4410 OPERATIONAL SUPPORT WING (P) CONTINGENCY HISTORICAL

File: aabhf_07.txt
Page: 07
Total Pages: 14
    





    We also, toward the end, started having flight surgeons up
    here, and that was very nice because we also started having
    EPW [enemy prisoners of war] and Saudi missions. Some of
    these patients really should not have been cleared for air
    evac. Their doctors cleared them; our doctors said no, and
    I totally agreed with our doctors. So, having flight
    surgeons here was really nice.

    S: Let's talk a little bit about the mission in particular.
    Before the ground war started, you mentioned that there were
    the usual flight-line accidents and sporting accidents that
    you took care of. After the ground war started, can you
    characterize the type of patients you had?                                         >:M: Well, prior to the ground war, let me just tell you we had
    
    M:  Well, prior to the ground war, let me just tell you we had
    fractures, back pain, and upper respiratory diseases because
    of all the particulates in the air here. We had chest pain;
    we had depression; we had pregnancy, all of those things.
    After the ground war started, we had fractures and gunshot
    wounds. Throughout both phases we had motor vehicle
    accidents, terrible motor vehicle accidents. We had head
    injuries. We had psyche patients, frankly psychotic, out-
    of-touch-with-reality type patients. We had abdominal
    wounds. We had amputations; a lot of patients as a
    secondary complication on ventilators, chest tubes, that
    sort of thing.
    
    S: You also were in the position to not only treat allied
    coalition patients but also enemy prisoners of war [EPW].
    Would you like to tell us a little bit about the processing
    of these EPWs and what precautions you had to take to treat
    them?
    
    M: We had heard of an incident when EPW had killed a medical
    person. We advised our people to be compassionate but