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                  OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM
                        BIOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
    
                           DEPLOYMENT BACKGROUND
    
 DEPLOYMENT - USAF personnel began deploying to the Persian Gulf
 in early August 1990. I am not sure who was the first
 bioenvironmental engineering (BEE) troop to arrive in theater.
 The DP records indicate the MacDill and Shaw BEE Personnel
 arrived on 10 August 1990. The HQ TAC Surgeon's staff, including
 the Command bioenivironmental Engineer, arrived on 15 August 1990.   
 Over the next four months, the majority of the BEE personnel had
 arrived in theater (although there were a few that made it in
 just before the start of the war). BEE personnel were scattered
 across 22 USAF bed-down locations. Most BEE personnel were
 deployed for over 180 days, and many over 220 days, in support of
 Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The majority of the
 BEE troops returned home by late April 1991.
    
 PERSONNEL - During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm,
 approximately 90 BEE personnel were deployed to the Area Of
 Responsibility (AOR) in the Persian Gulf. There were 12
 bioenvironmental engineers and 78 bioenvironmental engineering
 technicians (BEETs). Of the 12 engineers deployed, 7 (58 %) were
 lieutenants. Approximately 65 % of the BEETs were young airmen.
 A map of the AOR is provided indicating where personnel were
 deployed.
    
 BEE ASSIGNMENTS - Each Air Transportable Hospital (ATM) was
 staffed with three BEE personnel - one engineer and two BEETs.
 At locations where there was no ATH assigned, medical coverage
 was provided by Squadron Medical Elements (SME) and Air
 Transportable Clinics (ATC). Initially, the SMEs did not have
 BEE personnel assigned. Beginning the middle of September 1990,
 each non-ATH location was robusted with a 907XO and 908XO. Each
 patient decontamination team had four BEETs assigned.
    
 BEE DUTIES - In the beginning, BEE personnel were consumed with
 basic survival functions and performed mainly public health type
 duties {i.e., drinking water surveillance, heat stress
 monitoring, etc.). However, once the aircraft were bedded down,
 attentions swung to industrial hygiene (IH).  Initially there was
 very little industrial work being performed (with the exception
 of Civil Engineering who stayed busy from the very beginning till
 the very end). The first few months the aircraft maintainers
 merely turned aircraft which basically involved refueling and
 servicing them. Later on during the deployment, more extensive
 aircraft maintenance was performed. Throughout, IH surveillance
 was primarily subjective, practical based, professional judgment
 evaluations. With the exception of hazardous waste (HW)
 disposal, the BEE personnel had little to do in the environmental
 protection arena. The U.S. Army was appointed as the OPR for all
 environmental protection activities (see attached message on this
   
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