After the Storm: medical officer recruiting and retention

During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, it was necessary to activate and deploy a large number of U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard medical units to augment the active Army health care treatment capability. In addition, a significant number of active Army physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health care providers were ordered from their stateside and European installations to fill positions in field medical units deploying to Southwest Asia. Individual reservists, both from Troop Program Units and from other Selected Reserve programs, were used to backfill active officers and to augment units other than those to which they were normally assigned. The subject of the most often asked questions following the successful conclusion of the war concerns the effect this conflict had on recruitment of health care professionals for the active and reserve forces. This article, while written before many of the medical units returned to their home stations, and while a large number of reservists remain on active duty, will provide an analysis of the war's impact on recruiting in the medical field and identify some incentives that may be needed to ensure the Army Medical Department's capability to meet its mission.