Newly deployed medical company's supplies pilfered

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Soldiers of the newly arrived 575th Aerial Support Medical Company discovered at Kandahar Airfield Oct. 1 that roughly $2 million worth of their company\'s medical equipment had been stolen in transit.

The six overseas shipping containers left Fort Lewis, Wash. in June and were delivered Oct. 1 to the 575th ASMC here where they discovered the contents of four containers were missing. When opened, one or two of the containers held pallets of radio antennas not belonging to the unit, and the other containers were empty. One of the empty containers had once held troops' personal items, such as mementos, electronics and military-issued gear.

"Even though all my Soldiers took a huge hit, you can't see it when they do their jobs," said Capt. Constantine Voyevidka, the 575th ASMC company commander.

Scheduled to open their clinic Oct. 15, the approximately 80 Soldiers of the 575th ASMC deployed with two missions. Primarily they plan to use their clinic to support American troops from units that do not have medical assets, currently about 50 percent of troops on KAF. A secondary undertaking is to send teams forward to provide medical support to forward operating bases and military locations throughout Regional Command-South.

"For now we can still support Kandahar Airfield like we need to," said Voyevidka.

Besides medical equipment they still have, the company hopes to use supplies from a medical equipment warehouse next door, as well as acquire medical materiel being transferred from Iraq due to the troop drawdown. The command surgeon from the Joint Sustainment Command-Afghanistan has already pledged support to help the 575th ASMC replace supplies they need to accomplish their mission.