Class VIIIA Materiel

Medical cargo (Class VIIIA) is critical to the success of the United States military stationed across the globe; therefore, the military must successfully ship its Class VIIIA materiel to the Warfighter. The shipping and handling of the time and temperature sensitive Class VIIIA materiel is a complex process. Since the initial stages of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) the medical field has complained about Class VIIIA materiel arriving unserviceable to the final destination. Unserviceable materiel includes items that expired over time and items that expired from exposure to temperatures outside of their allowable range. This thesis focused on one possible area of concern, the air transshipment nodes used for OIF. The researcher used interviews to accomplish a case study and answer the research questions. The interviews focused on the training of the personnel handling the materiel at the transshipment nodes and the amount of instruction relating to the materiel the personnel are given while deployed. The results of the interviews showed that training and instruction for handling the temperature sensitive materiel is not an issue. The contributing issues are the mass amount of cargo transiting the transshipment nodes, the lack of airlift, and the lack of storage space with proper capabilities.

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