Military Health System

Military Health System

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Number and Title

Instructor’s Name

Assignment’s due Date

 

 

Military Health System

Combat Operations

Anticipating the future of the Military Health System can be learned from three areas. These areas are large-scale combat operations, small-scale combat operations, and individual tasks. According to the 2019 Army campaign plan, “Warfare will become more violent, lethal and swift, creating more consequential risks in terms of casualties, cost and escalation” (Lundy, 2019). This single quote cannot be more right. No matter what the future holds, the army can predict combat operations will not be less lethal but more. It does not matter in large or small scale combat operations.

Small-Scale combat operations

On small-scale combat operations, the level of injuries sustained and effort focused on taking care of the casualties in a timely and resource base have managed to be modified and stabilized with time. Not to say that there is no gap for improvement (Lundy, 2017).

Large-Scale combat operations

Focusing on the large scale combat operations military health system readiness, it is an area that requires more attention. With the current bureaucratic ways and measures, that is the need for a more consolidated health system, and attention has overtime diverted from the concept of readiness (Lundy, 2019).  Over time, the created departments tasked with the formation and implementation of measure and military health directories have diverted most of their policies on a need base to create a more consolidated system with other departments (Simmering, 2020). For instance, in 2015, the military health system merged with the civilian health organization, Department of Veterans Affairs, private health providers and Health and Human Services. This has redirected its focus from the immediate most pressing issue of readiness. To ensure large scale combat readiness, there is a need to focus on human resources or preferably single soldier physical and psychological training regarding the intensity of the catastrophic results of such an operation and the availability of military health resources on the route. This means that, during such an operation, human resources that include doctors and rescue time and medical resources such as medicine, beds, bandages, and operating gears should be ample.

Individual task level

On an individual task level, the focus of the military health system departments has directed their focus on recruiting medical response teams on the bases of knowledge, skills, attributes, and other characteristics ( KSAOs) instead of focusing on the practicality and technical considerations of the actual large scale combat operation situation (Lundy, 2017). There is a need for medical personnel who are proficient in their work as medical personnel and psychologically and physically capable of maneuvering and providing required services in such an intense situation. To illustrate, Lack of these interventions will result in a nation full of wounded soldiers and a far greater harmed number of soldiers than the medical health system can take care of. The last resort will be for soldiers not to get wounded.

Conclusion

Readiness for a large scale combat operation requires a lot of preparation on the administrative level that involves conducting benchmarking in possible battlefields to assess the required response to correctly determine the required resources, extensive training of the military, and most importantly, the redirection of the military health system from the need for departmental consolidation to focusing on the ways to provide the necessary response in case of such an operation.

 

 

References

Lundy, G. M., Creed, R., & Pence, S. (2019, July 18). Feeding the forge: Sustaining large-scale combat operations. www.army.mil. https://www.army.mil/article/223833/feeding_the_forge_sustaining_large_scale_combat_operations

Lundy, M. (2017, October). Department of the Army FM 3-0. Army Publishing Directorate Army Publishing Directorate. https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN6687_FM%203-0%20C1%20Inc%20FINAL%20WEB.pdf

Simmering, M. J. (2020). Working to Master Large-Scale Combat Operations: Recommendations for Commanders to Consider during Home-Station Training. Military Review, 100(3), 19.

https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-627394469/working-to-master-large-scale-combat-operations-recommendations.