PREDEPLOYMENT
When preparing the unit’s mobilization plan and TSOP include the supplies and equipment that will be required for the unit to operate in an NBC environment. DO NOT wait until ordered to mobilize to begin preparation for the mission. A well prepared and trained unit stands a much better chance of surviving and accomplishing their mission!
ACTIONS BEFORE A BIOLOGICAL ATTACK
· Assemble and brief the NBC monitoring and decontamination teams
· Treat all cuts, wounds, or other areas of the body susceptible to infection or infectious diseases
· Cover all food and water
· Increase vector control programs
· Assign member to shut off ECU and “button down” section
· Up to date immunizations
· Maintain good hygiene
· Area sanitation—follow field/san guidelines
· Physical conditioning—physical fitness, maintain proper weight
· Train on individual and collective NBC defense tasks
· Ensure that patients have mask readily available and cover
· Obtain materials for covering supplies and equipment(such as plastic sheeting, tape, tarpaulins)
· Obtain materials for preparing improvised protection in shelters (such as plastic sheeting, tarpaulins, tape, sandbags)
· Biological agent treatment readily available (based on suspect threat agent in AO)
· Be prepared to isolate bio agent patients
Operations in Special Environments
Cold Weather: Harder to aerosolize live bio agents, but bio cloud may be prolonged. Cover attack most likely—watch for sabotage! Troops more vulnerable—diseases spread in warm, crowded conditions. Nutrition, water, rest and cleanliness harder to maintain.
Desert: Aerosolized bio agents ineffective due to low humidity and UV radiation of sun—exception being spore-forming agents. Night conditions favor aero bio attack. Toxins(ricin) are resistant and can be employed just like chem. agents.
Jungle: Excellent conditions for bio agents/toxins(warm temp, high humidity, low sunlight). Downwind hazards less(low wind speed, jungle growth). Follow strict field/san and vector/rodent control.
Urban: Buildings provide cover but may increase persistency of bio agents-toxins very effective. Covert ops likely—sanitary and personal hygiene measures, imms must be enforced. Never assume hydrant water is safe!
Biological Attack Indicators
If threat forces attack with bio agents, there may be little or no warning. Soldiers need to automatically mask when attack indicators are high. Some of thses indicators are the same that could be found after a chem. attack but with one critical difference: after taking immediate action to protect themselves, soldiers will be unable to detect and identify chem. agent vapors/liquids.
· Mysterious illness (large # of soldiers)
· Large # of insects or unusual insects not normally in area
· Large # of sick or dead animals (domestic and wild)
· Artillery shells with less powerful explosions than HE rounds
Soldiers faced diseases like measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, camp itch, mumps, typhoid and dysentery. However, diarrhea killed more soldiers than any other illness. There were many reasons that diseases were so common for the causes of death for soldiers. Reasons include the fact that there were poor physicals before entering the army, ignorance of medical information, lack of camp hygiene, insects that carried disease, lack of clothing and shoes, troops were crowded and in close quarters and inadequate food and water.
Wright III, B. (1998, November). The Chemical Warfare Service Prepares for World War II. Retrieved from http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/NovDec98/MS274.htm
The operational requirements of the Army during overseas contingency operations have been extensive. The Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) Model has proven effective in sustaining persistent mission requirements by ensuring units are operationally prepared to deploy. Commanders and Senior Non Commissioned Officers (SNCO) have responded professionally to the ARFORGEN process by building and maintained cohesive units ready to meet the stringent demands of COIN operations. U...
Unsanitary hospitals and camps kept the wounded soldiers in large groups, which were ideal places for infection, fevers and disease to spread. Soldiers were not immune to childhood diseases like the measles and smallpox. Medical science has not yet discovered the importance of antiseptics in preventing infection. Water was contaminated and soldiers sometimes ate unripened or spoiled food. There weren’t always clean rags available to clean wounds.
Ryan, Jeffrey R., and Jan F. Glarum. Biosecurity & Bioterrorism: Containing and Preventing Biological Threats. Oxford: Elsevier Inc., 2008.
The Company publishes "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment," which quickly becomes one of the standard teaching texts for antiseptic surgery. It helps spread the practice of sterile surgery in the U.S. and around the world.
FM 4-02.285, Multiservice Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Treatment of Chemical Agent Casualties and Conventional Military Chemical Injuries (2007, CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response, (2003, April 3). This page includes links September 18), Headquarters, Department of the Army
In 1865 before an operation, he cleansed a leg wound first with carbolic acid, and performed the surgery with sterilized (by heat) instruments. The wound healed, and the patient survived. Prior to surgery, the patient would need an amputation. However, by incorporating these antiseptic procedures in all of his surgeries, he decreased postoperative deaths. The use of antiseptics eventually helped reduce bacterial infection not only in surgery but also in childbirth and in the treatment of battle wounds.
Readiness is of the utmost importance with training being the most significant aspect that contributes to Readiness. Each Soldier needs an individual training plan. The plan should take the Soldier from enlistment to discharge or retirement. It is each Soldiers responsibility to be proficient in their field craft. This includes being fit mentally and physically, and trained to win in a complex world. It is the responsibility of the NCO to train these Soldiers. Unit training plans will address the readiness and resilience of individual Soldiers to ensure their fitness to accomplish their mission. Units must conduct realistic training at the individual, squad, platoon and company levels focused on Mission Essential Tasks (METs) for their
Cashman, J. (2000). Emergency Response to Chemical and Biological Agents. Boca Raton, FL. Lewis Publishers.
In today’s operational environments, the U.S. Army is facing a range of problems and mission sets that are arguably more complex than previously encountered. Forces face an array of demands that encompass geo-political, social, cultural, and military factors that interact in unpredictable ways. The inherent complexity of today’s operations has underscored the need for the Army to expand beyond its traditional approach to operational planning. In March 2010 in FM 5-0: The Operations
Unconventional warfare by means of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) methods have existed for millennia. Dating as far back as the Hellenistic Age, this means of lethality has been evidenced through textual findings where Alexander the Great and his Army sustained poisoned arrows from Indian rivals. With the evolution that comes with time, the extensive use of chlorine and mustard gas were introduced by Germans during World War I (Landau, 1991). More recently in 2013, the confirmed stockpile and use of chemical weapons in Syria and North Korea has threatened the safety of the global community with terrorism and tactics of surprise. In order to combat this resurgence of CBRN warfare, the United States Army developed and continuously adapts to these types of threats by employing CBRN Defense. Under this system, CBRN reconnaissance operations were established to observe an area to locate and identify any possible contamination. Managed by CBRN reconnaissance platoons, these operations remain one of the most important defense principles of contamination avoidance.
Our approach in managing wounds was far from being optimal in our own setting. After having read the article of Sibbald et al (1) and assisting to presentations during the first residential week-end, our approach at St. Mary 's Hospital Center 's Family Medicine Clinic must change. We were not classifying wounds as healable, maintenance or non-healable. We were always considering the wounds in our practice as healable despite considering the system 's restraints or the patients ' preferences. In the following lines, I will define and summarize the methods one should use in order to initial management of wounds and how to integrate it better to our site. The first goal we need to set is to determine its ability to heal. In order to ascertain if a wound is healable, maintenance or a non-healable wound.
During the start of the Operation, the weather was in favor of the invading German Forces. As the months passed, heavy rains began to slow the German Army due to the mud stopping armor and slowing the troop’s forward movement. As winter approaches, the ground hardened making it possible to continue pressing forward but the bitter cold of Soviet winters interfered with the operation of military equipment. The German Army was unprepared for the cold. Lacking winter supplies, such as uniforms for the soldiers make it very difficult to complete tasks. The German Army is too far from German supply lines, in order to make timely drops of much needed supplies. The lack of supplies led to thousands dying of hypothermia and casualties from frostbite (The Siege of Leningrad, 2014). The weather also hindered the ability of the Luftwaffe to take part in daily
Disaster Preparedness is a vital part of the CERT program. As the basis of the CERT program preparedness begin at both the home and office. By preparing before a disaster develops, lives and properties can be saved. When preparing for a disasters hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness should be considered. Hazard mitigation is conducted in the home and office to determine potential hazards and eliminate or reduce the threat. Once the hazards have been identified and reduced the CERT member can them begin preparing for a potential disaster. You should develop a family disaster plan that includes plans for both an evacuation and sheltering in place. Disaster preparedness kits should be compiled. The kit should include basic supplies to meet the family’s needs for a few days if needed. This kit should be mobile as to meet the needs of both evacuation and sheltering in place (CERT Training Manual, 2011).