A Chance in Hell

This monograph provides a framework for the assessment of military health systems to foreign disaster response and recommendations derived from the analysis of policy and historical case studies. It concludes with a set of recommendations on how the joint-force may better train, organize, and equip in order to conduct effective foreign disaster relief operations. These recommendations were developed through trends identified in the analysis of case studies. They provide an example of the intellectual product that may be developed from using the analysis framework. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military's employment of health services in foreign disaster relief has expanded. While the frequency of disaster related global health engagements has risen, a method for assessing the efficacy of these engagements must be applied in order to forecast future requirements. By developing this construct for evaluation, operational planners and commanders may better understand when and how tactical medical assets should be resourced and employed in time, space, and purpose towards the achievement of strategic objectives. To this point, the underlying assumption of this research is that the efficacy of military health services in a foreign disaster environment is directly tied to its ability to provide the immediate care required until the host nation and international donors are able to assume responsibility for it.