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Essay Instructions: My paper is an persuasive essay. The topic is the effects of depleted uranium weapons how it is related to Gulf War Syndrome. The United States has clearly stated that depleted uranium shells are not the cause of Gulf War Syndrome and in fact deny that GWS exists. The coalition forces used depleted uranium weapons mainly on tanks, armored personnel carrier, etc. The residue from the depleted uranium shell casing oxidizes creating a fine dust that defies gravity and can travel many miles downwind. I am trying to persuade my audience that indeed DU may not be the main contributor to Gulf War Syndrome but may have had a role to play. I will copy and paste what I have already written as a guideline. Disregard any reference to birth defects as I am rewriting my thesis statment. Keep in mind that the information below is only a rough draft and any reference to the people or children of Iraq have been replaced with American soldiers in order to narrow down the topic.


Essay #3 rough draft
The wide range of weapons used during the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq was both varied and dangerous, but only one weapon is as deadly at point of impact as the deadly residual it leaves behind. Depleted uranium weapons used by the allies during the gulf war have left an indelible mark on the enviroment and the people of Iraq. The effect of residual depleted uranium has caused terrible health problems, contaminated water, air, and soil. The United States has downplayed the effects of depleted uranium as non-existent, but the people of Iraq have had an increase in adult onset cancers and birth defect rates are exploding.
Depleted uranium weapons are the weapons of choice for the United States military. These weapons are designed for tanks and tank killing equipment. The A-10 Warthog, a single seat fixed wing aircraft designed for close air support, and the Apache helicopter, both designed as anti-tank weapons use depleted uranium weapons. D.U provides the U.S. military an excellent weapon for penetrating the thick armor of enemy tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Uranium is found in the natural environment and is on the periodic chart of elements with atomic weight of ?. The human body on average contains about ninety micrograms of natural uranium with about 66% of that amount in the bones and the remainder within the other various soft tissues such as the kidneys and liver (World Health Organization Fact Sheet #257, 1).
Due to its high density, about twice that of lead, there are many civilian uses of DU that include aircraft and ship ballast, shielding for radiation therapy machines, and as containers for transporting radioactive materials.
There are currently 11 countries that use DU in the manufacturing of defensive armor plate for tanks and as armor penetrating ordinance to defeat enemy tanks and APC?s. DU is also used in small caliber weapons used by ground troops as sniper bullets and for small vehicle interdiction. The high energy of the dense material lends itself well for long distance elimination of enemy soft targets, in other words, assassination.
Depleted has the ability to enhance military operations in both the offensive and defensive arena. The DU shell is used as a penetrator, allowing an exploding shell to enter the tank with relative ease at ranges of 4 miles or more. Since DU is very dense, the kinetic energy stored within the casing fired at high velocities is very high. When the DU munitions strikes its target, the DU casing does not blunt or mushroom as a normal tungsten steel shell would, it actually sharpens itself while traveling through the armor. There are accounts of DU weapons actually traveling completely through a tank because of its ?self-sharpening? characteristics (Johnson 100).
During the 1991 conflict, over 1400 tanks were destroyed by DU munitions. An important factor in how the coalition forces destroyed Iraqi forces in only four days of actual combat is the use of DU. Compared with the reported deaths of over one hundred thousand Iraqi soldiers; the American portion of dead and wounded is trivial. There were 148 dead and 467 wounded during the entire conflict. I?m not writing lightly about these deaths, because one is too many.
While the American casualty rates were negligible compared to the Iraqi soldiers perhaps a few questions should have been asked about this ?miracle weapon?. Maybe as Americans we were spoiled by the video game like atmosphere of the media coverage. Since the government controlled the media, most civilians were not aware of the long term damage be perpetrated upon the land and inhabitants of Iraq.
Unfortunately, there is a downside to the miracle of DU weapons. The most glaring is its radioactivity. Depleted uranium retains about 40% of its original radioactivity (Johnson 101). The term ?depleted uranium? is a misnomer. Depleted uranium is just a by-product of the uranium enrichment process but still has a half-life of billions of years.
Then if the radioactivity is not bad enough, DU is a heavy metal, just like lead or mercury it has a certain amount of toxicity. A Department of Defense reports describes how exposure to DU may arise after a DU round strike a target:
Fragments and uranium oxides are generated when DU
rounds strike an armored target. The size of the
particulates varies greatly; larger fragment can be
easily observed, while very fine particles are
smaller than dust and can be inhaled into the lungs.
Whether large enough to see, or too small to be
observed, DU particles and oxides contained in the
body are all subject to various degrees of
solubilization-they dissolve in bodily fluids (DOD DU 2:1).
This is too say that the uranium particles are taken into the body and dispersed throughout the bones and soft tissues.

Essay Instructions: Analyze the response of health care responders to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004. Consider the issues of coordinating a multi-national response and the role of public safety in maintaining long-term recovery efforts in your analysis. In your paper:

Describe the characteristics of the incident.
Evaluate how those characteristics affected the incident response by health care responders.
Describe the characteristics and events of the incident that demonstrate a multi-disciplinary response.
Analyze the multi-disciplinary response to the incident with special consideration to the multi-national and long-term aspects of the response.
Describe the response and management of the biological CBRNE incident in regard to the issues of contaminated water and the spread of disease.
Evaluate the CBRNE incident response and management against current recommended practices for biological incidents.
Analyze the critical incident management framework that was utilized during the incident response. Describe how the current NIMS framework could be applied or more efficiently applied to the critical incident response. In you description, consider the feasibility of the NIMS framework in a multi-national response.
Your Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami Case Analysis should not exceed four pages. All citations and references should be in APA 5th edition format.