ADF Health November 1999 - Volume 1 Number 1Greetings from the EditorInformation for a new health service
On l June 1998, the former Chief of the Defence Force, General John Baker, established the Board of the Defence Health Service. This board comprises the Surgeon General Australian Defence Force, Major General John Pearn; the Director General Defence Health Service, Brigadier Paul Buckley; the Assistant Surgeon General ADF (Navy), Commodore Peter Habersberger; the Assistant Surgeon General ADF (Army), Brigadier Robert Atkinson; and myself, the Assistant Surgeon General ADF (Air Force). This board has two features: it is a triservice foundation and is a blend of full time and part time health professionals. The Surgeon General provided the initiative for the development of this journal. He recognised the requirement for a triservice journal to satisfy the unmet need for a Navy and an Air Force health service publication and to complement the existing journals of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, the Royal Australian Army Dental Corps and the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps. The launch of our journal has coincided with a time of heightened regional commitments by ADF health professionals. In September this year the Australian Government committed the ADF to a long-term deployment with the United Nations Peace Monitoring Group in East Timor. A similar commitment on the island of Bougainville has continued since 1997. The demand for ADF trauma-related specialists to be continuously deployed is now as great as it was during the Vietnam conflict. This is now a time to reaffirm the important role of the exacting and challenging discipline of military medicine. I am indebted to all my military colleagues who have contributed manuscripts for all their efforts, advice, professionalism and patience in ensuring the success of the venture. I acknowledge with gratitude the diligent and dedicated work performed by the inaugural editorial board, the staff of Defence Publishing and the Australasian Medical Publishing Company in launching this publication initiative. The editorial board invites manuscript submissions, particularly from members of the Defence Health Service, for future publication. The future of the Journal is to develop a forum of educational interest, a repository of military medical experience and an avenue of publication for the original work and research of all members of the Defence Health Service in the important discipline of military medicine. Air Commodore Bruce Short, RFD |
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I WELCOME YOU to the inaugural issue of ADF Health: Journal of the Australian Defence Force Health Service.