The Air Force medical corps has fine-tuned a battlefield surgical capability—the Mobile Forward Surgical Team—that can deploy within 24-48 hours with 2,000 pounds of gear, enough to conduct 10 critical or 20 less-critical surgeries. It can be ready to operate within 15 minutes of arrival at its destination. It is not a future capability. One such team is in Southwest Asia now, working with the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group. If necessary, the five-person MFST could each carry a 70-pound backpack and several auxiliary bags and hike 10 miles to set up their field surgery. The team comprises a general surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, and an emergency physician.
NORTHCOM’s Budget Priority: Longer Warning Time
April 14, 2021
Gen. Glen D. VanHerck's top priorities in the upcoming budget are domain awareness in the form of farther-seeing over-the-horizon radars, followed by submarine detection capabilities and joint all-domain command and control, the commander of U.S. Northern Command told members of the House Armed Services Committee on April 14. Before building…