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	Contingency hospital activation issues immediately validated the
        wisdom of establishing NAF/SG staffs. Resolving the haphazard flow of
        augmenting medical forces to the UK and Germany was the first major
        issue. The presence of medical personnel in the NAF command centers
        enabled immediate and direct interaction with the NAF staff to resolve
        identified impediments. Regional command, control, and coordination
        by the NAF/SGs strengthened medical operations while giving deployed
        medical unit commanders a local' functional authority they could
        interact with in a timely manner.
  
        With the cessation of conflict, the NAF/SG  helped manage a
        ponderous redeployment effort, and figured heavily in planning and
        coordinating the return of medical facilities to their prewar
        configurations. 
        The accomplishments and lessons learned at the NAF Surgeon's
        Offices were invaluable and clearly validated the decision to
        establish them.
  
        AEROMEDICAL EVACUATION
        With the introduction of US forces into CENTCOM, USAFE's
        peacetime aeromedical evacuation (A/E) system deployed members from
        Rhein Main AB to establish CENTCOM's A/E system Concurrently,
        USAFE.s A/E system began expansion at seven EUCOM airfields which best
        served medical needs and MAC's  operational requirements. Intertheater
        (strategic) A/E missions began in August go utilizing C-141's to
        evacuate over 3,700 patients from CENTCOM to EUCOM before the war even
        started! The intertheater A/E system also transported over 7,400
        patients from EUCOM to CONUS during the period August 90 to May 91.
  
        An intratheater (tactical) A/E system was established to
        distribute arriving CENTCOM patients to specialized treatment
        facilities within the EUCOM. USAF and Danish tactical aircraft, along
        with German rotory-wing aircraft, were available to support this
        patient movement.
  
       An A/E system is more than just airframes. Medical crews
       consisting of flight surgeons, flight nurses, and aeromedical
       technicians were needed, along with specialized medical equipment for
       in-flight patient care. Supporting A/E Control Centers {AECC,) and
        A.  Liaison Teams (AELT) coordinated and controlled A/E
            [OCR IS NOT CLEARLY READABLE:  SEE IMAGE FILE]
       operations both in the air and on the ground.  Approximately 2,600 AF
       Reserve Component personnel augmented the USAFE European A/E system
       and comprised the vast majority of A/E Support during DS/PF.
  
       	Another critical part of the A/E process is patient regulation -
       the matching of patient treatment needs with available, specialty
       specific hospital beds. Each patient who moved from a CENTCOM
       hospital to a EUCOM hospital or onward to a CONUS hospital was first
       regulated by the jointly staffed Joint Medical Regulating Office
       (JMRO). Throughout DS,PF. CENTCOM's JMRO, and the Armed
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