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establishing communications, to establishing resupply, to identifying new 
requirements, to sustaining the force, to preparing for an offensive, and to 
supporting wing operations during Phases I, II, and III. The primary focus will 
be on the theater build in an austere, desert bare base environment, for unlike 
most theaters, Southwest Asia has limited infrastructure to billet, mess, treat, 
and transport some 55,000 Air Force personnel, much less meeting the vast 
Coalition Forces' requirements. Before describing our theater medical build, a 
few preparatory comments are in order. 
 
	Our success had many authors, the most important of which was the 
visionary leadership which planned the ATH, contingency hospital, and 
Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF) builds years ago. They gave us resources to 
deploy. And the past decade's emphasis on medical readiness training under all 
its auspices gave Air Force medics constant reminders of our primary mission to 
support the war fighters. This emphasis has been our bread and butter, 
especially in deploying 14 ATHs to SWA. Lastly, from a strategic point of view 
our long standing history of exercises in CONUS and SWA -- the BLUE FLAGs, 
GALLANT EAGLE/GALLANT KNIGHTs, INTERNAL LOOKs, PATRIOT SPIRITs, BRIGHT STARs, 
SHADOW HAWKs, IRON COBRAs -- to name a few, provided us real world deployment 
and requirements experience to respond to contingencies. These invaluable 
exercises prepared our planners and operators during the deliberate planning 
process for the ultimate crisis action test. Now, on to our theater build. 
 
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