What Color Are the Podiatrist's Boots: Creating a Joint Medical Corps

Abstract

The U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force each maintain a separate medical corps and medical treatment facilities, and deploy with different structures while providing the same capabilities. For example, a medical officer in the Air Force does not provide different care than a Navy medical officer. The color of a podiatrist's boots does not matter as long as they take care of a service member's feet. Opportunities exist to make the US military medical field more flexible and efficient. Canada or France are case studies of countries with a single medical service. While there is a difference in how the services medically deploy, there remain overlapping capabilities. What are the benefits, efficiencies, and possible structure of a joint medical corps in the United States military? Developing a single medical service in the Department of Defense could reduce redundant capabilities and provide efficiencies in a deployed environment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 06, 2016
Accession Number
AD1178770

Entities

People

  • Alexandra V. Gerbracht

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Command And Control
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Health
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Instructors
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Police
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • North America
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Physicians
  • Therapy
  • Training
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Medical or Health Care Field.