Medical care of women deployed during Desert Storm.

The Desert Shield/Desert Storm troop deployment included record numbers of women and highlighted the vacuum of planning and information regarding medical care for women deployed to a theater of war. I review the retrievable literature from that conflict and discuss the data regarding resource management and clinical significance. The literature and my observations as an active-duty female gynecologist are presented to prompt a thorough systemwide evaluation of medical wartime readiness in light of the changing demographics of the military force.