Military Medical 'Commuting' May Mean Flying 12 Hours to a Turnkey Hospital in Mid-Europe

Abstract

THEY DON'T CALL it an adventure. They call it "TDY"—temporary duty. In this case, the task was to simulate readying a contingency hospital to minister to battlefield casualties flown in by helicopter. Early in the fall, 204 Air Force medical personnel, primarily from Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Tex, descended on Zweibrücken Air Base, West Germany, having spent 12 hours refining their skills at cards, small talk, and sleep while huddled in a cold and cramped C-141 "Starlifter" cargo plane crossing above the Atlantic. <h3>Scrub Down Before Scrubbing In</h3> When they arrived, their first task was to meticulously scrub down the operating rooms and wards. The German hospital is a turnkey facility—meaning that all supplies are on hand—but the skeleton caretaking crew doesn't do windows. Or floors or walls, for that matter. In less than 48 hours, the seven physicians, two dentists, and dozens of nurses and corpsmen were