"Hey -- don't get that shit on your boots!"

It will eat right thru the leather!

"Hey -- where's your mask?!"

.. breath that shit in and it may
be harmful to your health
And, I sure hope you had your gloves on
(handiling that shit)

(Click on photo for full-size version)

Spraying mosquito larvae with chemicals
designed to destroy disease breeding areas
is a weekly job for SP/5 Jeffrey C. Grube *, preventive medical specialist.
The portable sprayer contains an insecticide proven to be effective
by the World Health Organization (WHO.)     * See Cover-Up Report.

Home Address:   3730 Wunchester Road     Allentown, PA   18104-2244     Phone (610) 481-9183

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." -- The 712th Preventive Medicine Unit at Camp USARTHAI, Korat, will vouch for this old adage.

Commanded by Major Ignacio Hernandez-Fragoso, the medical unit keeps watch over the health of the soldiers and attempts to eliminate disease before it matures.     To better perform its duties, the 712th is divided into four specialized services.

Specialized Sections

The Medical Zoology Service evaluates the potential hazard of anthropod-borne and rodent-borne diseases.     This service is broken down into two types of sections;   a survey section to collect and identify specimens and three control sections to provide technical supervision of any needed control measures.

This service is also equipped to check on the insecticide resistance of anthropods like the mosquito, in order that the proper insecticide can be used.

Another service is the Sanitary Engineering Service.     It supervises food service sanitation, water purification and distribution, waste disposal and swimming pool sanitation.     The section also checks industrial hazards such as carbon monoxide poisoning and is the only unit of its kind that has the capability of checking for microwave hazards that might occur at the many signal sites in Thailand.

This service also runs periodical checks on the water and ice used to assure that it is safe for consumption.

Large animals, like dogs, can also carry diseases that are communicable to man.     That is the reason for the existence of the Veterinary Service.     Diseases such as rabies and anthrax are a threat to the health of the soldier here in Thailand.

To prevent the outbreaks of these and other animal-borne diseases, this service works in coordination with other veterinary units and agencies to eliminate diseases in animals.

The Epidimiology Service analyzes medical records and statistics to determine trends in health hazards so that controls can be initiated.     This service conducts the investigation of food poisoning and other communicable diseases and coordinates the activities of all the services into one comprehensive preventive medicine activity.

Each month, the men of the 712th travel between 25 and 30,000 miles in performing their job of assisting the USARSUPTHAI units in the field of preventive medicine.     Many of these miles are the result of a U.S. Army first -- the Command Preventive Medicine Inspecton (CPMI).    

CPMI teams run from the 712th visit each installation in the command to evaluate the installation's preventive medicine problems that they may have.

According to Major Hernandez, the cooperation and interest in preventive medicine activities at the unit level has resulted in the successful effort of these teams to improve the overall preventive medicine program in this command.

SP/5 Lyle M. Stotelmyre (L),
preventive medical specialist
and his assistant,
SP/4 Verlon E. Cook,
dip into the drain water
in search of mosquito larvae.

(Click on photo for full-size version)

Examining samples of swamp water
at Camp USARTHAI
are SP/4 Richard E. Gula (L)
and SP/4 Donald J. Phillabaum
tests on the water,
the men are able to detect
such diseases as cholera and diptheria.

(Click on photo for full-size version)