European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                July 1985 the stars and stripes Page 3 Neucom casualty care assailed Competition Between army by Philip Boffey new York times news service Washington the military handling of casualties after the 1983 bombing of the Marine corps Barracks in Lebanon revealed that the european command lacks a integrated plan for providing care to the victims of terrorist according to a classified Pentagon and two memorandums written shortly after the Bei rut bombing show a Competition Between the air Force and the army to care for victims of the bombing who were taken to and to reap the publicity rewards from providing the in the course of the air Force who took charge of patient sent wounded serv ice members to an overburdened air Force Hospital while better prepared army hospitals were pushed into the according to the memorandum by the army officer who complained of the the Pentagon issued a statement wednesday saying that such a plan now exists in and a Neucom spokesman thursday rebutted the report and the see Story the classified report from april now circulating in the Pentagon and in charges that the Beirut terrorist act of october revealed that the european command lacks a integrated plan for providing care to the victims of terrorist its major conclusion was that Neucom has neither adequate medical readiness re sources nor effective joint the report has been kept secret Over the objections of Pentagon health officials and charges by the House armed services committee that the joint chiefs of staff were trying to classify the report not because it contains classified information but because of its critical an unclassified executive summary of the report has been made All three documents were an out growth of the terrorist bombing that destroyed the Marine Barracks at Beirut International the blast killed 241 people and wounded More than after being Given initial the wounded were flown to a British military Hospital on Cyprus or to american military hospitals in West Germany and it was in the distribution of patients to the american hospitals in Germany that trouble according to the the pentagons own official investigation of the Bei rut headed by a retired Navy Robert gave some hint of the problems in its Public issued in december in discussing the handling of the Long commission commended the performance of medical personnel at All of the places that handled the victims but questioned the decision to evacuate some of the most seriously injured patients to american hospitals in Germany when a closer British Hospital was ready to receive them in the commission also challenged the decision by air Force officers to Send the evacuation aircraft to Rhein main which is near the Wiesbaden air Force rather than to Ramstein which is Neucom has neither adequate medical readiness resources nor effective joint says Pentagon near an army Hospital that was better equipped to care for the most seriously As a the most seriously wounded faced additional transport time by helicopter to reach the army Hospital and May have increased the risk to the most seriously the commission said it found no evidence that any of the wounded died or received improper medical treat ment because of the Way they were evacuated and two internal one army and one air shed additional Light on the jockeying for prominence in caring for the a memorandum for the written by George Ward an army officer who helped coordinate the army medical response in charged that the air Force made indefensible decisions on How to distribute Over army the army times publishing which publishes the air Force and Navy reported on the Long report and Ward accusations last he called it very obvious that the air Force people in control of distribution were trying to Send As Many patients As possible to their own Hospital at Wiesbaden even though More surgeons were available at the wait ing army i stated candidly that i did not think that this distribution could be or Ethi he Ward also revealed jockeying Between the air Force and army for credit in the he said the air Force officer in charge of patient Richard told army personnel at Lan Stuhl to refrain from any Contact with the press because All press releases were to be coordinated through the air resulting in Little press coverage for the interviewed by the Navy Ward said in no vember that in he might have toned Down his and that to some extent it reflected the disappointment Felt by army personnel who were ready to treat More in a separate who is now defended his decisions and blamed any prob lems on Lack of a Clear medical command Structure in the although a medical duty officer at the Neucom had ordered the evacuation aircraft to Fly first to Ramstein to unload the most critically ill Hansen acknowledged that he did not like the instructions and took control of the casualty movement and changed the the air Force ended up controlling the Beirut evac according to Pentagon partly because its top happened to be the senior surgeon in Europe in part a result of the absence of a higher ranking army doctor and partly because it controlled the in a Telephone interview Hansen said he redirected the evacuation aircraft to Rhei main be cause there were two big military hospitals in that the air Force Wiesbaden Hospital and the army Frankfurt backed up by outstanding German Hansen dismissed wards complaints As reflecting a Little Competition Between services but said a Little Competition is the real lesson of the he is that we need a unified medical command in Europe and we dont have the medical problems experienced after the Beirut bombing led Secretary of defense Caspar Wein Berger to order an Independent review of medical Readi Ness planning in the european the study was carried out by group headed by rear James command surgeon with the Atlantic and was completed in april but the findings have been kept services say they have medical contingency plan by Clint Swift Washington Bureau chief Washington partly in response to the evacuation of marines after the 1983 Beirut the services have drawn up plans and identified medical teams to handle casualties of terrorist at tacks on americans in the department of defense said one of the 1984 findings in the use com Zimble report was a frag component specific capability within use com to care for casualties resulting from potential terrorist the Dod statement use com now has an operational plan for these it the components have identified teams and designated specific equipment and selected hospitals in coordination with each to accomplish the objectives of this and they have practice the required rear James Zimble led a team that examined medical readiness in Neucom after the although the report was classified by the joint chiefs or staff shortly after it was Neucom and Pentagon officials have acknowledged that it is Crit ical of forces ability to care for a Jarge number of casualties from a terrorist incident or a the statement was issued in response to a flurry of questions Over a newspaper re citing internal service that raised the readiness Issue again and spoke of an army air Force rivalry Over which service should care for most of the casualties and reap the Public relations it cited these improvements in the last year pro positioning of 14 More army and air Force wartime hospitals in Europe during the last a spokesman said the number already there is More Neucom emphasis on hosta Tion medical support in the form of build real estate for medical equipment storage Sites and help in treat ing and evacuating approval of More staffing for the Neucom joint medical planning the staff has grown from three to seven during the last 12 a spokesman the statement said the Lack of a full time flagrant Neucom surgeon is still unresolved and is being discussed with the six objectives to improve medical Readi Ness in Europe grew out of a March 1985 Neucom medical planning the statement they were eliminate the potential for Duplica Tion of Sites for Hospital and evacuation units among services and thus facilitate joint the completion Date is determine the requirements for a dedicated medical communication capability for due determine an optimum mix of and Host nation support during wartime operations in due examine casualty evacuation concepts in the theater and develop alternate Means of moving due determine the feasibility of a Region Al medical logistics system for wartime in due the statement said the Dod is deter mined to develop a common method for predicting wartime requirements for medi Cal units and manpower among the services by Early next in a news release Neucom replied to criticisms of patient movement by George Ward an army physician formerly assigned to 7th medi Cal come As medical consultant to the an investigation of wards report by the Neucom surgeon concluded that the triage physician at a did not overtax the capabilities of Wiesbaden As was alleged in the a command spokesman Neucom also denied the assertion of the Zimble study that there was not nor is there an coordinated plan assuring continuity of speedy and regulation of the victims of terrorist acts into the most capable medical treatment the spokesman echoed the pentagons statement that a plan exists for the handling of medical he cited an article in the May 1 edition of Medicine in which France Jordan defended Euc oms ability to handle medical Emer Jordan is the Deputy assistant Secre tary of defense for medical readiness and was a member of Wimbles review in the Jordan said the air Force and Navy have a regional operations plan for dealing with the medical consequences of a terrorist since the publication of the Zimble Neucom has had four opportunities to demonstrate its medical Cap Abili the spokesman said the bombing of the embassy Annex in Beirut in sep tember 1984 the bombing of a restaurant outside hell Nikon Greece a subsequent bomb attack near Torrejon Spain and the hijacking of Twa flight during these a variety of medical response forces were alerted with some teams deploying Forward in preparation for receiving potential he joint cooperation among service components was demonstrated throughout the Twa hijacking by the joint service medi Cal teams employed to escort the released hostages to Germany and to provide care at the air Force medical Center at wies the entire operation demonstrated the effective execution of several elements of the current terrorist response medical