Scheduling of military vehicles through the deliberate nuclear, biological, and chemical decontamination process

The risk to military personnel by the threatened use of chemical weapons during Desert Storm operations in 1992 has led to a reexamination of existing directives for decontaminating exposed troops and equipment. In studying the logistical aspects of the decontamination process, the authors developed a stochastic scheduling model of nuclear, biological, and chemical decontamination activities. An analysis of the model suggests improved strategies for sequencing equipment for decontamination in the field. The scheduling algorithm developed in this work is now a candidate for adoption in ANBACIS, the US Army's decontamination decision support system.