Military Importance: What Does It Mean and Can It Be Assessed Objectively?
Abstract
In recent years, the Department of Defense -- often, at the direction of the U.S. Congress or in collaboration with other federal agencies -- has established or continued to support clinical and research centers, institutes, agencies, task forces, and programs focused on medical conditions, syndromes, and health threats considered *militarily important." In principle, assessments of "military importance" should guide, at least in part, the prioritization of military medical health care practices, policies, training, and research initiatives -- and allocations of resources to support them. Based on recent experience and published reports, we have identified four general determinants of the "military importance" of medical conditions, military activities, or exposures that degrade or threaten the health, safety, and senses of well-being of U.S. military members and the capabilities of the Military Health System to care for them. If objective measures of the determinants of military importance were available, the relative importance of various conditions could be assessed systematically. Such assessments might enhance the "situational awareness" of military medical leaders and help guide their planning, policy making, and resource allocation decision making. The four general determinants are as follows: (1) Costs to the military health system; (2) Effects on military operations and training; (3) Compassion, empathy, and humanitarian concerns; and (4) Concerns of the popular press, politicians, senior military leaders, celebrities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA565502
Entities
Organizations
- Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center