4410 OPERATIONAL SUPPORT WING (P) CONTINGENCY HISTORICAL

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    careful, and things like we absolutely would not allow a
    weapon in the MASF. We hid our scissors. All knives were
    removed from the personnel and the patients, if we found it.
    We didn't hang our stethoscope around our neck so they could
    choke us; just trying to anticipate that one crazy person
    that wanted to hurt an American. We had no incidents
    whatsoever, though. They seemed appreciative, as a matter
    of fact.

    S: Major, since you participated in the hub concept, can you
    give us some insight as to the strengths and weaknesses of
    the hub concept?

    M: As far as the strengths of the concept were concerned, it
    was the idea of one-stop shopping for the patient. Once
    they got on an airplane or a chopper and got here, they had
    already been seen north at a battalion aid station, a CASH
    [Combat Support Hospital] or a MASH [Mobile Army Surgical
    Hospital], possibly an evac, and then flown down here. Once
    they got here, it could be the beginning of getting home for
    them. By that I mean, if the patient was triaged and the
    return to duty would not be before 7 days, then they went
    straight out on a strat mission. That could take place
    right here at midbase, and that was very good for them. If
    they needed to be in another evac hospital, they could be
    ambulanced over to those hospitals. If those hospitals were
    full, they could go through the MASF for bed leveling and go
    ahead to a hospital down country in Riyadh; so, in that
    sense, I think that the hub worked, and it worked very well.
    
    For the operations of the hub, it was determined there would
    be one POC [point of contact], and I think that was a good
    idea. That was the OIC [officer in charge] of the AECE.
    Again, we were all in agreement that there should be one
    
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