Desert Storm

The use of chemical agents in battie imposes a significant burden on troops because of the cumbersome nature of the protective clothing and the attendant heat load in hot climate situations. This factor alone imposes a burden on potential target personnel, lowering their effectiveness. U.S. troops in the 1991 Mideast war Desert Storm were provided with protective gear that did not deter them with regard to the outcome of the action. 

January 15. United States and allied countries launch Operation Desert Storm against Iraq, a military operation characterized by some as an energy war. ... 

In addition to the immunochromatographic assays, another system used by the Allies during Desert Storm for the detection of biological warfare agents was the Light Addressable Potentiometric System (LAPS) produced by Molecular Devices (Sunnyvale, CA)19. The LAPS detected toxins and... 

United States Defense Intelligence Agency. Iraq-Kuwait Chemical Warfare Dusty Agent Threat. Serial Number DSA 350-90. Filename 73349033, October 10, 1990. http //desert-storm.com/ Gulflink/950719dl.txt. 2003. 

Leishmaniasis is rare in the United States, but it gained considerable publicity here after a small number of cases were diagnosed in American military personnel who served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. Each of these cases began with the bite of a tiny brownish sand fly infected with a protozoan parasite. There is no way of knowing how many other Americans sand flies... 

Macys D, Carpenter R, Risher J, et al. 1992. Results of a workshop on health effects of crade oil exposures related to operation desert storm Final report 14-15 Feb. 1991. MainTech Environmental Technology, Inc Dayton OH. 

There have been many quite useful discoveries in chemistry and chemical engineering over the years that have been used for detection applications. The first example is plasma chromatography, otherwise known as ion mobility spectrometry. In the 1980s this technique became the method of choice for detecting chemical warfare agents and was used by soldiers in Desert Storm with unfortunate results. Official reports tell that the rate of false alarms for these instruments was so high that soldiers became desensitized to real hazards. One infantry battalion eventually turned their alarms off. Much of the Gulf War Syndrome may well have been caused because ion mobihty spectrometry was oversold as a detection technique. 

In December 1997, Secretary of Defense William Cohen announced a departmentwide anthrax immunization program for high-risk military personnel. Implementation began in March 1998. On May 18, 1998, the Secretary authorized the vaccination of all military forces (Cohen, 1998). Almost 2.5 million troop-equivalent doses of vaccine were required to implement the Secretary s decision, much more than had ever been produced by the licensed manufacturer in its entire history. Prior to Desert Storm, the primary vaccine users had been veterinary, laboratory, and industrial workers at risk of infection, for whom an estimated 60,000 doses of Anthrax Vaccine Absorbed (AVA) were distributed between 1974 and 1989, an average of 4,533 doses per year (foellenbeck et al., 2002). During Desert Storm, approximately 150,000 troops received 300,000 doses of AVA, without accurate recording of recipients or adverse reactions. 

To date, no published studies could be found in which modafmil has been used to sustain alertness or performance in real-world military or other environments. Although laboratory studies of modafmil conducted on military volunteers have produced promising results (see the next section), actual field data apparently do not exist (24), although there is anecdotal evidence that the French armed forces may have employed modafinil during Operation Desert Storm. 

US House, Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Military Forces and Personnel, Hearing, Desert Storm Mystery Illness/Adequacy of Care,... 

Lt. Dennis P. Mroczkowski, US Marines in the Persian Gulf With the 2nd Marine Division in Desert Shield and Desert Storm (Washington DC, 1993), p. 9... 

Professor Christopher Cramer is the Distinguished McKnight and University Teaching Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Physics, and Scientific Computation at the University of Minnesota. Cramer has been at Minnesota for his entire professional career. Before coming to Minnesota, he served in the US Army, including a tour in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. 

Doucet, I. (1994). Desert storm syndrome Sick soldiers and dead children Medicine and War, 10, 183-194. 

Sisk, R. (1997). Factors related to medical readiness in military reservists. Retrieved March 27, 2007 from http // 131.158.7.207/cgi-bin/tsnrp/search studies.cgi id=134 Smith, B. (2004). Operational Healthcare Ready to care for our warriors. Retrieved March 27, 2007 from http // 131.158.7.207/cgi-bin/tsnrp/search.studies.cgi id=258 Smith, K. (1999). Evaluation of staff s retention of BCLS and ACTS skills. Retrieved March 27,2007 from http //131.158.7.207/cgi-bin/tsnrp/search studies.cgi id=253 Smolensk , M. (1999). A history of the U.S. Air Force Nursing Service. Retrieved March 27, 2007 from http //131.158.7.207/cgi-bin/tsnrp/search studies.cgi id=254 Stanton, M. (1993). Phenomenological study of military nurse veterans. Retrieved March 27, 2007 from http // 131.158.7.207/cgi-bin/tsnrp/search studies.cgi id=41 Stanton-Bandiero, M. P. (1998). Shared meanings for military nurse veterans Follow-up survey of nurse veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Operation Desert Storm. Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 29(3/4), 4-8. 

During the 1991 Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), it is estimated that 300 tons of DU were used in the aircraft rounds and tank-fired shells in Kuwait and southern Iraq over an area of 20,000 km (Bern and Bou-Rabee, 2004). Studies have shown that DU penetrators hitting armored targets convert 17-28% of a projectile s mass into DU aerosols (Bern and Bou-Rabee, 2004 Force Health Protection Readiness Policy Programs, 2008 Harley et al, 1999 Parkhurst, 2003). Of these aerosols, 83% are S-type (S for slow dissolution) oxides, while 17% are M-type (M for medium dissolution) oxides, and the respirable fraction... 

Gouge, S. F., Daniels, D. J., Smith, C. E. (1994). Exacerbation of asthma after pyridostigmine during Operation Desert Storm. Military Medicine, 159, 108-111. 

Rapid diagnostic assays fielded in support of Operation Desert Storm/Shield... 

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