Pandemics: A Threat Against U.S. Military Forces
Abstract
The 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic brought military training, deployments, and ultimately troop movements to a screeching halt. As of May 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) produced an unclassified report stating that 194,345 service members had contracted COVID-19 to-date; unfortunately, 26 of these service members died. Ultimately, COVID-19 has demonstrated how disruptive a pandemic is on daily life, in and out of uniform. In many respects, though, this experience is neither new nor surprising; disease outbreaks and even pandemics have existed long before COVID-19. A pandemic, while a rare occurrence in the world, is an increasingly concerning threat to U.S. national security. Twenty-first century technological and dynamic transportation systems have enabled military forces to deploy enormous capacities across the globe within hours. This transport capacity, while impressive, necessitates an important warning for national security: an infectious disease is just as transportable. For military forces that deploy across the globe, this threat has the ability to debilitate military readiness in hours. Therefore, which factors have enabled strategic responses to better preserve military readiness in the face of past pandemic and endemic epidemiological threats? Uncovering these factors will inform new military medical practices and procedures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1212889
Entities
People
- Brittany E. Brown
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School