4 August 2025
The Surgeon General of the ADF has taken a group of Australia’s senior civilian health officials to the heart of Exercise Talisman Sabre’s (TS25) Combined Joint Theatre Medical Component (CJTMC) to see the theatre health network in action.
Rear Admiral Sonya Bennett led representatives of the Health Chief Executives Forum, and other key health partners such as the National Blood Authority to Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane to observe the CJTMC and understand how the ADF is partnering with international allies providing integrated health operations and supporting national health resilience.
Commander of the CJTMC Air Commodore Nicole dos Santos explained the mission.
“Our purpose is to control, coordinate and synchronise care across the theatre health network – encompassing health support from across the region and serving as a vital interface between our military and civilian health systems,” Air Commodore dos Santos said.
At Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay, the group inspected the Role 2 E Hospital, one of more than 40 deployed military health facilities, led by the Australian Army’s 2nd Health Brigade.
Commander 2nd Health Brigade, Brigadier Louise Martin, said demonstrating ADF capabilities showed civilian counterparts how the treatment of ADF people began near the battlefield.
“Our field hospital is delivering a range of clinical services to participants deployed on TS25,” Brigadier Martin said.
“This includes the provision of primary and allied health services as well as emergency, resuscitative and surgical care.
“We are integrating health practitioners from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and the United States throughout the course of TS25. Teams are comprised of highly experienced and diverse clinical staff drawn from both permanent and part-time Defence personnel.”
At the recent NATO COMEDS meeting held in Washington DC, NATO countries and partner nations reinforced the need for collaboration between civilian and military health networks to deliver the best health outcomes during times of crisis and conflict.
'This visit is to enable our civilian counterparts to understand and visualise the health network across the battlefield, and how that network integrates with the national health system.'
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing), Professor Alison McMillan, attended the demonstration.
“I’m very grateful to all of those who gave their time to us so generously,” Professor McMillan said.
“It was a privilege to see and hear directly from those involved in the Combined Joint Theatre Medical Component of TS25. The visit provided a great opportunity on which to further integrate military and civilian health operations.”
Rear Admiral Bennett said Exercise Talisman Sabre was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how the integration of military health capabilities could provide a more effective health capability on operations – and save lives.
“This type of exercise supports the National Defence Strategy by generating and sustaining persistent health support for our deployed personnel,” she said.
“Our people are working together across Navy, Army and Air Force and with our international health partners to provide better treatment to our patients, and effectively a more focused approach to military health.
“This visit is to enable our civilian counterparts to understand and visualise the health network across the battlefield, and how that network integrates with the national health system.
“With an exercise the size of Talisman Sabre, it’s just not something as simple as placing all the medical teams together, it takes months of planning and rehearsing to ensure capabilities, systems, policies and expertise are aligned to provide world-class military health support to our people.
“In the future we would like to continue to plan and rehearse civilian and military health integration to ensure preparedness for any emerging challenges and threats, in support of continuing to build national health system preparedness and resilience.”
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