Marine Corps (Table 127).

The MPs called the two eastern camps "Bronx," and the two western camps "Brooklyn." The two "Bronx" camps were in very close proximity to each other, as were the two "Brooklyn" camps. Military authorities expected each camp to process 500 EPWs daily. Each camp’s initial capacity was 12,000 EPWs, but expanded to 24,000. EPWs began flowing into the camps at the start of the air war on January 17, 1991.^[725] The 400^th MP Battalion, the last organization to reach Saudi Arabia, arrived too late to construct a fifth camp before the ground offensive. Consequently, US forces operated only four EPW camps. The personnel of the 400^th MPs and its subordinate units were formed into three task forces, only one of which may have supported delousing operations at the "Bronx" camps.^[726]

The EPWs posed a significant preventive medicine challenge. Military medical analysts expected EPWs to have poor personal hygiene, lack immunizations, carry the region’s endemic communicable diseases (i.e., malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, endemic typhus, hepatitis, sandfly fever, etc.), have open wounds or sores, and suffer from malnutrition and lice infestation.^[727] The potential for lice infestation and louse-borne illnesses prompted the delousing operations.

In late January 1991, the Army’s 22^nd Support Command staff addressed the issue of how to delouse EPWs. US forces needed to prevent epidemic louse-borne typhus, a disease transmitted by infected body louse feces contaminating skin abrasions. The prospect of capturing large numbers of EPWs raised concerns that the disease could become widespread. Army planners knew epidemic typhus occurred in crowded human populations where personal hygiene conditions were poor.^[728] Therefore, the MPs needed to physically isolate the EPWs until MPs or medical personnel could delouse them. Historically, delousing agents have included DDT, lindane, malathion, and carbaryl.^[729]

Two types of dusters were available for delousing. A plunger-type hand duster with a six-inch extension tube provided an even flow of powder and could treat approximately 10 individuals before having to be refilled with lindane. The other was a gasoline-powered duster capable of treating up to 600 people per hour.

The Army’s inventory of power delousers was limited. To further complicate matters, the manufacturer of this delouser, which bore the military nomenclature "Delousing Outfit, Power Driven, 10 Gun," was no longer in business and few, if any, repair parts were available.^[730] Anticipating the need for delousing when Kuwait was occupied, the Army Materiel Command determined that the supply and service companies in Southwest Asia possessed 45 delousing outfits and the 714^th Preventive Medicine Detachment had three more.^[731]

The 800^th Military Police Brigade (MP Bde) had an inadequate number of delousing outfits to perform the anticipated mission, and its military police personnel were inexperienced in using delousing outfits. The 12^th Medical Detachment loaned its delousing outfits to the MPs and trained them in their use.^[732] Military police and medical personnel jointly participated in delousing in the EPW camps.

Seeking first-hand information from personnel who observed or participated in delousing, investigators attempted to contact approximately 240 soldiers assigned to 800^th Military Police Brigade units. Of the 240 personnel whom investigators attempted to contact, they successfully reached 170, of whom only 35 had actual first-hand information on delousing operations. Investigators had previously interviewed 25 preventive medicine personnel personally knowledgeable about delousing. In all, investigators interviewed 60 veterans who provided information on delousing operations, including three Navy preventive medicine technicians. The Navy preventive medicine technicians conducted delousing operations for a very brief period immediately after the liberation of Kuwait. Table 128 shows the occupational specialties of the personnel interviewed.

Most of those interviewed (35) held the grades E-4 to E-6. Interviewees came from all four of the operational EPW camps.

Generally, preventive medicine and military police personnel worked shifts as long as 12-hours in around-the-clock delousing operations. In at least one camp, EPWs applied lindane to themselves because the MPs had no power equipment or hand pumps.^[733] Delousing operations generally took place inside a tent. However, six personnel from the 301^st EPW Camp said delousing took place outside or both inside and outside.^[734] Two members of the 401^st EPW Camp^[735] and three members of the 403^rd EPW Camp^[736] said delousing at their camps occurred outside tents or in an open-sided tent.

The precautions on the lindane label — the use of a respirator and eye protection — were not consistently adhered to by those involved in delousing operations. Chemical warfare masks were, in some cases, substituted. The label also called for delousing to be conducted in open or well ventilated areas.^[737] (Interviews indicated that this was done most consistently at the 301^st EPW Camp.) Not using a respirator and eye protection, and not conducting the delousing in a well-ventilated place caused avoidable exposures to lindane.

The powdery nature of lindane made dermal contact and inhalation the applicators’ primary exposure routes. Most of those interviewed identified the delousing agent as either lindane or a white powder. Availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for applicators varied. Veterans from some camps reported that no PPE, except MOPP gear, was available.^[738] Of 44 persons responding to a question about the availability of PPE, 11 reported none was available. Fifteen well-protected applicators wore respirators and rubber or plastic gloves. The types of personal protective equipment reported in the interviews are shown in Table 129.

Table 129. Personal protective equipment profiles

Investigators asked personnel about the methods used to apply the delousing agent. Of the 45 who responded, 14 said they had used or observed powered delousing equipment and 14 reported the manual pumps. Eleven reported using or observing shaker cans or other methods. Six reported using multiple methods. As mentioned earlier, some of the powered delousing units did not always work. Some of the American applicators and some EPWs used their hands to apply the powder. Table 130 provides additional information on application methods.

Table 130. Application methods

When using either the plunger hand duster or the power delousing outfit, the dusting process was essentially the same:

1. Dust the head until the hair was white with dust and then dust the inside of the hat;

2. With the individual’s arm outstretched at shoulder height, spray powder up each sleeve until the powder came out at the collar;

3. Spray powder inside the front of the shirt toward each arm and the stomach;

4. Inject powder at the waist down the loosened trousers toward each leg and the pubic region;

5. Disperse powder at the back of the collar toward each shoulder and the small of the back and apply additional powder to the collar itself; and finally

6. From the back of the trousers, direct the powder toward each leg and the buttocks.^[739]

Investigators asked interviewees how delousing applicators cleaned up. Of the 18 responding, 12 described several methods, one reported hand washing, and five said they took no measures.

The military supply system carried a one percent lindane formulation. According to Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) data, US forces ordered 3,208 25-pound cans of lindane for the Gulf War. Records do not specify which units placed the orders or whether the supply system actually shipped any cans. Also, no records show how much lindane units already had on hand before deploying. DLA reports the logistic system shipped 1,604 25-pound lindane cans back to the US.^[740]

The delousing requirement developed sooner than anticipated, and sooner than lindane shipments arrived from the US. Consequently, lindane shortages became a critical issue. Units partly attacked the shortage problem by purchasing lindane locally.^[741] One Army doctor reported seeing "Lindane 26WP,"^[742] which probably means a 26% lindane powder formulation.

US and United Kingdom forces shared many delousing experiences. Both forces’ powered delousing equipment and their delousing procedures were from World War II. Powered delousing equipment was no longer being manufactured in either the US or the UK.

UK forces gave EPWs an initial medical examination, closely inspecting them for evidence of body lice. EPWs requiring treatment were dusted, fully clothed, with a malathion-based powder from a dust gun. The UK troops found the first EPWs arriving at the processing point clean, with few requiring delousing. Later groups were filthy, with many more requiring delousing.^[743]

During peak periods, using the gun to apply the dust took an inordinate amount of time, so the UK troops used six ounce tins of one percent malathion dust, which treated approximately four EPWs. The British applicators used only rubber surgical gloves for protection and apparently kept no delousing records, but those involved in delousing reported they treated "hundreds" of EPWs with malathion. By contrast, US forces treated tens of thousands. Consequently, British exposure was considerably less than American exposure.^[744]

UK forces reportedly took 5,005 EPWs and displaced civilians into custody. The UK’s more circumspect approach to delousing meant that the British deloused only a fraction of their EPW population. By agreement, US forces accepted EPWs and displaced civilians from UK and French forces and transferred them to Saudi Arabian installations.^[745] It is possible US forces deloused the transferred EPWs before turning them over to Saudi forces.

Because of its sheer volume, the Gulf War delousing effort was a significant undertaking. Planning took place relatively late and apparently with minimal input from the preventive medicine community. US forces had not performed large-scale delousing since the Korean War.

US as well as UK forces engaged in delousing operations in the Gulf. Unlike the British, US medical personnel deloused virtually all EPWs. The US used the organochlorine, lindane, while the UK used an organophosphate, malathion. Both forces employed powered equipment for some EPWs and manually applied dust from fairly small containers for others. Only minimal personal protection equipment (PPE) was available for US delousing operations. Surgical rubber gloves constituted the only PPE used by British applicators.^[746]

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