Re: DU Issue

[Laurie Taylor <laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu>]

Dear Jim,

Personally, I thank you for your insight, comments and service to your
country.  Over the years at the universities I have worked at as a health
physicist, I have had around a dozen phone calls from people who either
handled DU rounds or had family members who had.  At the time of the phone
calls, I had very little info.  I appreciate the information both on the DU
weapons and your experiences.  

Merry Christmas!
Laurie W. Taylor
The University of Iowa
laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu



At 03:40 PM 12/21/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I'll give everyone a heads up this is a bit off subject so you may
delete.....or read on.   Also, what I say here are just my rumblings and
don't represent the position of anyone but me. 
>
>Phil Hypes has written several well thought out items on this issue.  He
has characterized the ethical issues and the dilemmas facing the modern
soldier very well.   Good job and a hand salute! 
>
>When I responded to Brian Ree's note, I was trying to point out that at
the present only large caliber weapons systems use DU rounds.   Hitting a
person with a large caliber weapon is almost always fatal and the HP
considerations become moot.   Hitting hard targets (tanks, armored
vehicles, bunkers) with troops inside is also nearly always fatal to the
inhabitants and the HP considerations are also moot.   The academics can
figure out the exposure to  what is left of a surviving crewman of a tank
hit by a DU penetrator.  I doubt if it will take long considering what I
saw left of the enemy armor in Kuwait and Iraq.    Environmentally, the
effects of the use of DU (based on Desert Storm experience) is minimal.
The effects on troops handling DU rounds as well as those exposed to DU
shrapnel, dust, etc., has not yet shown to be a serious health problem.  So
where is the fuss?   From the soldier's point of view "dead is dead" and
the academics can argue the TEDE but it doesn't c!
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>hange the basic fact.   
>
>Also, thanks to Phil for adding to the discussion by pointing out the
ethical problems associated with conducting military operations.    I
agree, with  very few exceptions, the US Armed Forces do have an
outstanding record of conducting combat operations while observing the
"rules of land warfare," the guidelines set down by the National Command
Authority, the Commander's intent and long, long lists of rules of
engagement.   The mission is accomplished knowing that sometimes these
"humanitarian" and politically motivated rules may create significant risks
to our soldiers, e.g., the ROE during the Viet Nam war that prevented
firing-up a hospital, school or monastery even if it had an anti-aircraft
gun on its roof.   The use of the least force to accomplish the mission is
our doctrine and I believe it is ethical.  And, as Phil points out,  the
rules pretty much go away when defending yourself.  
>
>Regarding comparative risks on the battlefield.   I look at things in
basic terms.  What can hurt me bad... right now.   A future injury from
inhaling DU or DU shrapnel was way, way, way, way down on my list of
personal hazards.   It was far below the use of chemical agents which, by
the way, were somewhere on page 10 ....even way beyond the category of
"foolish commanders."   My list went like this, vehicle accident (fatal or
serious injury), getting killed by an "unloaded" weapon (someone else's but
not mine of course), mines of any type, booby traps, airplane accidents,
poisonous snakes,{ they have some cute and cuddly "one-steppers" over there
and snuggling up with one was not my idea of a Kodak moment!}  food
poisoning from an MRE, tripping over a tent peg and breaking my neck.
Well, you get the idea.  DU effects on the bod?   Too much worry about an
academic problem that probably will never, ever happen.
>
>Combat  IS ugly.   If you are going to do it, then you have to be prepared
to exact the maximum violence in the shortest  time using the minimum of
force and resources.   Get it on and get it over......it will save lives on
both sides in the long run.   This theory is really the basis for the use
of the atomic bombs during WW 2 no matter what the "revisionist historians"
try to say.  Harry Truman, ex-Captain and artilleryman from WW 1, knew this
fact.  As President his decision was based on saving a million or more
Allied casualties during an invasion of Japan and getting the job done
quickly. 
>
>And for those critics, if you have stuck with it so far, who implied that
I was treating death in a frivolous manner and that I, or maybe American
soldiers in general,  are uncaring.  You are mis informed.  I'll leave you
with a couple thoughts.   
>
>During Desert Storm our joint Civil Affairs Support team, composed of
Marines and Army soldiers, established an "ad hoc" aid station and EPW
collection point at the request of the 1st FSSG Commander at a God-forsaken
grid coordinate in the desert known only as Al Kanjar.   We  begged,
borrowed (and YES)  stole the resources to build and supply it in a day.
We staffed it with our physician, veterinarians, EMTs, physician
assistants, fire fighters, and medical supply types from our Civil Affairs
Company.   Three Navy corpsmen from the Marine's Group Aid Station also
pitched in.   A NAVY Lieutenant at the MEDLOGS opened the CONEX containers
and we helped ourselves to the cornucopia of medical supplies and gear.  It
was a TEAM EFFORT!   Not only did these Soldiers, Sailors and Marines
fulfill the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Commander's responsibility under
international and national law and US regulations, they made a significant
difference by favorably influencing the Iraq!
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>i soldier's opinion of the US forces.   Their skill, professionalism,
creativity and selfless dedication to duty protected and immediately
improved the health of our  former foes.  More than 500 Iraqi prisoners
were treated, fed, and sheltered (if you call a soggy blanket shelter)
during their transfer from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia during the first 24 hours
of operation.   Street people from the inner city were better off than the
best Iraqi soldier.   Some had  eaten very little in nearly 2 weeks and
were without water for many days.   (Did you know Sadaam had children of 14
years old in the front line?  I do, I saw them......) 
>
>Nothing describes the Iraqi soldier's appreciation for the good treatment
they were receiving than the following event.   While I was caring for an
old fellow who had badly burned hands, a young female MP Lieutenant stooped
over to help and her loaded .45 fell out of her shoulder holster in to this
guy's lap.  In war "stuff happens!   He beamed a big smile with his few
remaining teeth and calmly handed it back to her.  {This unexpected hazard
was not on my list, by the way!}
>
>What about  good ol' "Doc" Flemming who single handedly jumped into the
back of a semi truck jammed with about 80 EPWs to help someone  in acute
respiratory distress?  He was "armed" with a  dispenser of Albuterol.   It
is a very tough thing to give up your comrades to the "enemy" especially if
you don't know how you are going to be treated.   The sick man's buddies
realized what was going on and quickly passed their friend (and the Doc) up
and over the side for more care. 
>
>And how about those guys inside the cage, who eventually pushed their
comrades to the front , waved their arms and wanted us to check him out.
Sure enough, broken legs, arms, bullet holes, burns or something serious.
Wounds and injuries hidden from prying eyes until they decided we were
"OK."   Yep, we Americano soldiers must be a real bad dudes.  It takes a
lot of confidence to turn you best friend over to the enemy. 
>
>Here's a couple more....  My buddy Bill, who was with the Tiger Brigade
rounded up about 50 Iraqi women and children and sheltered them in a
Mosque.  He got them food, water, some blankets and got them safe passage
to the rear.     He also encountered an Iraqi family in which one of the
kids had been injured....probably a "toe popper" mine or God knows
what....he arrainged for the family's evacuation to a medical unit.   The
family was eventually flown by an ARMY air ambulance to Saudi so the kid
could get the care they needed.  
>
>How about  SGT W. treating a nasty infected cut on a really cute
Palestinian girl's foot in the median strip of the highway northwest of
Kuwait City?.   Maybe I should digitize the photo and send it around.  
>
>Yeah,  the next night when its 40 degrees, the wind whips about  knocking
things down and the cold rain is trickling down the back of my neck  my
thoughts will drift back to that EPW cage in the desert ; or when the
orderly, orangey lights of an industrial center glare a mile off the side
of a highway I'll think of Al Mishab and the coastal highway; industrial
buildings surrounded by walls topped with razor wire remind me of Safwan,
Dahran;  when the scouts, Cobras and a platoon of Blackhawks from the
Maryland Guard thump, rumble and beat the air into submission over my house
on the way to an air assault exercise I'll  remember  the air missions
passing so low over my hooch you could have touched them had they not blown
the sand in your eyes, or when an oily black storm cloud  boils up quickly
and roils, rolls darkening the sky  and dropping the temperature so quickly
 you get a chill  I'll think of the fires and smoke of Kuwait.  Then my
thoughts drift off and I'll think of t!
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>he one Iraqi who did not make it.  He died of malnutrition, dehydration
and exposure.  A cold and lonely death jammed into the back of  the one
truck that did not stop at Al Kanjar a now forgotten grid coordinate in the
Arabian desert. 
>
>I don't want to ever again hear that we soldiers don't care about life and
death.   The men and women with whom I've served are the very best that
America has to offer.  I'm proud to have served with them.   Few
individuals I have met are more caring and more giving.   
>
>If you have read this far, you have probably guessed that I too am an
"Army" man.  I now have 28 years of service between active and reserve
duty.   Like Phil, my father was also a "lifer" .... a career airman who
served WW2, Korea, and Viet Nam and Thailand.   I'm not an "tanker man",
like Phil and Joe Provost , so I'm not as eloquent a writer as they are.
I'm just an airman turned Civil Affairs man and special operator.  I have a
practical and straight foreword way of doing things and in way I say
things.  I have sense of humor that  similar to Hawkeye Pierce of MASH fame
after years of working as a medic and technician.   I have sense of
fatalism derived from my experiences over more than one drop zone.
"Blood on the Risers" and  "Ballad of the Green Berets" are my favorite
songs.    The Green Berets, The Devil's Brigade and A Bridge Too Far are my
favorite movies.   Get the picture?
>
>For the critics:   As soldiers  we take an oath to support and defend the
Constitution against all enemies foreign or domestic.   We don't choose the
missions, set the national or international policy, nor do we favor one
political leader or party.  Sometimes we don't have much choice in weapons
systems that are given to us by grateful nation.  But,  we are blessed to
have a country that gives us the very best technology, equipment  and the
most realistic training possible.   If that technology includes DU then I
will use it to this country's best advantage within the generally accepted
international rules of warfare and the legal orders given to by my
commanders.     
>
> As for those who decry making war, I think we would all agree with you.
We hate it and fear it.     But we don't make the decisions to fight or not
to fight.    The decision makers are not even the politicians.  The
decision makers are  people like you who must influence the elected
government by expressing your opinions and voting.   After all,  your
freedom of expression is what  we, the soldiers, sailors, marines, coast
guardsmen and airmen have sworn to protect.    
>
> 
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