{"title":"Defence Engagement (Health): a historical perspective.","authors":"Thomas Falconer Hall, K Attridge","doi":"10.1136/military-2023-002412","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Defence Engagement (DE) (Health) themes are reviewed in this paper through two historical perspectives set in very different contexts. The first-person narrative in <i>Guerrilla Surgeon</i> by Lindsay Rogers outlines the experience of a medical officer building capacity with Tito's Partisans behind enemy lines in Second World War Yugoslavia. This is contrasted with a more academic evaluation of strategic and medical benefits of DE (Health) delivered by the US military during the Vietnam War in Robert Wilensky's <i>Military Medicine to Win Hearts and Minds: Aid to Civilians in the Vietnam War</i> Both texts infer that clear objectives, supported by effective strategic communication, are required for the impact of DE (Health) to be fully realised. Wilensky, in particular, noted that the US military medical effort in Vietnam had no measurable impact on health or political goals in the conflict. Rogers' experience on a more individual level speaks to the promise of DE (Health) delivery contrasted against the lack of regional objectives and cites the loss of British influence when Soviet propaganda was more cohesive and coordinated, resulting in the shift in Partisan loyalty despite British efforts in supplying the bulk of military and medical material. While neither author offers a definitive guide on DE (Health), they offer clear examples of themes that should be considered and demonstrate the importance of evaluating activity and maintaining the historical record to provide an evidence base for future work. This is an article commissioned for the Defence Engagement special issue of BMJ Military Health.</p>","PeriodicalId":48485,"journal":{"name":"Bmj Military Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Bmj Military Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/military-2023-002412","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Defence Engagement (DE) (Health) themes are reviewed in this paper through two historical perspectives set in very different contexts. The first-person narrative in Guerrilla Surgeon by Lindsay Rogers outlines the experience of a medical officer building capacity with Tito's Partisans behind enemy lines in Second World War Yugoslavia. This is contrasted with a more academic evaluation of strategic and medical benefits of DE (Health) delivered by the US military during the Vietnam War in Robert Wilensky's Military Medicine to Win Hearts and Minds: Aid to Civilians in the Vietnam War Both texts infer that clear objectives, supported by effective strategic communication, are required for the impact of DE (Health) to be fully realised. Wilensky, in particular, noted that the US military medical effort in Vietnam had no measurable impact on health or political goals in the conflict. Rogers' experience on a more individual level speaks to the promise of DE (Health) delivery contrasted against the lack of regional objectives and cites the loss of British influence when Soviet propaganda was more cohesive and coordinated, resulting in the shift in Partisan loyalty despite British efforts in supplying the bulk of military and medical material. While neither author offers a definitive guide on DE (Health), they offer clear examples of themes that should be considered and demonstrate the importance of evaluating activity and maintaining the historical record to provide an evidence base for future work. This is an article commissioned for the Defence Engagement special issue of BMJ Military Health.
本文通过两个背景截然不同的历史视角,对国防参与(DE)(健康)主题进行了回顾。林赛-罗杰斯(Lindsay Rogers)在《游击外科医生》(Guerrilla Surgeon)一书中以第一人称的叙述方式,概述了第二次世界大战期间南斯拉夫敌后铁托游击队中一名医务官员的能力建设经历。罗伯特-威伦斯基(Robert Wilensky)的《赢得人心的军事医学》(Military Medicine to Win Hearts and Minds)对美军在越战期间提供的医疗保健服务的战略和医疗效益进行了更具学术性的评估:这两本书都推断,要想充分发挥发展(健康)教育的影响,就必须有明确的目标,并辅以有效的战略沟通。威伦斯基特别指出,美军在越南的医疗工作对冲突中的健康或政治目标没有产生可衡量的影响。罗杰斯(Rogers)在个人层面上的经验则表明,尽管英国为越南提供了大量的军事和医疗物资,但在缺乏地区目标的情况下,DE(健康)的交付前景却不容乐观,他还提到,当苏联的宣传更具凝聚力和协调性时,英国的影响力也随之丧失,导致游击队的忠诚度发生变化。虽然两位作者都没有提供关于 DE(卫生)的权威指南,但他们提供了应考虑的主题的明确例子,并证明了评估活动和保留历史记录的重要性,从而为未来工作提供证据基础。本文是受委托为《BMJ 军事健康》国防参与特刊撰写的文章。