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File: aaabm_09.txtthe diligent efforts of Sergeant Sipos and the augmentees, two CCPs became operational and one was brought up to ready stand-by status. Glitches discovered during activation of the dormant hospital facilities were quickly diagnosed and solved by USAFE's Headquarters engineering experts. Captains Douglas Tucker of the Operations Division and Carlos Cruz-Gonzales of the Programming Division designed repairs and obtained the necessary parts to repair operating room ventilation and heating malfunctions at the Zweibrucken AB contingency hospital, and coordinated setting up heating and water supply functions at the aeromedical evacuation staging facility built in Hangar Two at Ramstein AB. Captain Tucker, Chief Master Sergeant Dennis Mc Avoy, and Staff Sergeant Charles Underwood, all of the Operations Division, again jumped in to save the day when the entire X-ray wing of the USAF hospital at Wiesbaden Air Station (AS), which was shut down because asbestos construction materials had been used in it, was needed for potential use during DESERT STORM. Captain Tucker, Chief McAvoy and Sergeant Underwood formed an emergency asbestos removal team, gathered necessary equipment, went to Wiesbaden and worked straight through for over a week to remove all the asbestos. The hospital was able to open fully functional in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost than anything less than this team's efforts provided, to receive and treat patients from SWA. To provide other essential services, USAFE Prime RIBS personnel set up billeting for medical augmentees at the four contingency hospitals and at four aeromedical staging facilities, using tents, hard billets, and unoccupied military family housing units. They also set up facilities to feed patients and medical staff from field kitchens and emergency hard kitchens, and set up two mortuaries and ancillary support, as well as MPCs at each of the four contingency hospitals. The HQ USAFE Directorate of Housing and Services deployed several personnel to the United Kingdom (UK) to augment 3 AF during DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. Chief Master Sergeant Dan Awalt deployed to RAF Upper Heyford to help manage contingency hospital food service support at RAF Little Rissington and RAF Bicester. The hub of all Services functions was RAF Upper Heyford, with the 20th Services Squadron (20 SVS) having overall responsibility. Initially, there was a great deal of apprehension about the possibility of having to provide support to potentially large numbers of American casualties from the war in SWA, and preparations were carried out with urgency. Upon arrival at RAF Upper Heyford, Chief Awalt was assigned to the 20 SVS. No medical personnel had yet arrived and no additional facilities had been established to support the food service requirements. Mr. Mike Hertlein of the 20 SVS had done a tremendous amount of preparatory work, having rations pre-ordered, equipment purchased, facilities identified, etc. His foresight and hard work laid the foundation for a successful transition to fullblown contingency support. Prime RIBS team deployed from CONUS units to RAF Upper Heyford to augment in-place Services personnel from that base, as well as the many USAFE augmentees already on board. A total of more than 190 Services folks were deployed from CONUS and USAFE. Chief Awalt, as the overall Food Service Manager, directed the opening of dining facilities at several locations to support not only potential patients, but several thousand medical
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