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        TOPIC AREA: EQUIPMENT STANDARDIZATION / AE KITS, etc.
       
        SUBMITTED BY: HQ AFRES/SGXO
       
        ISSUE: War Readiness Materials (WRM) failed to support the
        aeromedical evacuation mission in the United Kingdom.
       
       OBSERVATION: Many critical WRM items issued to aeromedical
       evacuation forces deployed to the UK were not usable because they
       were not properly maintained in accordance with WRM guidelines
       nor were the items based on current aeromedical evacuation
       approved lists of required items. Personnel at each of the three
       deployment sites in the UK were required to inventory and remove
       expired or not required WRM items issued to them. Several
       thousand staff hours were expended by physicians, nurses, medical
       technicians, and medical supply personnel in this continuing
       inventory effort. Extensive amounts of items had to be ordered
       through medical supply channels to restock the outdated,
       obsolete, or otherwise non-usable medical supplies. One reason
       was because contingency kits were found to have built and stored
       for over ten years in uncontrolled climatic conditions. Another
       reason was that required item lists were changed over the years
       but the items in the contingency kits were not updated. Major
       critical items such as drugs used in cardiac emergencies had
       changed due to either new technology or new medical studies. Old
       drugs no longer recommended for therapy were contained in the
       contingency kits. The same critical emergency care related
       medical items required in the aeromedical evacuation system were
       also in scarce supply in the contingency hospitals causing keen
       competition for the same emergency items. Numerous pallet loads
       of medical supplies to support the aeromedical evacuation
       operation were shipped to Europe. In spite of this effort, only
       two medical kits were completed at RAF Upper Heyford in the 60
       day period the Northern Region AECC was in operation. We were
       instructed to release the contingency kits back to the WRM
       program before we closed out aeromedical evacuation activities in
       the UK. The WRM program found in the UK to support aeromedical
       evacuation can be described accurately as a major medical
       disaster.
       
        IMPACT: An undetermined savings of money and manpower.
       
       RECOMMENDATION: It would have been much easier to have deployed
       aeromedical evacuation supply personnel to a central supply point
       to build contingency/medical kits based on a current listings.
       The completed kits could then be taken to deployment sites. This
       would have resulted in having no outdated drugs, no drugs
       expiring without use in a medical treatment facility that could
       not use the drugs, no improper storage difficulties, no wasted
       inventory time, no emergency order requests to overload the
       medical supply system, etc.
       
       
       
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