A Unified Medical Command: The Next Step in Joint Warfare Development
Abstract
American Military Medicine's early organizational roots came from a British model. During the Civil War military medical services reorganized to support large land forces in heavy combat. The pattern developed during that period remains, with minor adjustments for improved technology, the organizational model for today's medical force. This pattern is based on service specific, separate medical departments with limited interoperability. A transformation is underway that is converting much of the force structure into an interoperable joint force. As they are currently organized, the military medical services cannot efficiently support a joint force. To solve this problem, all three service medical departments should be reorganized under a single Unified Medical Command that retains the individual service medical departments as subordinate component medical commands. Such a structure will maximize efficiency, eliminate unnecessary redundancy, conserve limited resources and respond to the needs of a joint force better than the current structure.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 10, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA390492
Entities
People
- Larry J. Godfrey
Organizations
- United States Army War College