European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes Friday december 13, 1985 Miu tary Medicine doctors aim to cure medical readiness ills the level a readiness but i m satisfied with the Dirac no in which we re going. I m satisfied we be improved medical readiness significantly Ever the last number Ofa by Judy Sarasohn medical writer army Demist trim i to Idelburg. Left i limit. Id practice combat Medicine in the Field a  of Stelman from Naples. . Helped be up operating facilities on an Airor it Carrier in  there were injuries from the i a hijacking. I tie air i orce established a ninth a i Lei i  at Wei Bruecken . And is working on Oili Eis for Chili agencies i h Mug to tit Europe the services Are Wor Kiri to improve medical readiness Especial since the i1 bomb ing of the marines Headquarters in Beirut the military w.,s severe in Iii cd by it medical readiness review group Zirul internal memos almost two years ago for its handling til the Beirut casualties and Overall poor coordination and planning. The services medical readiness is still under fire riot notably from the Pentagon s lop doctor who says that while improvements have been made much More needs to be Dune. We have a system that is demonstrably Unready medically to go to  or. William Mayer assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs said in an inter View with the stars and stripes. But the services surgeons general health care provid ers in Europe and top line officers disagree Vsmith Mayer. The facts Don t substantiate that said air i orce maj. Gen. William ii. Greendyke. Command surgeon of the . Air forces in i Europe who also serves As . European come surgeon. The debate on medical readiness and efforts to improve military medical capability could have a profound effect on the United states ability to wage War or re Spond to a terrorist act. Being ready for War Means More than having enough tanks and trained fighters. It also Means having the medical staff and resources to gel the wounded to safely and to treat them properly. For the first 30 to 60 Days of i War soldiers returned 10 combat after receiving medical care Are expected to be the greatest source of replacement troops. If casualties cannot be returned to fighting strength and sent Back to the front combat units would be Short. Also a Soldier who doubts medical support will be available when he needs it could be a weak link. Caring for Tiff. Wind cd Mayer contends Only three out of 10 wounded ser Vic members would receive prompt adequate care in Case of War. Julian Barber Mayer s spokesman said military medical prices arc making Progress and that health affairs officials believe the statistic will be five out of 10 in two years and 10 out of 10 in the Early 1990s. Improvements include More deploy Abl hospitals completion of two  Hospital ships reaching agreements with Allied nations on sharing hospitals Dur ing a conflict and beefing up Reserve medical units Barber said. Greendyke said improvements have been underestimated. He said the military now could care for 10 out of 10 wounded service members during at least the first 30 Days of a conventional War. Top line officers agreed with him. I think that s a fair assessment that we can Lake care and will give Quality medical care to All the troop ers said Gen. Glenn k. Otis commander of the . Army Europe. Cien. Bernard Rogers commander of the . Euro Pean come. Backed up the 10 out of 10 figure in a report to defense Secretary Caspar  Weinberger. The key Impre Emcil backing up his Contention arc Indyke said was securing agreements with nato allies to increase the number of available Hospital Beds from 20,000 at the time of the Beirut bombing to 65,000 now. The number needed is classified. Although the agreements Are not binding medical and line officials in Europe believe they arc solid. Increased bed capacity is necessary to keep As Many casualties in theater As possible for treatment and re turn to duty if there Are not enough Beds wounded service members would Hae to be evacuated to the United states delaying their return to the front. Otis and Gen. Charles l. Donnelly or commander of the . Air forces in Europe said they always want More improvements and More medical resources but troops Are not at unnecessary risk now. I Don t see that we Are putting our soldiers in jeopardy Otis said. It s just that we d have to evacuate Giorc than i d like to have to. Is there sufficient medi Cal capability Here Given acceptable risk the answer is  Donnelly said no military person is Ever satisfied with Sas Fiolo by Patrick i Heidelberg dental personnel train in the Field. German col. Alexander Pohl views .  years no  we weren t ready before we be gotten  military would be Able to care Lor 10 out of 10 casualties up in Day m i a War if another major ii c o\1 initiative is worked out with the military air life omd. Rec Dyke said the proposal is to dedicate i Hiti s based Fleet of c  evacuation aircraft to Lur pc during a War. The extra c-9s, which Are specially equipped to handle patients would reduce the Competition for other aircraft needed to carry to tips and material. Medical officials said other readiness improvements and efforts include agreements with Germany that it would provide ambulance buses and four ambulance trains. Discussions with the military sea lift come on the use of ships Lor Intra healer medical evacuation. Work by the military Airlift come to develop a Way to transport litter patients by commercial aircraft. Development of a mothballed hospitals pc positioned in theater or located near where they could be expected to be needed. They could be put into operation quickly by a Reserve Hospital from the Stales or other medical stall. The army Hospital at no Bruecke Germany and inc air Force Hospital at we Bruecken Germany. Por example Are fully equipped and Only need staff to Start caring for casualties. Development of plans for contingency recuperation centers such As in school gyms. Development of Twu  Hospital ships. Plans la buy and pre posit Ion medical facilities overseas at a Cost of 52 billion Between now and fiscal 1 9w. Conversion of the army air ambulance Fleet to the faster More stable Black Hawk helicopters. Development by the army air 1 orc and Navy of special medical teams to respond to terrorist attacks and other . The teams have already been used put on Alert or exercised most notably this year during the bombing of Bobby s har near Hill Anikan a. Greece the bombing of a Spanish restaurant near Torr Jon a Spain the june hijacking of a Twa Lane from Athens and the hijacking of the Achille auro cruise ship. Command and control of the crisis medical response has been exercised by the Neucom crisis action team Greendyke said. Gen. Richard i. Law son la com Deputy com Mander snid. The ability to respond to mass casual ties. Such As in Beirut has been dramatically strength ened by those learns joint service planning Mayer and others have criticized the services for inadequate joint service planning and coordinating. Each service the critics said has planned por its own needs Independent of the other services resulting some times in wasteful duplication and inadequate response to emergencies. Mayer said problems Stem partly from How the uni fied commands related to the individual services and How the offices of the defense Secretary and assistant Secretary for health affairs relate to the military depart ments. He said coordination would be improved by the appointment of a full time Neucom surgeon with authority to review and oversee joint medical planning for All three services. The joint chiefs of staff reportedly have endorsed the proposal and forwarded it to Weinberger who has previously supported it. Greendyke and other medical officers have supported the proposal although they said the Neucom surgeon already has such authority and has exercised it. Mayer said planning also will be improved because his office received authority earlier this year to serve is program manager for All Dod health and medical re sources. The House appropriations committee last year directed the defense department to delay its plans to Purchase and preposition 223  Hospital overseas until a coordinated plan had been developed. The committee deleted s3 1. 5 million prom the fiscal 1986 military construction Bill because it was Issalis lied with the plan it had received. There really is a Lack of coordinated  a committee staff member said. We asked for a plan last year. We got Oneall the plan was is what each service is doing. There was no  but military medical officials said there Are numer Ous joint service planning and coordinating committees pm l