Operation Desert Storm

Full Army Medical Capability Not Achieved Gao ID: T-NSIAD-92-8 February 5, 1992

If the Persian Gulf ground war had lasted much longer than it did, the Army would have been ill-prepared to adequately care for wounded soldiers because many Reserve medical personnel were unfit or untrained, equipment and supplies were outmoded or nonexistent, and personnel information systems used to identify doctors and nurses for assignment to active units contained incomplete and outdated information. Many of the doctors and nurses who were scheduled to go did not do so for a variety of reasons. The unit's peacetime status reports did not, however, adequately reflect this situation. Many doctors and nurses in active, Reserve, and National Guard units had not trained during peacetime to perform their wartime mission. Field training was lacking and, as a result, doctors and nurses were unfamiliar with their unit's mission or equipment. The Army also faced equipment and other logistical support problems. By most accounts, the Army provided adequate care for those soldiers in need. However, had the predicted number of casualties occurred and had the ground war started earlier or lasted longer, the Army would have been unable to deliver adequate care.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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