USAFE MEDICAL SERVICE SUPPORT TO OPERATION DESERT STORM/PROVEN FORCE

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       USAFE MEDICAL SERVICE STUPOR ~ OPERATION DESERT STORM/PROVEN FORCE
       INTRODUCTION
      
      With over 500,000 US personnel In the Persian Gulf region and a
      developing medical care system in CENTCOM, the National Command
      Authority had to ensure the availability of adequate resources to
      support the medical needs of patients evacuated from the theater of
      operations. HQ EUCOM was tagged with this responsibility and
      determined that the major share of this support would come from USAFE.
      The Air Force medical team in Europe signed up to the challenge; the
      results are presented in the following summary.
      
      PERSPECTIVES
      
      - The reality of war looming on the horizon brought home the
      realization that what had been only a remote possibility was now
      probable. USAFE would transition from primarily a flying mission to a
      supporting command. General Oaks, CINCUSAFE, stated on a number of
      occasions that USAFE's number one mission in support of Operation
      DESERT STORM (DS) was medical .
      
      WARTIME MEDICAL CONCEPT ~
      
      Prior to Operation DESERT STORM/PROVEN force {DS/PF). the USAFE
      Combat Casualty Care System was develops for a European general war
      scenario which assumed that US airfields would be attacked early.
      Limited by space and manpower, peacetime medical facilities could
      expand only minimally, and would be quickly overwhelmed by casualties.
      USAFE therefore needed standby, off base medical facilities which
      could be activated on short notice. This requirement led to the
      development of 'turnkey' contingency hospitals which have full
      medical and surgical capability with associated support materiel
      inplace and ready to use. The advantages to this concept are relative
      security and minimal activation time. Since development began in
      1982, USAFE has established 5,750 contingency hospital beds.
      
         USAFE medical  support for DS/PF;- was an amalgamation of the
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      procedures were modified or newly developed: hospital , staffing
      patterns were adjusted; and We peacetime medical system expand ~ to
      accommodate the 'dual' health care roles.
      
        MEDICAL MISSION OVERVIEW
      
        	During Operation DS/PF, the USEUCOM/SG was tasked to support
        CENTCOM with 5.600 beds.  Expansion of EUCOM's entire peacetime
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