http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

spring

Features

6

7

10

12

Environment Matters. The Joint 

Environmental Surveillance Working Group looks at ways to control 

disease and injuries among servicemembers.

Veteran’s Spotlight. New York 

Army National Guard member 

Cpl. William Saphara recalls his 

experience at ground zero. 

Post-Deployment Priority. DoD 

establishes new guideline to monitor the health of deployed servicemembers.

Research. Researchers test new 

technologies to protect luggage 

from contraband.

Education. Educational and military leaders team up to ease the 

burden of transfering high schools.

Workhorse. The U.S. Air Force’s 

16

15

2002

In Every Issue

News From Around the World 2

New Web Site for Army Reservists. Rules Change 

for Frequent Flier miles. Info on Absentee Voting.

Ask Our Doctors 5

Should I Get A Physical After a Deployment?

Drugs & Herbs 5

Taking Nutritional Supplements While Deployed.

Gulf War Update 9

Medsearch To Be Launched Soon. 

VA Announces New Gulf War Advisory Committee.

Health Beat 17

Experts Use Modern Medicine, High-Tech Tools

To Serve Patients Worldwide.

Resource Guide 20

C-17 Globemaster II aircraft 

continues to prove itself in 

the field. 

Test. The U.S. Air Force 

tests new tent technology at 

Fort Detrick, Md.

High Tech. U.S. Navy medics are going digital with 

NavMedWatch to enhance 

patient care.

On the Cover

13

19

Staff Sgt. Joseph Uekusa, 376th Air 

Expeditionary Wing Security Forces Squadron, stands guard by a C-17 Globemaster III 

aircraft while it gets 

refueled Feb. 18. This was the first 

aircraft refueled at this forward location 

since the base built up in support of 

Operation Enduring Freedom. 

U.S. Air Force photo by 

Staff Sgt. James Arrowood

Keeping servicemembers 

healthy. See Page 10.

U.S. Army troops headed for Afghanistan board “Herky 130” at 

Aviano Air Base, Italy. The cargo plane’s crew, from the 37th Airlift Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, flies channel missions 

throughout Europe. 

Photo by Master Sgt. Keith Reed
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Army 

Reserve Personnel Command expanded 

its scope of “taking e-care of soldiers” 

by adding a new self-service portal to 

its official Web site, http://www.2xCitizen.

usar.army.mil.

The new portal, My2xCitizen, 

provides Army Reserve soldiers with 

a snapshot view of their career information and enables them to uniquely 

customize information most significant to managing their Army Reserve 

careers. My2xCitizen supports Army 

Reserve Personnel Command’s commitment to develop improved and timely 

services for Reserve soldiers in the field 

and to better support Army reservists 

worldwide. 

Army Reservists are also able to 

volunteer for current operations, such 

as Enduring Freedom, through the new 

portal. In addition, AR-PERSCOM has 

designed My2xCitizen to enable active 

Army and National Guard soldiers, who 

have served in the Army Reserve, to 

view historical retirement and promotion information.

“Our goal is to continually improve 

personnel readiness in any way that we 

can,” explained U.S. Army Col. Bruce 

Pittman. “We’ve taken the next major 

step toward AR-PERSCOM Knowledge 

Management by adding My2xCitizen to 

AR-PERSCOM’s 2xCitizen Web site.”

My2xCitizen maintains all of the 

functionality and links previously available on 2xCitizen 

with additional 

capabilities that 

focus on showcasing personalized 

career information. 

According to 

Anita Washington, 

portal business 

team leader, 

AR-PERSCOM 

began its quest 

toward customer 

self-service with 

Interactive Voice 

Response initiatives over this past 

year. 

“The Web portal is the next logical step 

in this process and represents 

AR-PERSCOM’s commitment to improving customer service,” 

Washington explained. 

“The portal enhances AR-PERSCOM’s 

ability to provide information to a large 

and geographically dispersed Reserve 

population. Reserve soldiers are able to 

verify their current contact information 

(especially important during mobilization operations such as Enduring 

Freedom), update their address, phone, 

fax and e-mail information, and obtain 

information on retirement points,” she 

added.

To access the portal, Reserve soldiers 

Absentee Ballots: Troops’ 

Tickets for Overseas Voting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Participation in the nation’s electoral process “is 

a mark of good citizenship, and in that 

respect, I would say our military are 

certainly fine examples of good citizens,” 

said the Department of Defense’s senior 

voting assistance officer.

“We’d like to see servicemembers 

AR-PERSCOM Launches 

New Self-Service Web 

Portal 

must obtain a valid login and 

password. Soldiers can then log into the 

portal directly from the 2xCitizen Web 

site home page at https://www.2xCitizen.

usar.army.mil. To register for an Army 

Knowledge Online account, go to http://

www.us.army.mil.
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

Frequent Flier Miles 

Can Now Be Kept

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. — The 

2002 Defense Authorization Act now 

allows official travelers to accept promotional items, including frequent flier 

miles, and use them for personal travel.

According to the new law “any promotional items through official travel belong 

to the traveler,” said Dwight Moore, 

staff attorney at U.S. Transportation 

Command and a principal writer of the 

proposal. He said TRANSCOM recommended the change to Congress.

Mileage received by servicemembers 

and federal employees before the bill 

was passed is also “grandfathered,” 

Moore said. People who have accumulated mileage in frequent flyer accounts 

through official travel over the past years 

own all of that mileage, he said.

Moore explained that frequent-traveler benefits include points or miles, 

upgrades, or access to carrier clubs or 

facilities.

The change in the law was the result 

a legislative proposal forwarded by U.S. 

Transportation Command in 1999 as part 

its yearly package of proposals for consideration by the Department of Defense 

and Congress, Moore said.

The proposal went to all federal agencies for coordination and comment and 

eventually was sponsored by legislators. 

One stipulation in the law is that government travelers cannot accept special 

exercise their right to vote to the fullest 

extent,” said Polli Brunelli, director of 

the Federal Voting Assistance Program 

in Arlington, Va. The FVAP facilitates 

absentee voting for U.S. military and 

other American citizens living overseas, 

she noted.

Servicemembers, especially those 

stationed overseas, should contact 

their local voting assistance officer well 

before elections to obtain the required 

information and materials needed to 

register and vote, she said.

“Send those materials in promptly to 

your local election official — that’s the 

county where you’re eligible to vote,” 

Brunelli said.

The FVAP carries out the voting 

program on behalf of the secretary 

of defense, who is delegated by the 

president to administer the Uniformed 

and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

Act of 1986, she noted. The law affects 

more than six million potential voters.

The program’s aims are to inform 

and educate U.S. citizens worldwide 

of their right to vote; foster voting 

participation, and protect and enhance 

the integrity of the voting process at 

federal, state and local levels.

The Fiscal 2002 National Defense 

Authorization Act contains several 

provisions addressing voting assistance 

programs, Brunelli noted. Some new 

provisions are:

• Each military service’s inspector general will annually review the 

effectiveness of their service’s voting 

assistance programs and issue a report 

to the DoD inspector general.

• The services will ensure their voting programs dovetail with Uniformed 

and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

Act provisions and DoD directives governing voting assistance programs.

• Commanders will ensure voting 

assistance officers are appointed, properly trained and equipped to provide 

military members with information 

needed to register to vote and to cast 

absentee ballots.

• Commanders’ evaluation reports on voting assistance officers will 

include comments pertaining to their 

performance in carrying out their voting assistance responsibilities.

Beginning four months before general elections, the secretary of defense 

will survey all overseas locations and 

seagoing vessels and all U.S. port facilities that collect APO and FPO mail to 

determine if voting materials are awaiting shipment and to ensure the military 

postal service moves the materials 

expeditiously.

The absentee voter registration and 

ballot processes have been simplified.

Servicemembers who want the 

particulars on how to register and vote 

should contact their local voting officers, Brunelli said.

She noted that the Fiscal 2002 Defense Authorization Act permits the 

FVAP to conduct a demonstration project this year allowing service-members 

to cast absentee votes electronically. A 

similar project during the 2000 presidential election validated the concept of 

Internet absentee voting, she said, but 

it involved fewer than 100 servicemembers from 21 states and 11 countries.

The Fiscal 2002 Authorization Act, 

she said, “strengthens voting assistance 

programs of the services and also helps 

ensure that our men and women in 

uniform are able to exercise their right 

to vote.”

For more information on the Federal 

Voting Assistance Program, go to

http://www.fvap.ncr.gov.
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

news from around the world

Dear Editor,

I just received Deployment 

Quarterly, Vol.1, Issue 3, and have 

a suggestion. In your Resource 

Guide, please consider including 

contact information on the National 

Committee for Employer Support 

of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). 

As state PAO for the Tennessee 

Committee, I believe the role of 

ESGR is very important to Reserve 

Component soldiers, their families 

and their civilian employers — especially in this period of increased 

mobilization. As you undoubtedly 

know, the state committees are 

actively involved in promoting a 

better understanding of the role 

fulfilled by the National Guard and 

Reserves in our nation’s defense. I 

believe any effort we can make to 

ensure that RC soldiers and their 

employers know and understand 

their rights and obligations under 

the law is extremely important.

Thank you,

Ric Sitler

TNESGR PAO

letter to theeditor

promotional items that are not available to the general public.

“The promotional material must 

be obtained under the same terms as 

those offered to the general public 

and must be at no additional government cost,” according to implementing instructions from the Per Diem, 

Travel And Transportation Allowance 

Committee, a Department of Defense 

activity.

Local travel offices can provide 

more information on the new law, 

Moore said.

Scams Target Veterans 

for Identity Theft

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An e-mail 

circulating about a retiree who had his 

identity stolen after filing separation 

papers at a county courthouse is no 

urban legend, according to Transition 

Center officials.

Servicemembers separating from 

the military are now being advised to 

ignore the old recommendation to file 

their Department of Defense Form 214 

(Military Discharge) with their local 

county courthouse. Instead, transition counselors are advising servicemembers to safeguard their personal 

information to guard against credit 

fraud, said Deborah Snider, Transition 

Center personnel analyst at the U.S. 

Total Army Personnel Command.

Between 600,000 and 700,000 cases 

of identity theft were reported by the 

Federal Trade Commission in 2000. 

Identity theft is the fastest growing 

crime today, according to the FTC, and 

many victims don’t find out that their 

personal information has been stolen 

until they are trying to buy a house or 

get a loan.

“I don’t think anyone ever thought 

about this happening, which is the reason there are no provisions to ‘unfile’ 

records,” Snider said. “This 

is a serious problem, and service-members are a prime target because everything is tied to their Social Security 

number.”

The victims of identity theft suffer 

tremendously because the burden of 

proof is on them, Snider said. It’s hard 

to believe that a person’s life could 

be destroyed by this, she said, but it 

happens.

A Navy retiree learned that someone had stolen his personal information and established credit in his name 

when he received a phone call from a 

clerk at American Express saying that 

someone was trying to cash a $9,000 

check in his name made out to a 

Middle Eastern-sounding name.

The clerk was suspicious and called 

the retiree because the address she 

had on file for him did not match 

the address on the check. After the 

retiree’s case was investigated, he 

found out that a lawyer had stolen his 

identity. The lawyer also had a laptop 

with several thousand military names, 

Social Security numbers and other 

information on it. The common link 

between the veterans on the list was 

that they had filed their DD 214s with 

their county courthouse.

“Someone stole my identity, now I 

feel I am no longer me,” said a victim 

of identity theft. “I reside in the 

pocket of a felon who can see that she 

is allowed to steal me without penalty. 

She carries me casually, and each time 

she pulls me out a small piece of me 

falls away.”

To help guard against identity theft 

the Transition Center is no longer 

placing Social Security numbers on 

discharge and retirement certificates, 

Snider said. Anything that might 

be hung for display will not have a 

servicemember’s Social Security number on it.

When servicemembers separate from 

active duty, Snider said the 

most vital document they receive is 

the DD 214. It contains their Social 

Security number and birth date. In 

the past, servicemembers were 

advised to file the form with their local 

courthouse to ensure that they would 

always be able to get a certified copy. 

They need a certified copy to receive 

any Veterans Administration benefits.

Once the DD 214 is filed at a local county courthouse, however, 

it becomes a public record. Some 

courthouses have put this information 

online, and even more plan to 

do so in the future, Snider said.

“Our recommendation is to safeguard the form as you would any vital 

papers such as a will, marriage license 

or insurance papers,” Snider said. “A 

safe deposit box would be a good 

investment.”

Forty-six states now have identity 

theft laws, up from just three in 1996, 

according to the Federal Trade Commission. And many state lawmakers are considering toughening laws 

already on the books. ■
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

doc

I have been taking several nutritional supplements for several 

months to add muscle and reduce 

fat. I want to continue my training and nutrition regimen, but I am about 

to deploy for six months. What should I be 

concerned about?

The answer may be longer than 

you expected, but there are 

some important issues surrounding your question. I am 

not aware of any guidance that 

would prohibit you from taking a nonprescription nutritional supplement; 

however, the regional commander 

for the area where you are deploying 

sets the policy for all matters. Check 

with your unit’s medical personnel for 

specific guidance.

Assuming there is no prohibition, 

there are various issues you should be 

concerned about. First, you should 

fully understand the various contents 

and what they are supposed to 

do or provide. Some experts 

indicate three out of four Americans take some type of nutritional 

supplement, yet few know or understand what they are actually 

ingesting. Some manufacturers 

are reputable, and the products 

they produce are consistently 

ask the

Q

A

Should I get a 

complete physical 

examination after I 

Complete physical 

examinations are not 

necessary for most 

people who are returnreturn from a deployment ?

The goal is to 

make sure that all 

health problems 

are taken care 

of so that the 

military can field 

a healthy force on 

deployments. 

To ensure that 

you are healthy 

as you deploy, 

you should 

fill out a brief 

questionnaire, 

called the PreDeployment Health Assessment (DD 

Form 2795), that asks about possible 

health problems or concerns. If your 

answers indicate a possible problem, 

then you should be referred for more 

thorough medical evaluation. As 

a result, we can take care of minor 

problems that might worsen during 

deployment, or we could decide that 

you really shouldn’t deploy for medical reasons.

If you’ve deployed in a healthy 

state, an important military goal is 

to preserve your health while you’re 

deployed. Doing that involves lots 

of different steps to protect you 

from threats to your health, such as 

unhealthy food and water, extremes 

of heat and cold, insects that carry 

disease, and accidental injuries. If you 

do get sick while deployed, then firstclass medical care should be available 

to restore your health or arrange for 

safe evacuation. 

If you were healthy when you 

deployed and you were protected 

from disease and injury during the 

deployment, then, when you come 

home, medical care should focus on 

those things that are new. A complete 

physical examination usually is not 

necessary to take care of a new problem. ■

ing from a deployment. At 

the end of a military deployment, you should fill out a 

brief questionnaire, called the 

Post-Deployment Health Assessment (DD Form 2796), that 

asks about possible health problems 

or concerns. If your answers indicate 

a possible problem, then you should 

be referred for more thorough medical 

evaluation. 

When you see the doctor for that 

more thorough check, the specific 

nature of your symptoms or concerns 

will determine what kind of examination should be done. For example, 

if only an earache troubles you, the 

examination should initially concentrate on your ear and other parts 

of your head and neck. A thorough 

examination of your entire body is 

not likely to be necessary. As another 

example, if you have pains in your 

knees, the examination should focus 

on those joints. A careful examination 

of your ears is not necessary and may 

be a waste of time for both you and 

the doctor. On the other hand, if you 

feel sick in a general way that doesn’t 

seem related to a particular organ or 

part of your body, then a more thorough examination of your whole body 

may be necessary.

This approach to people returning from a deployment is based on 

the overall effort to sustain a fit and 

healthy military force. You had to 

undergo complete physical examinations and had to be found healthy just 

to get into the military. You also have 

to be examined periodically if you 

stay in the military. In between scheduled physical examinations, you have 

had free medical care from a system 

which exists mainly to preserve and 

restore the health of those in uniform. 

Military personnel are encouraged 

to seek medical care whenever they 

have symptoms of illness or injury. 

drugs &herbs

— Continued on Page 8

Col. Francis O’Donnell, M.D.

Cmdr. Gene DeLara, MSC, USN
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

M

environmentalmatters

by joan kennedy

ilitary preventive medicine has 

traditionally focused on preventing 

and controlling diseases and injuries. 

Experts have known for years that 

disease and non-battle injuries cause 

more lost manpower than battle 

casualties. 

In the Civil War, the last large-scale 

conflict fought with little knowledge 

of the microbe-illness connection, 

many of the soldiers who died were 

killed by uncontrolled infectious diseases. Epidemics played a major role 

in several major Civil War campaigns 

and may have prolonged the fighting. Preventive medical efforts since 

that time have included immunization, water sanitation, waste management, prevention of injury from heat 

or cold, sanitation of food and dining 

facilities, and pest control. Since the 

Gulf War, the Department of Defense 

has recognized the need to reduce 

the impact of a broader range of 

potentially hazardous environmental 

exposures.

To support this effort, a working 

group was formed in 1998, representing preventive medicine specialists 

from all the armed services. This 

group, the Joint Environmental Surveillance Working Group, reports to 

the Joint Preventive Medicine Policy 

Group. The Joint Preventive Medicine Policy Group in turn reports to 

the source of its own charter, the assistant secretary of defense for health 

affairs. 

The Joint Environmental Surveillance Working Group is developing 

a detailed blueprint for short- and 

long-term improvement in DoD’s 

ability to recognize and deal with the 

types of environmental health risks 

facing servicemembers of today and 

into the future, in a way that promotes consistent policies and shared 

resources across service lines. 

John Resta, who chairs the JESWG, 

is a program manager and long-time 

employee at the U.S. Army’s Center 

for Health Promotion and Preventive 

Medicine, headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. Resta’s 

team, the Deployment Environmental Surveillance Program, works to 

document what exposures occur so 

military doctors can determine if servicemembers are at increased health 

risk and, if so, what kind of medical 

follow-up they would require. 

The JESWG, says Resta, is 

working to get this type of activity institutionalized throughout the 

military. 

Resta says environmental 

surveillance will work better if all the 

services use uniform procedures and 

take samples with the same methods, 

standards and equipment and if each 

service — in a significant cultural 

change from traditional military practices — makes its facilities available 

for use by the other 

services.

“The working group, which includes the Army, Navy and Air Force 

intelligence communities and joint 

staff, will come up with the necessary policy, guidance, procedures and 

equipment to make this a normal way 

of doing business,” said Resta. 

“If an Army team takes a soil sample in Southwest Asia, it just makes a 

lot more sense to use a Navy facility 

in Asia than to send that sample all 

the way back to Maryland for testing,” he says.

The JESWG’s long-term goals are 

described in its Occupational and 

Environmental Health Surveillance 

Concept of Operations. In this document the JESWG vision for long-term 

growth describes the need to develop 

field capabilities that are faster, lighter, smaller, and much more practical 

for battlefield use. 

A single, shared repository is envisioned for access by all the services 

and the Department of Veterans 

Affairs of extensive occupational and 

environmental health surveillance information. And in a leap significantly 

ahead of current capabilities, the report recommends development of the 

ability to identify potential hazardous 

exposures on an individual basis, 

instead of relying on the same data to 

estimate exposure for an entire group. 

In the report, the JESWG recommends 

improved training in preventive 

medicine and environmental health 

surveillance. 

“Common training will be particularly important for the ability to 

support joint and multinational operations,” the paper notes.

The Joint Environmental Surveillance Working Group’s goal for DoD 

is the eventual capability to access and 

query computer systems for hazard 

exposure data, unit locations, and 

movement information. It recommends that environmental monitoring, biomarkers, troop location and 

activity databases be linked with one 

another, with individual medical 

records, and with such non-Defense 

Department databases as the VA. It 

should include environmental and 

occupational exposure data, personnel 

data, intervention data such as immunizations, for example, and health 

outcome data. 

Recommending that DoD develop 

specific technical capabilities that 

may not be ready for several years, 

the Joint Environmental Surveillance 

Working Group is working today to 

mitigate the effects of environmental 

hazards faced by tomorrow’s servicemembers. 

For more information about the 

Deployment Environmental Surveillance Program, visit its Web site at 

http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/desp/

pages/samp_doc.htm ■

Preparing Today for the 

Environmental Threats of Tomorrow
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 • spring 2002 7 Deployment Quarterly Deployment Quarterly

armory as soon as possible. Although 

Company D was not told what their 

mission would be, the soldiers were 

eager to help in any way possible. 

The newer Guardsmen were especially “amped up and rarin’ to go, 

the more experienced soldiers were 

more reserved,” explained Saphara. 

Later that night, their status was 

downgraded from full mobilization 

to standby, and they were allowed to 

return home. 

The Guardsmen finally deployed to 

ground zero on Sept. 21, 2001. Arriving in New York City, Saphara and the 

rest of his unit were taken aback by 

what they saw. 

In the aftermath of what was once 

the World Trade Center, now stood a 

pile of twisted steel beams, crushed 

concrete and other materials. Dust 

and soot covered the sidewalks, trees 

and cars. 

“It didn’t look real. It looked like 

O

something out of a movie,” Saphara 

said. “I was kind of numb the first day 

or so.” 

Emergency rescue workers and officials already at the World Trade Center 

informed Saphara they were there to 

provide security in and around what 

was left of the World Trade Center. 

Drawing from his civilian career experience as a juvenile corrections officer 

for the state of New York, Saphara 

provided some additional training to 

the soldiers in his company. Normally 

Company D is involved with armor 

training and exercises, so he taught the 

unit how to frisk people and provided 

some basic training on how to deal with 

physical or belligerent people. 

The Guardsmen’s presence provided 

support and relief for law enforcement 

officers stationed around the attack site. 

They took the overnight shift, working 

13 hours a day and sometimes more. 

— Continued on Page 8

by melissa burslie

n Sept. 11, when most Americans 

were rushing home to be with their 

families, Cpl. William Saphara was 

packing up his gear and preparing to 

go to ground zero. As a member of 

Company D, 1st Battalion, 127th Armor of the New York Army National 

Guard, Saphara had been called up 

twice before, but never for an event 

like this. 

“I assumed my unit would be 

called up. I contacted my wife and 

called my mom to say I was OK,” said 

Saphara, 31, as he was preparing to 

be sent to the front lines of America’s 

domestic war on terrorism. Saphara 

lives in Auburn, N.Y., with Liz, his 

wife of two years. In addition to him, 

67 other members of his unit were 

making preparations to deploy. 

The call came in the early afternoon. 

His company was told to report to the 
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

National Guard for 14 

years. He feels his experience has helped when 

called up for deployment. 

“I could stay focused. 

Other people were watching the news, I was packing 

my gear,” he said. 

The big difference with 

this activation was the 

nature of the mission. 

“We were activated 

before for a tornado and 

an ice storm. This time we 

wondered if it would go 

from a state mission to a 

federal mission or maybe 

overseas,” Saphara says.

His unit did not get sent 

overseas. Instead, the unit 

returned home a little over 

two weeks later. The experience in New York City 

will never leave Saphara. 

“You realize things that are important to you,” he said. “The family 

thing is really number one.” 

When he thinks about the future 

now, Saphara is even more certain of 

his decision to stay with the National 

Guard. He hopes to stay in as long as 

he can.

Saphara is proud to be serving his 

country and believes the National 

Guard is getting more of the respect 

it deserves. 

“We were the first ones on the 

scene. The first fighter planes were Air 

National Guard and we were the first 

offering assistance.” 

Saphara also thinks their mission 

will refocus. 

“For a while we got away from the 

civil disturbance mission, but now I 

think we’ll see more of it,” he said.

For now, Saphara and the members of Company D are prepared for 

whatever they are called up for again. 

Whether it is to provide aid during 

difficult weather or provide assistance 

during even more difficult times, their 

training and sense of duty keep them 

focused and ready to serve.

In the months since the Sept. 11 

terrorist attacks on the World Trade 

Center and the Pentagon, some 75,356 

National Guard and Reserve members 

have been called to active duty from 

50 states, the District of Columbia and 

Puerto Rico. 

For Saphara and so many others like 

him, the experience of being at ground 

zero has made an impact on his life. 

Although he already has a bachelor’s 

degree, Saphara has enrolled in a local 

community college to study nursing. 

He continues to be an example of the 

dedication and commitment regularly 

demonstrated by the many men and 

women who volunteer to serve their 

country. 

For more information about the National Guard, visit its Web site 

at http://www.ngb.dtic.mil/ or call 

1-800-Go-Guard. ■

— Continued from Page 7

of high quality, while others are 

suspect. Dietary supplements are 

not subject to FDA approval prior to 

marketing. You, the consumer, are 

responsible for your health. Since 

the FDA does not strictly regulate 

supplements, manufacturers are not 

required to test for side effects, drug 

interactions, efficacy or consistency. 

You should find out if the ingredients in your supplement have any 

reported side effects or drug interactions. Some people are allergic 

to milk protein, which is a major 

component of many muscle building supplements. Some supplements can actually mimic the effects 

of some drugs. If you were to pass 

out or become dehydrated because 

of some unexpected side effect, not 

only would you embarrass yourself, 

you could endanger your life.

Stores carrying dietary supplements are frequently found on military bases and installations. Because 

of this and the fact that supplements contain natural substances, 

many people assume these products are inherently safe. However, 

supplements may contain vitamins, 

minerals, proteins, herbs, botanicals, 

amino acids and 

pharmaceutical synthetics. All of 

these can have a profound effect on 

your body. 

That’s a mouthful, but here is a 

recap:

• know the policy

• know the ingredients

• know any side effects or 

 interactions

• understand you are 

 responsible for your own 

 health. ■

Cmdr. Gene DeLara, Medical Service 

Corps, U.S. Navy, serves as the medical 

planner in the Directorate for Deployment Health Support. He has a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree and a Masters of 

Business Administration degree. DeLara 

is both a pharmacist and medical planner 

holding the 1805 Plans, Operations, and 

Medical Intelligence specialty code. 

“The police department appreciated 

that we were there. It gave them the 

opportunity to take a break and be 

back with their families,” continued 

Saphara who said that many Guard 

members wanted to do more.

When they were off duty, the men 

of Company D stayed at different 

locations. The first couple of days they 

stayed on the U.S. Navy’s hospital 

ship, the USNS Comfort. After Comfort left New York, the company was 

moved to Governor’s Island and took 

the ferry to work. 

Saphara has been a member of the 

Drugs & Herbs

— Continued from Page 5
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

S

M

gulf warupdate

Coming Soon to Your 

Internet – MedSearch

ecretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi announced in January 

a new advisory committee that will 

help the Department of Veterans 

Affairs oversee its research into 

the medical problems of Gulf War 

veterans.

“Gulf War veterans have waited 

too long for answers to many of 

their questions,” Principi said. 

“This committee, composed of medical experts and veterans, will focus on 

the research that we hope will improve 

the health of ill Gulf War veterans.”

The 12-member Research Advisory 

Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses was established by Congress to 

advise the VA secretary on proposed 

research studies.

The panel must submit an annual report on the status and results of government research during the previous year 

and on research priorities identified 

by the 

committee.

The group’s charter, established 

by Section 104 of Public Law 105-

368, which was signed Nov. 11, 

1998, says the panel shall “provide 

advice and make recommendations 

to the secretary of veterans affairs on 

proposed research studies, research 

VA Creates Gulf War Advisory Committee

— Continued on Page 18

edSearch — a new library of Gulf Warrelated research projects — will soon 

be added to the Defense Department’s 

Web site, GulfLINK. The new section 

was developed in response to a need 

expressed by scientists, clinicians, 

veterans, and veterans’ service organizations. 

In 1999, the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention hosted a 

conference entitled “The Health 

Impact of Chemical Exposures 

During the Gulf War: A Research 

Planning Conference.” The 

purpose of the conference was to 

meet with those interested in Gulf 

War health issues and to recommend how best to pursue future 

research. 

“One of the recommendations 

called for the establishment of 

a centralized research library 

and data repository that would 

collect research proposals and results 

and maintain them in a format that 

would be easily accessible and searchable electronically,” says Michael E. 

Kilpatrick, M.D., director, deployment 

health support

Staff from the CDC consulted with 

representatives from the departments 

of Defense and Veterans Affairs and 

the Military and Veterans Health 

Coordinating Board regarding this 

recommendation. In May 2001, the 

CDC provided one-year funding to 

the Deployment Health Support Directorate to develop the site. 

The directorate was chosen for this 

project, Kilpatrick, says because of its 

expertise in developing and implementing military and veteran-targeted 

Web sites such as GulfLINK 

(http://www.gulflink.osd.mil) and DeploymentLINK (http://deploymentlink.

osd.mil). For example, GulfLINK was 

launched in 1995 and today continues to receive approximately 150,000 

“hits” each week.

The deployment health office staff 

employed a medical researcher and 

a librarian to identify, collect and 

catalog the government-sponsored 

research on Gulf War-related health 

issues. Representatives from the CDC, 

VA and DoD approved the format for 

the web site on Nov. 2, 2001. Since 

then, the staff has added hundreds of research projects to the 

database.

The site will serve as a valuable tool for veterans, researchers, health care providers, and 

the general public, Barbara A. 

Goodno, deputy for public affairs 

and outreach, says. As a oneof-a-kind site, MedSearch will 

contain a compilation of all government-sponsored research on 

the health effects associated with 

deployments during the Gulf 

War. The site will also facilitate 

access to the centralized library 

via the Internet. 

Currently, the staff is working with 

small focus groups to gain feedback. 

The information provided by Gulf 

War veterans, researchers and family 

members will be used to improve 

the site before it’s formally launched, 

Goodno says. Following the focus 

group feedback, the site will go live 

early this spring. ■
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

O

by austin camacho

ne of the most important lessons 

learned from the Gulf War is that postdeployment health concerns present 

unique challenges and require special 

attention. The Department of Defense 

is responding to this need with a new 

clinical practice guideline that was 

implemented Feb. 1.

Clinical practice guidelines are a 

form of instruction book for physicians. There are many clinical practice 

guidelines in use throughout the medical community, including those used 

by the American Association of Clinical 

Endocrinologists and the American 

Diabetes Association. The new PostDeployment Health Evaluation and 

Management Clinical Practice Guideline is designed to assist health care 

providers in screening and evaluating 

servicemembers with health concerns 

following deployment. Developed 

jointly with the military services, the 

Department of Veterans Affairs, civilian 

experts and veterans, the new guideline 

offers a structured way of giving care to 

people after deployments, according to 

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Charles Engel, M.D., 

M.P.H.

“This guideline is going to serve as a 

way to generalize a model of care that 

we’ve been promoting for Gulf War 

veterans and people with health concerns after various military deployment 

exposures,” Engel says. He has a good 

deal of experience with the veterans of 

deployments. In 1995, he helped start 

the Gulf War Health Center, a treatment 

program for people with medically 

unexplained symptoms, at Walter Reed 

Army Medical Center in Washington, 

D.C. At that time, the center was a 

referral center for Comprehensive 

Clinical Evaluation Program clinics. 

The Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program was created to address 

the evaluation and treatment needs 

of Gulf War veterans who were still 

in the military, as well as retirees, and 

those who were active in the National 

Guard or Reserves. Comprehensive 

Clinical Evaluation Program patients 

who could not be diagnosed went to 

the center. The Gulf War Health Center 

has become the Deployment Health 

Clinical Center, and today Engel is 

its director. He says that a very large 

proportion of the people going through 

the center are Gulf War veterans, but 

now they also have people coming in 

with health concerns from other deployments as well. Engel says the new 

clinical practice guideline represents an 

effort to apply lessons learned from the 

Keeping Watch Over the Health 

of Servicemembers 

Airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., return 

home from a forward Operation Enduring Freedom location while a 2nd Bomb Wing security 

team keeps watch. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Robert J. Horstman 
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

CCEP, and transition from a program 

that serves only Gulf War veterans to 

one that serves all people with deployment health concerns. 

“That includes people in some cases 

who haven’t been deployed,” Engel 

says. “Family members, coworkers, 

even people who cleaned equipment 

after various exposures of uncertain 

magnitude, they need care as well. 

Health concerns befall lots 

of people whether or not they deployed.”

Historically, military medical care 

has focused on taking care of servicemembers up to a deployment, 

then providing good care in the field. 

There was little emphasis on post-deployment health care. But as Engel 

observes, developments after the 

Gulf War have dictated a fundamental change in direction. He says the 

Post-Deployment Health Evaluation 

and Management Clinical Practice 

Guideline is a continuation of that 

fundamental shift.

“Treating people with medically 

unexplained symptoms pointed out a 

lack of understanding in the medical 

system of the various exposures that 

are possible,” Engel says. “Let’s face 

it, the places the military is asked to go 

are often hazardous places. They’re 

not OSHA approved.”

One of the lessons learned from the 

Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation 

Program was the effectiveness of a 

stepped care approach for post-deployment health evaluation and care. 

The Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program offered three phases 

of evaluation, based on the patient’s 

needs, and the new clinical practice 

guidline echoes that approach.

“The overall objective,” Engel says, 

“is to provide a continuum of care 

within the military that starts before 

a deployment and provides various 

levels of care all the way up to specialized programs.”

When fully implemented, the care 

plan will begin with prevention, risk 

education and medical tracking. Postdeployment screenings will determine 

if the person needs further evaluation 

or treatment in a primary care setting.

“This guideline represents an emphasis on primary care,” Engel says, 

“where the lion’s share of people are 

receiving care.”

Chronic health problems would 

trigger what Engel calls “collaborative 

primary care,” an integrated, multidisciplinary approach, which would 

include care-based education. People 

with medical problems reaching the 

level of disability would enter one 

of the Deployment Health Clinical 

Center’s intensive programs, some of 

which are inpatient programs working with the group of medical experts 

who until recently have worked almost 

exclusively with ill Gulf War veterans. 

“One consequence of doing business 

within the CCEP has been that we’ve 

had this small cadre of expertise that 

very few clinicians knew about,” Engel 

says. He sees the Post-Deployment 

Health Evaluation and Management 

Clinical Practice Guideline as part of 

the cure for that problem. When in 

use, it will direct all military doctors to 

channel people with deployment-related illnesses that are hard to diagnose 

to those experts.

That also gives the Deployment 

Health Clinical Center an incentive to 

bring some effort to the implementation 

of the Post-Deployment Health Evaluation and Management Clinical Practice 

Guideline. The center’s efforts make 

this clinical practice guideline unique 

among the many in use throughout 

military medicine.

“Our center is charged with intensifying efforts around the health care 

system to implement the guidelines. 

They’re the only guideline that the 

DoD and VA have created so far that 

will have a center to support its implementation.”

Perhaps the most significant difference between the new clinical practice 

guideline and others in use is what 

Engel calls a military unique “vital 

sign.” In addition to checking pulse 

and temperature, the new clinical 

practice guideline calls on military 

doctors to ask each patient this question: “Is the issue causing you to seek 

care today related to a deployment?” 

If the answer is yes, the doctor will 

then follow the new guideline leading 

him on the best path for treating that 

patient. 

The new clinical practice guideline 

also goes beyond the single visit to 

a medical facility. There is guidance 

built in for follow-up visits, which 

Engel says is an improvement on the 

standards established by the Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program.

“The CCEP was a one-time evaluation, and there was often criticism 

over that,” Engel says.

Along with the new clinical practice 

guideline, DoD is using a new International Classification of Diseases 

code for deployment-related health 

concerns. International Classification 

of Diseases codes are standard classifications the medical community uses 

to identify specific diagnoses. DoD 

uses those codes to 

monitor health data of everyone in 

the military and their family members. That information is sent to a 

— Continued on Page 12

A patient is moved toward a waiting ambulance after being unloaded from an Army OH-58A Kiowa 

Warrior helicopter during a training evacuation exercise. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Greg L. Davis
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

E

coordinating center within the U.S. 

Army’s Center for Health Promotion 

and Preventive Medicine. Using this 

new code will help military doctors find 

out if certain specific medical problems 

appear more often in people who took 

part in a particular deployment. 

“All visits that occur under this 

guideline not only get that diagnostic 

ICD code,” Engel says. “But researchers 

will be able to call up all visits related 

to deployments to see what diagnoses 

are associated with them and be able to 

track longitudinally the health of these 

folks.”

The post-deployment health guideline has been posted on the Internet for 

several months to give both physicians 

and veterans a chance to comment. 

Pilot programs have also been run at 

McGuire Air Force Base, N. J., and at 

Camp Lejune and Fort Bragg in North 

Carolina. At those installations, when 

patients were asked if the issue causing 

them to seek medical care was related 

to a deployment, less than 2 percent of 

them said yes. Engel says the fact that 

so few believe their health problems 

to be deployment related is very good 

news. Also, if it stays a relatively small 

segment of the population, military 

doctors will be able to bring specialized 

care to that 1 percent or 2 percent.

Those with chronic unexplained 

symptoms will be referred to the Deployment Health Clinical Center. Engel 

says his center’s clinic will take patients 

referred from all military medical facilities, as the guideline becomes a standard 

examination tool used by all military 

doctors. 

“There are good rehabilitative types 

of treatments,” Engel says. “They’re 

not curative, but treatments that help 

one live a better overall life. There are 

those sorts of treatments out there that 

we know work for people even when 

symptoms are unexplained.”

Engel stresses that getting the best 

care to veterans of military deployments 

is the ultimate purpose of the new clinical practice guideline on post-deployment evaluation and treatment. 

“Doctors in civilian practice do 

encounter people with chronic, undiagnosed symptoms,” Engel says. “But it’s 

even more of an issue after deployment 

when people become disabled by persistent pain problems and other symptoms. In our health care system we can 

say these are people who served their 

country and made important sacrifices. 

We owe them something.” ■

Deployment

research

xplosives or narcotics concealed in 

luggage, mailboxes or on a person 

can’t hide from low frequency radio 

wave pulses which swiftly and safely 

detect the presence of the offending 

substance. 

Based on technology developed 

by researchers at the Naval Research 

Laboratory in Washington, D.C., with 

support from the Federal Aviation 

Administration, the Technical Support 

Working Group of the Department 

of Defense, and the Office of Naval 

Research, luggage detection equipment is being tested in airports in the 

U.S. under an NRL license to Quantum 

Magnetics, Inc., of San Diego, Calif.

The technique used to zero in on 

explosives and narcotics is a process 

called nuclear quadrupole resonance, 

or NQR.

To find the target materials, low-frequency radio wave pulses are emitted, which momentarily disturbs the 

alignment of certain nuclei within the 

material. The pulsing causes the nuclei 

to realign and send out a unique weak 

radio signal. A sensor coil, patented by 

Naval Research Laboratory, then hears 

this signal, which a computer analyzes 

to determine the presence and type of 

material found. 

Nuclear quadrupole resonance is especially effective for land mine detection 

because today’s plastic-encased land 

mines have tiny metal firing mechanisms that require extremely sensitive 

metal detectors 

that also hone in on shell casings, 

nails and wire — leading to more 

false alarms than actual mines. With 

nuclear quadrupole resonance, the 

explosives, the very essence of the mine, 

are being detected. ■

Move Over Smoke 

Detectors, Anthrax 

Detectors Are Coming

A researcher working under an 

Office of Naval Research grant is just a 

couple of months away from completing 

a prototype detector designed to sound 

the alarm when airborne microbes such 

as anthrax are in the air.

Jeanne Small, a biophysicist and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at 

Eastern Washington University 

in Cheney, Wash., has come up with a 

detector that continuously samples the 

air, offering analysis in under a halfhour. 

“Our research showed that common 

substances such as road dust and soot 

behaved differently than bacteria,” 

Small said.

Small has successfully tested biological particles ranging in size from 1 to 

10 microns by using lasers and acoustic 

sensors to detect and identify microbes. 

In the research, laser pulses were used 

to excite light-absorbing substances that 

release energy as heat. Heat-induced 

solvent expansion generated sound 

waves, which were measured 

by an ultrasonic transducer.

Working with Small is InnovaTek, a 

Richland, Wash., company that makes 

the air sampler, and Quantum Northwest in Spokane, Wash., is building 

the sensor component. ■

Radio Waves Peer into Luggage to Find Contraband

— Continued from Page 11
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

E

by diana berardocco

ducational and military leaders, working in a spirit of shared determination, 

are forging agreements that address 

the transition challenges military-connected high school students confront 

when they transfer from school to 

school during their high school years. 

The Military Child Education Coalition’s Memorandum of Agreement 

— an outgrowth of the Army-sponsored Secondary Education Transition 

Study — was first adopted by the nine 

school systems involved in a 1999 

Army study. With support from the 

Military Child Education Coalition, 

a non-profit organization focused on 

the academic and school-related needs 

of the military-connected child, 59 

school systems worldwide have now 

signed the document and are working 

to lessen the adverse impact of school 

transition for mobile youngsters.

“It’s a declaration of commitment 

to do something about 

the issues,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. 

Gen. Pete Taylor, coalition chairman. “Anything we do for military kids in the area 

of transition affects all 

mobile kids.”

In the spring of 

1999, nine schools and 

installations — seven 

in the United States, 

one in Korea and one 

in Germany — participated in research to 

examine transitioning 

children’s educational 

concerns. Installation commanders, school boards, 

superintendents and field researchers 

gathered the data worldwide. Based 

on interviews with hundreds of military-connected students, parents and 

the staffs of 39 high schools in the nine 

school systems, the study confirmed 

that military and mobile children, 

thrust into repeatedly new settings 

during their high school years, can 

experience setbacks that affect future 

achievement.

“The research verified what we felt 

the problems were,” said Ray McMullen, Ph.D., superintendent of the Fort 

Campbell school district in Kentucky 

and one of the super-intendents involved in the study.

According to the Army study, the 

average military-connected student 

transitions more than two times during the high school years. McMullen, 

whose district loses approximately 35 

percent of its students each year due 

to transfers, said one of the difficulties high school students have when 

they move to another school district is 

the timely transfer of records. Record 

transfer becomes most problematic, he 

emphasized, when students transition 

in the middle of the year, walk into 

a new school without records, and 

have trouble being placed in advanced 

classes similar to those in their former 

school. 

The research also showed that the 

transitioning student’s 

adjustment 

during the first 

two weeks in 

a new school 

environment 

was critical 

and an indicator of whether 

the year ahead 

would be 

successful. 

McMullen 

recounted that 

students told 

him if they 

didn’t make 

friends immediately in a new school, they would 

buy their lunch and eat it walking 

the halls because they didn’t have 

someone they knew to sit with in the 

cafeteria. 

“The magnitude of the problem 

was not revealed until we did the research,” McMullen added. 

Taylor explained that military and 

mobile children often feel they don’t 

have a level playing field when they 

move to a new school. The transfer 

of records, exit testing, mandated state 

history courses and disparate interpretations of academic credits, all add to 

confusion and upheaval for students 

and parents alike.

“We know of kids who have arrived 

from overseas to stateside and have 

had to take an exit exam the day they 

arrive,” Taylor said, noting there are 18 

states that require exit exams to graduate from high school and offer no testing reciprocity.

McMullen said that students who 

move frequently often lose out in 

the area of extracurricular activities 

as well. He talked about a talented 

high school student, a member of the 

school wrestling team who was being 

considered for a wrestling scholarship and moved to Georgia during his 

junior year. When he arrived at the 

new school, McMullen explained, he 

was unable to participate in wrestling 

activities because he had not pre-registered in time. 

Experiences like these motivated 

leaders from the nine research cites 

involved in the Army study to return 

to Washington, D.C., in the spring of 

2000 to develop a follow-on action 

plan. Buoyed by the consensus among 

the superintendents for the need to act, 

Bill Harrison, Ph.D., superintendent of 

Cumberland County Schools in North 

Carolina, urged the group — who represented school systems serving the 

largest number of Army dependent 

children — to make a commitment.

“If we could agree to work with one 

another, to respect the differences we 

have within our systems, we could 

Easing the Burden for Teens

Transferring High Schools

— Continued on Page 14

Nearly 59 school systems worldwide have now signed 

the document and are working to lessen the adverse 

impact of school transition for mobile youngsters.
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

come up with an agreement among us 

and a smooth transition within our nine 

systems,” said Harrison, whose district 

serves students from Fort Bragg and 

Pope Air Force Base.

To assist school districts in implementing a course of action, the Military 

Child Education Coalition has paired a 

best and promising practices document 

with the memorandum of agreement 

that offers signatories an outline of 

creative ideas to better address student 

needs.

“The signature on the agreement 

is a commitment to start working [on 

the issues],”said Mary Keller, Ph.D., 

executive director of the Military Child 

Education Coalition. “We really believe 

that most problems are solved and most 

solutions are derived from good partnerships at the local level.” 

Harrison said signing onto the agreement strengthened the already good 

relationships the nine school systems 

had with their respective installations 

and also created a basis for developing 

broader relationships. 

“Now, our guidance counselors, who 

deal directly with students’ concerns, 

are empowered to make decisions and 

‘do what’s right for kids,’” he added. 

When a child comes into a school 

without records, McMullen noted, the 

guidance counselor can immediately

 e-mail or phone a contact in the other 

school to resolve the problem. 

Harrison also found that being a part 

of the cooperative pact had a major 

effect on how state systems interpret 

course requirements. Difficulties arise 

when a student has taken a required 

state history course in one state, moves 

to another state that requires a state history course, and must relinquish an 

advanced class to adhere to the new 

state’s requirement. 

“We are looking more closely at 

transcripts in order to find a balance 

that will not compromise the integrity 

of any of our programs, but is certainly fair to the youngster,” Harrison 

said. 

Building a network of relationships 

among the superintendents, principals and guidance counselors in other 

school districts is critical to implementation of the agreement. To facilitate 

relationship-building, McMullen 

presided over regional meetings last 

summer and fall where guidance 

counselors met with psychologists, 

and superintendents with principals, 

to discuss the Memorandum of Agreement process and action plan. 

“Networking is one of the keys that 

makes this happen,” he said.

Toni Hill, an active coalition volunteer, and wife of U.S. Army Lt. 

Gen. James T. Hill, the installation 

commander at Fort Lewis, Wash., 

echoes the importance of establishing 

relationships that foster mutual trust 

between the military installation and 

school districts.

“We believe it is the personal 

interaction we have with local communities that encourages change and 

greater understanding [of the military 

lifestyle],” said Hill. She speaks from 

experience regarding special-needs 

high school students having successfully transitioned her multi-disabled 

child through seven states and nine 

different school districts.

The Fort Lewis Memorandum of 

Agreement Action Plan includes an 

array of activities designed to encourage interaction between the installation, the Clover Park School District 

and other nearby school districts. The 

popular Army 101 course familiarizes 

educational staff and faculty in the 

surrounding school districts with basic information about military culture 

and lifestyle. The K-12 partnership 

program assigns commanders to individual Clover Park schools where 

troops provide weekly assistance to 

students in areas such as math tutoring, lunch mentoring, and computerrelated library or classroom help. The 

Community Connectors program 

also places soldier volunteers in the 

schools where they interface with the 

school community.

McMullen and Harrison believe 

improved communication processes are 

at the essence of improving transition predictability. 

All the schools that have signed the 

memorandum of agreement are focusing 

on developing Web sites to respond to the 

basic questions students and their parents 

have about curriculum, school calendars 

and extracurricular activities.

“We want the child or parent to be able 

to enter the school’s Web site and learn 

what subjects are being offered at each 

high school. The Web site is one of the 

critical elements [of the agreement]. It has 

to be information-rich,” said Harrison.

To facilitate information exchange with 

the many students who transfer from 

Europe to the Fort Campbell schools, McMullen communicates with parents and 

students before they arrive in the United 

States through a video conference call that 

transmits to a number of installations in 

Europe. To expand the lines of communication, he also invites surrounding school 

districts to participate.

Both superintendents emphasized the 

importance of establishing the environment for continuous staff training, meetings with superintendents, principals and 

guidance counselors, and liaison work 

with partnering installations, to institutionalize initiatives. The effort gained 

additional momentum last year when U.S. 

Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army’s Chief 

of Staff, sent letters to 156 school districts 

and installations inviting them to sign the 

memorandum of agreement.

McMullen believes the Memorandum of 

Agreement has implications for all youngsters throughout the country who move 

during their high school years. He noted 

that states, such as California and Florida, 

deal with problems associated with highly 

mobile non-military youngsters whose 

parents move due to work-related demands.

“I see it [the Memorandum of Agreement] as having the potential to literally 

transform a whole segment of education in 

this country where youngsters have been 

falling by the wayside,” McMullen said. ■

Students

— Continued from Page 13

To learn more about the Military 

Child Education Coalition, you can 

call (254) 953-1923 or visit its Web 

site at:

• http://www.militarychild.org

For information on military families, 

you can call the National Military 

Family Association at (800) 260-

0218 or visit its Web site at:

• http://www.nmfa.org

For More Information
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

O

n what was a rare quiet day at this 

busy fighter base, not one C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane was scheduled 

to make a run into Afghanistan. 

There were no aircrews or cargo 

loaders scurrying about trying to 

ready the huge C-17s for flights 

“down range.” That, too, was rare. 

But it would not be long before the 

planes would be back on the job.

That is because the C-17s, on duty 

here and at Rhein-Main and Ramstein 

air bases in Germany since the start 

of Operation Enduring Freedom, are 

flying most of the sorties into Afghanistan. Each day, the huge transports 

ferry troops, supplies and equipment 

needed to sustain U.N. forces there.

The Afghan airlift is a job tailormade for the C-17, said U.S. Air Force 

Maj. Eugene De Paolo, a C-5 Galaxy 

pilot from Dover Air Force Base, Del., 

who is attached to Incirlik’s 728th 

Air Mobility Squadron here as a C-17 

airlift stage manager. He said the 

Afghan airlift again proves the C-17’s 

dependability.

“The C-17’s the right aircraft for this 

mission, no doubt about it,” De Paolo 

said. “It’s a tremendous 

platform to get the job done. 

And they’re flying with 

great reliability.”

That equates to more 

cargo and troops delivered on time 

to meet the operational needs of U.N. 

forces on the ground, he said.

The C-17s are not doing the job alone, 

of course. They are sharing the airlift 

load with their big brothers, the C-5s. 

The bigger planes bring cargo and 

troops from the United States to one of 

the staging bases. From there, the C17s fly the troops and cargo the last leg 

into Afghanistan.

Getting to Afghanistan and back 

is not a routine flight by any means. 

Missions from Germany can last 26 

hours. Plus, aircrews must fly into a 

part of the world with some of the most 

rugged mountains. It is an area full 

of threats to aircraft. And once there, 

aircraft must land at short and unfamiliar airfields. So it takes a focused crew, 

officials said.

On the ground, things are tense as 

ground crews quickly unload their precious cargoes.

Aircraft spend as little time on the 

ground as possible, said Capt. Jeff Nelson, a C-17 pilot, who is deployed from 

the 17th Airlift Squadron at Charleston 

Air Force Base in South Carolina.

“When we land, we sit with our engines running and brakes on,” Nelson 

said. “And we wait for the loadmaster 

to offload the cargo.” 

It is a stressful time that can seem 

like forever, he said. But though they 

know they are in a threat area and want 

to get out now, Nelson said there is no 

rushing.

“We don’t want to cut any corners,” 

he said. “So we let the loadmaster do 

his job.”

But once cleared to go, the cargo 

planes make a hasty, tactical departure 

for friendly skies. 

Planes that fly from here make the 

round trip without refueling. Those 

flying back to Germany usually stop in 

a neighboring country to refuel before 

heading home.

As if the C-17 is not busy enough, 

it is also acting as a tanker of sorts, De 

Paolo said. Some of the later versions 

of the aircraft have larger fuel tanks. 

That allows C-17s flying from here to 

offload aviation fuel in Afghanistan.

De Paolo said the missions into 

Afghanistan are not as frequent or 

robust as the C-17 missions flown during Kosovo, but the aircrews are just as 

enthusiastic to get the job done. And 

the airplane is holding up under the 

around-the-clock flying.

“The C-17s are doing an outstanding 

job here,” DePaolo said. ■

by master sgt. louis a. arana-barradas

Globemasters Last Link 

of Afghan Airlift
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

W

by karen fleming-michael

fort detrick standard staff writer

ith wind gusts rippling the tent’s ceiling and walls and amid a generator’s 

pervading din, experts strain to hear a 

contractor explain how his company’s 

oxygen generation machine works. 

Although it doesn’t sound like an 

ideal setting for a product demonstration, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Steve Bell, 

chief of the Air Force Medical Evaluation Support Activity, says the Expeditionary Medical Support System tent 

is the perfect place for it. 

Open for business at Fort Detrick, 

Md., since Oct. 23, 2001, the desert 

tan-color tent, called the EMEDS-XTI, 

serves as a test bed for experiments, 

exercises and technology insertions to 

help Air Force members working in 

similar structures worldwide. 

The lightweight, rugged tents are 20 

feet wide by 32 feet long and deploy 

to create expanding hospitals. Much 

like Lego building blocks, the missionspecific tents “modularly increase as 

the intensity or length of the conflict 

endures,” Bell said. 

The first tent, which can be in place 

in 24 hours, is the Small Portable 

Expeditionary Aeromedical Rapid 

Response module, which is an emergency room and patient administration area. Successive tents follow in 

order and include an operating room 

with dental suite; administrative suite 

with communications equipment; 

laboratory, x-ray and pharmacy tent; 

intensive care unit; and if needed, 

patient ward room. 

Having the tent will go a long way 

in serving the Air Force’s deployable 

medicine needs. 

“We have exactly what they [Air 

Force medics] are using to deploy for 

the Expeditionary Air Force,” Bell 

said. “So we also have embedded in 

here the ability to look at technology 

and say ‘I think we can do a better job’ 

with any of the equipment.”

The oxygen generation equipment 

demonstration illustrates the tent’s 

Air Force Pitches Tent

Tests Technology at Detrick 

ability to serve as a test bed 

for new equipment. 

“You can change and introduce technologies ... in an 

environment where it would 

operate to see if it’s usable,” 

Bell said. Once a technology is introduced, experts 

can work on site to confirm 

the system’s form, fit and 

function are acceptable and 

then can write procedures on 

using it. 

The final step in the technology insertion process, Bell 

said, is end users trying it 

out. Medical warfighters can 

be trained on the equipment 

at Fort Detrick then give 

their opinions. 

“We will leave it up to the 

users to make an assessment,” said U.S. Air Force 

Lt. Col. Jim Sylvester, chief 

of aeromedical evacuations 

programs. 

“If the user is telling us this is the 

one that works best, it will be the right 

decision,” Bell said. “What we want 

to avoid is making hasty decisions so 

the user doesn’t get enough time to 

become familiar with it, and when it 

shows up in a deployed environment, 

no one knows how to use it.” 

Once users evaluate the product, 

Bell’s data collection team generates 

a report and passes it to the Air Force 

Surgeon General’s staff to help them 

in making procurement decisions. 

The tent’s availability permits Expeditionary Medical Support teams to 

exercise in a structure they’re familiar 

with. 

“To have a medical facility at an 

exercise in the past, we’ve had to beg, 

borrow or steal one,” Bell said. He 

and his six-person staff fully expect 

to break down the tent and take it to 

exercises as often as needed. 

Information on useful technologies 

won’t stay solely in Air Force channels, Bell said. 

“When we’re inserting technologies that the Air Force is interested — Continued on Page 18

in, I would expect the Army would 

be interested in what we’re doing, so 

cross-communication will be a big 

player,” he said. 

Interoperability issues will be at 

the forefront of the Air Force-Army 

discussions. 

“If everybody were trained and 

working on the same kinds of systems 

or equipment, that interoperability 

from a joint perspective is very important. For example, with communication and LANs [local area networks], 

it would be nice if they all talk to each 

other.” 

The tent’s back-door neighbor is the 

Forward Deployable Digital Medical Treatment Facility, which is being 

developed by the U.S. Army Medical 

Research and Materiel Command’s 

Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. 

“One of the early ideas we had with 

the FDDMTF [Forward Deployable 

Digital Medical Treatment Facility] 

was getting an EMEDS in here so they 

could see what the Air Force has as a 

baseline,” Bell said. 

The joint partnership will help the 
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

I

healthbeat

by journalist 2nd class ellen maurer

national naval medical center public 

affairs

nside the high-tech, high-security 

world of National Naval Medical Center’s Bethesda telemedicine control 

center, members of the telemedicine 

team are using modern technology to 

link National Naval Medical Center 

Bethesda health care providers with 

sailors deployed to distant locations 

around the world. Experts in both 

health care and computer technology 

are working together, using a combination of wired and wireless technologies, to leverage time and distance.

These devices range from the 

traditional fax machine, telephone 

and Internet e-mail, to cutting-edge 

technologies such as real-time video 

teleconferencing and wireless messaging devices — all integrated to give 

Experts Use Modern Medicine, 

High-Tech Tools to Serve Patients Worldwide

non-local patients access to National 

Naval Medical Center care.

“Telemedicine allows NNMC [National Naval Medical Center] to keep 

up with the evolution of health care 

and the command’s mission of supporting Navy force health protection,” 

said Mike Azar, telemedicine department head.

“Before we had this type 

of technology, a ship’s general medical 

officer 

had sole 

responsibility for 

initial X-ray interpretations. Often, 

the second opinion didn’t come until 

the end of the deployment,” explains 

U.S. Navy Lt. David Felton, Nurse 

Corps, service chief for e-Health at 

the National Naval Medical Center. 

“Now, using a hybrid of technologies, 

including a teleradiology program 

called RADWORKS, which is basically 

radiology through telemedicine, independent-duty corpsmen and medical 

officers in the fleet can communicate 

directly with specialists back here at 

NNMC in real-time, while the X-rays 

are interpreted simultaneously.”

Aboard the deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 

1), homeported in Norfolk, Va., and 

now serving in support of Operation 

Enduring Freedom, the ship’s medical 

staff relies heavily on tele-medicine’s 

capabilities — using it to instantly 

connect with experts at National Naval Medical Center.

Most recently, during a mass-casualty situation involving nine critically wounded Afghani soldiers who 

were evacuated to the ship, Bataan’s 

corpsmen virtually worked side-byside, using RADWORKS and voice 

communications, with specialists back 

at National Naval Medical Center to 

treat their foreign patients. 

“As an independent duty radiographer at sea, it makes me feel better 

knowing that the radiologist is just 

a click away,” said Bataan Hospital 

Corpsman 2nd Class (SW) Sean Dover.

Since the hospital started using 

telemedicine in the mid-1990s, 

Felton says the program has 

grown to include not just tele-radiology, but also teleorthopedics, teleophthalmology, teledermatology, telemental health, telegenetics and telepathology. He said the prefix “tele,” which 

means distant or remote, can be added 

to just about any clinical service; it 

really shows how National Naval 

Medical Center is using technology 

to further their resources and benefit 

Medical personnel aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) treat wounded Pashtun patients at other medical facilities and 

soldiers from Afghanistan.

U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Johnny Bivera

— Continued on Page 19

“Telemedicine allows NNMC to keep up 

with the evolution of health care ... “
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

plans and research strategies relating 

to the health consequences of military 

service in the Southwest Asia theater 

of operations during the Persian Gulf 

War.”

Although the panel will not conduct 

research, its charter instructs the committee to review “all relevant research, 

investigations, and 

processes” done in the past to assess 

methods, results and implications for 

future research. The committee will 

also review proposed federal research 

plans, initiatives, procurements, 

grant programs and other activities 

regarding Gulf War-associated 

illnesses.

The committee will be led by James 

H. Binns Jr., a Vietnam veteran, former 

principal deputy assistant secretary of 

defense, and chairman of the board of 

Parallel Design, Inc., of Tempe, Ariz., 

acquired by General Electric in December 2000.

The advisory committee will be assisted by an expert panel of scientists 

and subject matter authorities who 

will add additional expertise, functioning as an auxiliary that reviews committee findings and provides expert 

guidance to the committee and the 

secretary. ■

Membership of Research Advisory Committee

 on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses And Expert Panel

The Advisory Committee:

• James H. Binns Jr., Chairman

• Nicola Cherry, M.D., Professor of Public 

Health Sciences at the University of 

Alberta, Canada

• Beatrice Golomb, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University 

of California at San Diego

• Robert Haley, M.D., chief of the 

epidemiology division of the University of 

Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 

Dallas

• Marguerite Knox, nurse practitioner 

Hopkins, S.C.

• William J. Meggs, M.D., chief of the 

division of toxicology of the East Carolina 

University School of Medicine

• Jack Melling, Ph.D., director of the Karl 

Landsteiner Institute for Vaccine Development in Vienna, Austria

• Pierre Pellier, M.D., vice president, neurosciences, global medical affairs, 

with GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.

• Lea Steele, Ph.D., senior health researcher 

with Kansas Health Institute and former 

epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention

• Joel C. Graves, an Army Gulf War veteran 

from Washington

• Stephen L. Robinson, executive director 

New Committee

of the National Gulf War Resources Center; 

Silver Spring, Md.

• Steve Smithson, assistant director of the 

Gulf War Task Force for the American 

Legion, Indianapolis, Ind.

The Expert Panel

• Ira B. Black, M.D., chairman, department of 

neuroscience and cell biology at the Robert 

Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, N.J.

• Joseph T. Coyle, M.D., Eben S. Draper 

professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, 

Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Mass.

• Floyd E. Bloom, M.D., chair, department 

of neuropharmacology, Scripps Research 

Institute, La Jolla, Calif.

• Eugene Johnson, M.D., professor, department of neurology, Washington University, 

St. Louis, Mo.

• Marsel Mesulam, M.D., director, The

Cognitative Neurology and Alzheimer’s 

Disease Center, Northwestern University 

Medical School, Chicago

• James J. Tuite, III, chief operating officer, 

Chronix Biomedical, Inc., Benicia, Calif.

• Bailus Walker, Jr., M.D., professor of 

environmental and occupational medicine, 

Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Army and Air Force look at future deployable hospitals. 

“When they [the Army] get to the 

point where they have the equipment, 

we can reconfigure and try different 

things and move patients through here 

exercising the Forward Deployable 

Digital Medical Treatment Facility initiative. TATRC is really counting on the 

XTI piece to be a part of that,” said Bell. 

Since the tent went up only a few 

weeks ago, with “tremendous” help 

from U.S. Army Garrison communications staff and the 6th Medical Logistics 

Management Center, Bell said calls have 

been pouring in about using XTI as a 

venue for looking at different technologies. 

“That’s good, it’s why we’re here,” 

he said. 

According to the Telemedicine 

and Advanced Technology Research 

Center’s Dr. Gary Gilbert, the EMEDSXTI is the Air Force’s contribution to 

the U.S. Army Medical Research and 

Materiel Command’s effort to field a 

rapidly deployable hospital. The command has taken the lead for the Army 

in prototyping a lightweight, 44-bed, 

rapidly configurable and deployable 

hospital. The hospital will fit mission 

needs including natural disasters, 

homeland defense, humanitarian and 

peacekeeping missions, as well as 

future combat scenarios. 

The EMEDS-XTI partnership with 

the U.S. Army Medical Research and 

Materiel Command, and its location at Fort Detrick, provide the Air 

Force with vital access to emerging 

technologies that would otherwise be 

unavailable to them, Gilbert said. Telemedicine and Advanced Technology 

Research Center is leading a multiagency effort to develop and integrate 

tactical wireless communications and 

information systems for the deployable hospital and to ensure the system 

will be configured for effective tactical 

ground mobility. The Joint Army/Air 

Force Forward Deployable Digital 

Medical Treatment Facility prototype 

configuration should be complete by 

March 2002. 

The austere conditions don’t bother 

Bell and his staff.

“Medics who are deployed work 

in these things in conditions that are 

much more austere than this,” Bell said. 

“From that perspective it reinforces, at 

least to me, why what we’re doing is 

important. There are needs for rapid 

fielding of technologies that will get 

out to the folks in the field who in turn 

help the guys who are in the heat of the 

fire.” ■

Air Force 

— Continued from Page 9

— Continued from Page 16
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil • spring 2002 Deployment Quarterly

F

iguring there had to be a better way of 

keeping track of available beds, medical equipment and blood supplies in 

the field, rather than depending on 

information relayed by phone and 

then scribbled on a white board with 

a grease pencil, the Office 

of Naval Research has 

come up with an answer 

— NavMedWatch. It is 

a computer network that 

will illuminate all the 

available medical resources in one visual map display.

“This tool will allow us to view 

what is going on across a region, react 

to current scenarios and conduct reactive planning to support current and 

future operations,” said U.S. Navy 

Capt. Michael Sashin, head of MediNavy Medics Go Digital

cal Plans and Policy for the Chief of 

Naval Operations.

The map display will track trends in 

injuries and diseases in an area, allowing medical facilities to better manage 

their resources and contain contagious 

diseases by juxtaposing data from a medical database with a 

medical facility and 

its available beds, 

staff, blood, supplies and equipment. 

The system will also provide alerts to 

patients in need of transportation to 

another medical facility.

“NavMedWatch allows you to pull 

the information out, organize it and 

put it in a display so you can see all 

your medical assets with one tool,” 

said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Stephen Ahlers, 

Office of Naval Research program 

manager for the project. 

Even though NavMedWatch is still 

in the testing phase, the next version 

offering even more information is in 

the works by ScenPro Inc. of Richardson, Texas, under a Small Business Innovation Research program 

contract. The new version will be 

able to anticipate the needs of future 

arrivals so supplies such as blood will 

be on hand — avoiding shortfalls. It 

will also be equipped with a history 

function, so the medical care of even 

one person can be tracked throughout 

the Naval medical care system. ■

in the fleet.

Currently, there are 12 areas within 

the hospital that have video teleconferencing capabilities. Felton said the 

equipment is costly but, in the long 

run, the Navy saves money because 

telemedicine reduces travel and 

consultation costs while enhancing 

support and professional development. In fact, the speed with which 

second-opinion services can be provided to deployed units has already 

saved the fleet an enormous amount 

of money through medical evacuation 

cost-avoidance and by minimizing 

lost workdays.

In the near future, National Naval 

Medical Center e-Health services 

will come online with new technologies that bridge together these video 

teleconferencing capabilities to further 

leverage time for clinicians consulting with the fleet. The telemedicine 

control center is also closely linked 

to National Naval Medical Center’s 

communications center for purposes 

of providing secure and redundant 

methods of communication to fleet 

and operational units.

While telemedicine is spreading 

to more and more locations around 

the fleet, its use is also expanding 

in places closer to home, like Walter 

Reed Army Medical Center.

Pathologists at both Walter Reed 

and National Naval Medical Center 

now use telemedicine to conduct 

educational seminars over the Internet 

and by telephone between the two 

hospitals at least twice a week, according to National Naval Medical 

Center’s Laboratory Service Line 

team leader U.S. Navy Cmdr. Robert 

Heaton, Medical Corps. Telemedicine 

not only furthers patient care and access to medical experts, it also fosters 

distance learning and health care 

provider education.

“It’s not only important, it’s critical,” says Heaton. “In fact, a constant 

theme with our pathology residents 

are those academic conferences, because we need them to help train the 

residents so we can maintain continuity in training for all pathologists.”

Heaton adds that continuity of 

training ensures continuity of care 

and the true benefit is geared toward 

better treatment for patients. Telemedicine offers patients more expert 

opinions, a variety of treatment 

choices and greater access to the best 

specialists. These are all reasons why 

the telemedicine staff understands 

it’s a full-time commitment, on top of 

their normal duty hours and workload 

at National Naval Medical Center.

The telemedicine staff members carry wireless messaging devices, so that 

they can be in constant contact with 

the fleet 24 hours a day, seven days a 

week. These devices allow them to 

receive and answer pages and e-mails 

at all times, which is handy; but it also 

comes with serious responsibilities.

Requirements dictate that regardless of location or the time of day, 

the telemedicine staff members and 

medical experts must be available and 

ready to assist if called upon. Many 

times, given the fact that they are 

communicating with people in distant 

locations, like aboard Bataan, calls to 

duty come late into the night.

However, given the nature of National Naval Medical Center’s mission 

of supporting and caring for those 

around the fleet, as well as those here 

at home, the on-call staff feel their 

sacrifices are worth it.

As a “behind-the-scenes” look at 

telemedicine shows, it’s assignment 

may be a secure one, but the impact 

it has on military medicine and those 

who go into harm’s way around the 

world is obvious and unwavering. ■

High Tech Tools

— Continued from Page 17

“It’s not only important, 

it’s critical.” 
Deployment Quarterly spring 2002 • http://deploymentlink.osd.mil

Air Force Association

1501 Lee Highway

Arlington, VA 22209-1198

Phone: (800) 727 - 3337

http://www.afa.org

American Legion

1608 K St., NW

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 861 - 2700

http://www.legion.org

American Red Cross

17th & D Streets, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 639 - 3520

http://www.redcross.org

AMVETS

4647 Forbes Blvd.

Lanham, MD 20706

Phone: (877) 726 - 8387

http://www.amvets.org

Association of the U.S. Army

2425 Wilson Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: (800) 336 - 4570

http://www.ausa.org

Department of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20400

Phone: (202) 273 - 4300

http://www.va.gov

Disabled American Veterans

807 Maine St., SW

Washington, DC 20024

Phone: (202) 554 - 3501

http://www.dav.org 

Enlisted Association of 

the National Guard

1219 Prince St.

Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (800) 234 - 3264

http://www.eangus.org

Fleet Reserve Association

125 N. West St.

Alexandria, VA 22314-2754

Phone: (703) 683 - 1400

http://www.fra.org

Marine Corps Association

715 Broadway Street

Quantico, VA 22134

Phone: (866) 622 - 1775

http://www.mca-marines.org

Marine Corps League

8626 Lee Highway, #201

Merrifield, VA 22031

Phone: (800) 625 - 1775

http://www.mcleague.org

National Association for 

Uniformed Services

5535 Hempstead Way

Springfield, VA 22151

Phone: (800) 842 - 3451

http://www.naus.org

National Committee for Employer 

Support of the Guard and Reserve

1555 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 200

Arlington, VA 22209-2405

Phone: (800) 336 - 4590

http://www.esgr.org

National Guard Association

of the United States

1 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20001

Phone: (202) 789 - 0031

http://www.ngaus.org

Naval Reserve Association

1619 King St.

Alexandria, VA 22314-2793

Phone: (703) 548 - 5800

http://www.navy-reserve.org

RESOURCE guide

Navy League

2300 Wilson Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: (800) 356 - 5760

http://www.navyleague.org

Non Commissioned 

Officers Association

225 N. Washington St.

Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (703) 549 - 0311

http://www.ncoausa.org

Reserve Officers Association

1 Constitution Ave., NE

Washington, DC 20002

Phone: (800) 809 - 9448

http://www.roa.org

Retired Officers Association

201 N. Washington St.

Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (800) 245 - 8762

http://www.troa.org

Veterans of Foreign Wars

200 Maryland Ave., NE

Washington, DC 20002

Phone: (202) 543 - 2239

http://www.vfw.org

Vietnam Veterans of America

8605 Cameron Street, Suite 400

Silver Spring, MD 20910-3710

Phone: (301) 585 - 4000

http://www.vva.org

By Phone 

Direct Hotline for Servicemembers, 

Veterans and Families	 	 	

	 (800) 497 - 6261

Department of Veterans Affairs

	 (800) 827 - 1000

VA Persian Gulf War Registry	 	

	 (800) 749 - 8387

VA Benefits and Services	 	

	 (877) 222 - VETS

TRICARE Information

(800) TRICARE

MOREinformation

On the web

Department of Defense

http://www.defenselink.mil

Department of Veterans Affairs

http://www.va.gov/

DeploymentLINK

http://www.deploymentlink.mil

GulfLINK

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil

TRICARE

http://www.tricare.osd.mil/