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Adoo Medical Kit
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1. Cloth containing a small amount of
tea(?)
2. Clear polythene bag
3. Small bottle of capsules
4. Vial very similar to that which might
contain penicillin
5. Two ampoules
6. Some grubby cotton wool
7. First Field dressing of British origin
8. Unsterile syringe manufactured in
Lebanon
9. Unlabelled ampoules |
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| This adoo medical kit came into
the possession of the FST in the spring of 1972. Fred Halliday
in "Arabia without Sultans" wrote that the PLA made medicines
with gum from trees. He makes no other reference that any other
medical treatment was available to the adoo.
I have read that there was someone with the adoo on the jebel
who was capable of surgery as major as amputations. This has not
been corroborated from other sources.
The adoo medical kit in the
photograph is unlikely to be one that was carried by all the
adoo as a standard personal medical kit. It is much more likely
that is was issued to a medic who was regarded within his group
as being a specialist or had been trained to administer first
aid.
The provision of this quantity and
quality of materials to treat wounded is hopelessly inadequate.
Whomsoever was responsible for its issue clearly only intended
it as a morale booster and had a callous disregard for the
welfare of any of his fellows who were injured.
A number of adoo who were
unfortunate enough to have significant injures had the good
fortune to end up in and be treated by the FSTs. Any others who
were injured and were treated by their "company medic" with his
inadequate medical kit are not likely to have survived. The
morale of their fellows must have been sorely tried as
they witnessed the suffering they underwent.
It was adoo policy to remove their wounded from the battlefield
and also to recover their dead. There is an interesting comment
in the account given by Peter Isaacs when I questioned him about
adoo medical provision.
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"Most of the healing was done by a locally
well-known traditional doctor who knew all the
traditional cures and 'even carried out amputations'. He
is apparently still alive, but down in Dhofar - a marvellous source for deeper
research "
"There were one or two
medical personnel who came via PDRY, mainly trained medical
orderlies rather than doctors, touring the jebel as needed and
spending around two or three months at a time, no doubt with
limited resources. Some were Yemenis, others Chinese and also
one Palestinian."
As related to David
Insall by a former insurgent (08/06/05) |
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"As far as
I know the adoo did not have much medical care and,
whatever they had, it must have been very primitive. I
know a friend who lived on the other side and went to
the Adoo School in Hauf (south Yemen). "
"According to him (dr. ******)
the school was so basic that they were only taught
simple things and to read and write. Ahmed was here as a
visiting scholar to ****** but is away at the moment in
Oman. I will check with him up on his return to ******
to find out more about the medical conditions and what
was available then."
Recent contact with an Omani who
was a boy in Salalah in the early 70's
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C***** has passed on to me a copy
of the correspondence you have been having regarding
adoo medical kit. I served in the SAS in Dhofar
from 1971 to 1974, and with *****
On several occasions I came across large caches of
medical equipment, but nothing to indicate the ability
to carry out major surgery. Following up after
contacts, we would find evidence that first aid had been
carried out on the wounded.
In 1973 I took part in an operation to attack an adoo
village on the jebel near Jib Jat, on the assumption
that the adoo would fight hard to protect their base
area, and that, therefore, we would be in a good
position to inflict casualties. As it turned out,
the base was an ordinary village and happened
to contain several wounded adoo; there was no
sign of anyone there with any particular expertise in
medical care which might have suggested that it was used
for any more sophisticated medical treatment.
e-mail to the webmaster from a former
member of BATT (03/06/09)
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At a recent meeting former members of BATT related
that there was strong evidence of Cuban medical help and
of East German Medical help. The Cubans with their
cigars and large moustaches had caused quite
considerable comment.
At the same
meeting one BATT member said that one of his abiding
memories following the Battle at Marbat was looking into
the operating theatre in Salalah and seeing one of the
OTTs taking buckets of water to sluice the blood off the
operating table
30th June 2009
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General Jeapes in his book "SAS Secret War"
describes how the adoo reviewed their capabilities and
decided that they needed to improve the medical aid that
they gave to the locals much in line with that given by
BATT and CAT. He comments that if their wounded could
not reach Hauf, often an incredibly hard journey on
foot, they would probably die. A female Lebanese doctor
looked after the less badly wounded in a cave at
Shershitti whilst her husband worked in Hauf itself. He
does suggest that some were evacuated to Aden by boom. |
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Notes |
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"By August 1969, the western sector
of Dhofar had been liberated. Socially the PFLOAG began
to break down the tribal structure, abolish slavery,
eradicate illiteracy, provide medical care by
establishing the Martyr Habkook Hospital as well as
military health units and complete rights and equal
status for women. On the political level, the PFLOAG
fought to deepen national unity by establishing a broad
united front to intensify the struggle against the
imperialists. To date more than 90% of Dhofar has been
liberated. "
This comment comes from the
Vietnam Veterans against War Website |
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