Joint Medical Readiness: Are We Ready to Answer the WMD Threat

Abstract

With the Global War on Terrorism the threat from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) including attacks using chemical biological and nuclear weapons opens the possibility of a new source of injuries. Traditionally all wars have the unfortunate result of inflicting injuries on the Soldiers Sailors Airmen and Marines who fight them. With few exceptions most of these battle related injuries require early surgical intervention to save the most lives. As a result most military medical units are surgically oriented. The new medical threat we face replaces injuries from conventional weapons with injuries from biological chemical and radiological weapons that current medical capabilities may not be equipped to handle. This paper examines the medical threats we face from a WMD attack. In order for Joint medical capabilities to meet the WMD threat the right people with the appropriate specialty training need to be in our inventory and part of the medical response teams. A Joint training requirement must be established across the Services so that all medical personnel can carry out any mission handed to them on any platform in DOD and in any location.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 10, 2006
Accession Number
ADA449697

Entities

People

  • Joseph W. Defeo

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Warfare Agents
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • First Responders
  • Health Services
  • Homeland Security
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Science
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Patient Care
  • Radiological Weapons
  • Therapy
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Neurotrauma and Rehabilitation Medicine.