ANTHOLOGY AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY                                         39


Brabham: We had two medical battalions and their hospitals staged far forward
with General Krulak,    and at least one company from each battalion was
mobile-loaded, so its field hospital could move with the ground units and set up
rapidly even farther forward, if that were required.  A lot of careful planning
and hard work went into the mobile-loading of those hospitals.      The blood--
replacement system, for example, was in good shape.       The blood was on hand
and it was kept fresh.  It is correct that we would have had to rely on ground
transport for casualties, and we had leased at least 60 buses from Saudi sources.
We took out the seats and built in racks to hold litters.  The buses were staged
and ready to go.
   Navy medicine really came through in this operation.       They got their gear
there, and their doctors and corpsmen, and they were ready for anything.   They
have things to improve, as we all do, but they were a success story all the way.
My hat is off to them.

Proceedings: Desert Storm had to be one of the few times since World War I
that Marines faced the threat of mass casualties from chemical or biological
weapons.  What additional burden did this place on you or the medical chain?

Brahham: My biggest concern was water.     Sourcing was not a problem--you
can always find sources of water--but water hauling and distribution were always
a concern, because most of our water was coming all the way from the Gulf
coast. We had some possible sources in Kuwait, once the attack began, but we
couldn't be sure of them until we could actually walk the ground. Now, if you
add the demands of decontamination of Marines and equipment to an already
difficult problem, you must start thinking of reallocating transportation assets to
bring forward enough water.  At that point, water--not ammunition--would have
become the primary driver of the logistical effort.

Proceedings: Desert Storm highlighted the issue of women in combat once
again.   As I recall, women are well-represented in the combat service support
units--from supply clerks to heavy-equipment operators--and they were certainly
exposed to many of the stresses and dangers of combat in the events you have
outlined. Were there any problems in the deployability or performance of the
female Marines?

Brabham: Absolutely no problems--I say that unequivocally.        They did their
jobs, performed them well, and posed no special considerations in the FSSG.
We simply did not worry about them.   They did fine.