Medical aspects of mobilization for war in an army reserve battalion

Abstract

During mobilization of a reserve battalion, administrative matters prolonged the medical validation of soldiers processing for overseas deployment. Problems included inadequate means of tracking soldiers, ignoring the chain of command within the deploying unit, delay in obtaining corrective lenses and optical inserts, and mistaken information about the need for personal medications. Consulting military physicians with negative attitudes about the deployment also caused delays. The battalion had 53% augmentees and 47% original unit members; the total strength was 788. Sixty-one unit members could not deploy for medical reasons, 25 of 418 augmentees (6%) and 36 of 370 original members (10%). Medical causes for nondeployment were: psychiatric, 14 (including 3 for alcohol dependency); back problems, 13; temporary injuries, 7; pregnancy, 4: knee problems, 4; recovery from civilian surgery, 3; and individual reasons (cancer, tuberculosis, HIV-positive, insulindependent diabetes, etc.), 16. More careful administrative planning, use of appropriate medical personnel, using the chain of command, establishing clear and consistent policies for medical qualification, keeping unit field medical records, using interim medical history forms to assess health problems, and utilizing medical officers who agree with the deployment would all enhance the speed and efficiency of medically validating a unit larger than company size.