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Little research has explored the perceptions of military medical providers in the deployed environment and how their perceptions may change over time across an extended military conflict. To our knowledge, no studies have examined military medical providers’ opinions on readiness for their roles in the post-9/11 contingency operations. What has been published indicates that, during the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, military medical providers often deployed with little notice and minimal formal training. The present report examines data obtained from multiple cohorts of military medical providers (N = 321) deployed to Iraq between 2005 and 2009. Despite varying degrees of support from the U.S. public, our findings indicate that U.S. Air Force military medical providers’ support for the people of Iraq, their belief in the mission, and their ability to influence change did not vary with time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Contingency operations during the past 18 years have exposed millions of U.S. military service members to numerous combat and operational stressors. Despite this, a relative dearth of literature has focused on the experiences of deployed military medical personnel. As such, the present study aimed to address this gap in the literature by conducting individual and small group interviews with Air Force medical personnel who had recently returned from a deployment to Iraq. Interviews targeted self-reported factors related to psychological risk and resiliency across the deployment cycle, while also seeking recommendations for future military medical personnel preparing for medical deployments.Materials and Methods: Inductive thematic analyses were conducted on transcripts from 12 individual and structured group interviews conducted with recently deployed U.S. Air Force medical personnel (N = 28). An interview script consisting of 18 prompts was carefully developed based on the experiences of study personnel. Two team members (n = 1 research psychologist; n = 1 military medical provider) coded exemplars from interview transcripts. A third team member (research psychologist) reviewed coded exemplars for consistency and retained themes when saturation was reached.Results: In total we report on 6 primary themes. Participants reported feeling prepared to conduct their mission while deployed but often felt unprepared for the positions they assumed and the traumas they commonly experienced. Most participants reported deployment to be a rewarding experience, citing leader engagement, and social support as key protective factors against deployment-related stressors. Finally, following deployment, participants largely reported positive experiences reintegrating with their families but struggled to reintegrate into their workplace.Conclusion: Findings from the present study indicate that the military is largely doing a good job preparing Air Force medical providers to deploy. Results of the present study indicate that military medical personnel would benefit from: (1) increased predictability surrounding deployment timelines, (2) improved cross-cultural training, (3) advanced training for atypical injuries in unconventional patient populations, and (4) improvements in postdeployment workplace reintegration. The present research has the potential to positively impact the overall quality of life for deploying military service members and their families; while simultaneously highlighting the successes and shortfalls in the deployment process for U.S. military medical personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of Journal of Poetry Therapy focuses on the use of poetry and other forms of expressive writing to explore the transformative experiences of military veterans, and so in this article I discuss how the use of poetry, hip-hop, and philosophy positively influenced my life while I was serving in the United States Air Force (USAF) from 2000 through 2004. This article briefly reviews my reasons for enlisting and discusses the importance that poetry, hip-hop, and philosophy had for me during four different phases of my military history: (i) Basic Military Training, (ii) Aircraft Qualification, Combat Survival, and Water Survival Training, (iii) serving in the post 9/11 operations Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and (iv) the period after fulfilling my time of service for the USAF. In discussing each phase, I explain the unique challenges that I encountered, how I used poetry, hip-hop, and philosophy to successfully overcome these challenges, point out relevant examples of poetry, hip-hop, and philosophy that were particularly influential, and include pictures of my experiences throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined child maltreatment perpetration among 99,697 active-duty U.S. Air Force parents who completed a combat deployment. Using the deploying parent as the unit of analysis, we analyzed whether child maltreatment rates increased postdeployement relative to predeployment. These analyses extend previous research that used aggregate data and extend our previous work that used data from the same period but used the victim as the unit of analysis and included only deploying parents who engaged in child maltreatment. In this study, 2% (n = 1,746) of deploying parents perpetrated child maltreatment during the study period. Although no overall differences were found in child maltreatment rates postdeployment compared to predeployment, several maltreatment-related characteristics qualified this finding. Rates for emotional abuse and mild maltreatment were lower following deployment, whereas child maltreatment rates for severe maltreatment were higher following deployment. The finding that rates of severe child maltreatment, including incidents involving alcohol use, were higher postdeployment suggests a need for additional support services for parents following their return from combat deployment, with a focus on returning parents who have an alcohol use problem. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the cyberspace operational domain of U.S. Air Force (USAF). The author stated that the new generations in USAF are encouraged to learn from earlier cadets and operations like Iraq Freedom. The inclusion of cyberspace as an operational domain for USAF was introduced in 1995 when the Foundations of Information Warfare was signed by officials to declare the guidelines for working of USAF in cyberspace.

Abstract: Background: Current United States (US) military doctrine emphasizes rapid evacuation of casualties to fixed medical facilities remote from the theater of war. To support this strategy, the Air Force has formed Critical Care Air Transport (CCAT) teams consisting of a physician, nurse, and respiratory therapist. Study Objective: To describe the characteristics of US Air Force CCAT team operations at Balad Air Base, Iraq over a 1-year period. Methods: Balad Air Base was the primary collection point in Iraq for patients requiring evacuation outside of the country during the study period. The study authors deployed sequentially to Balad Air Base as CCAT team leaders. All patients transported by the authors were enrolled in the study. Injuries, illnesses, demographics, and in-flight data were collected prospectively. Results: There were 133 patients transported on 61 separate flights between Iraq and Germany. Trauma was present in 65% (87/133) of all patients transported. Lower-extremity injuries were the most prevalent among combat-related trauma patients. Cardiac conditions were the most common diagnoses among the medical patients. Fifty-seven percent of patients were mechanically ventilated. Hypotension was the most common in-flight complication, occurring in 17% (22/133) of patients. No flights were diverted or turned back due to an unstable patient. No patient died during flight or in the 24 h after the flight. Conclusions: US Air Force CCAT teams can safely transport multiple critical patients over long distances while providing intensive care interventions. Medical patients make up over one-third of patients requiring CCAT team transport. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers information on the Air Diplomacy of the U.S. Air Force in Iraq It states that it is a method used to prevent conflict airpower during nonkinetic operations. It notes that the diplomacy creates an option for building partnership, ensures alliance, and dissuade the enemies. It also mentions that the air diplomacy can lessen the overseas presence and maintain relationships.

The article discusses the airpower security cooperation as a tool for national power in the U.S. It explains that airpower security cooperation enforced by the Coalition Air Force Transition Team will focus on the building an Iraqi Air Force that is capable of providing support to Iraqi security forces. Moreover, the author comments that an abrupt withdrawal of the U.S. Air Force regarding the future policy in Iraq will possibly destabilize the region.

The article presents an analysis which describes the construction of a database of contingency contracting officer (CCO) purchases supporting the U.S. Air Force activities in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) during fiscal years 2003 and 2004. It states that the database can be a powerful analytic tool CCO staffing and training and combat support planning. It suggests that the Air Force should establish a standardized methodology for collecting contingency contracting data.

Objectives: Describe the characteristics/enroute care of casualties transported by USAF Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) during Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Methods: Retrospective review of TRAC²ES and CCATT Mission Reports (Oct 2001 May 2006). Results: 3492 patient moves (2439 patients). Moves by route: within Area of Responsibility (AOR5 (n = 261): AOR-Landstuhl (LRMC) (11 = 1995), Germany-CONUS (n = 1188). For AOR LRMC: BI (64%), NBI (8%). Disease (25%). Among injured (n = 1491), 69%, suffered polytrauma. primarily d/t explosions. Injury area: extremities (63%). head (55%). thorax (46%), abdomen (31% ). neck ( 17% ). Injury type: soft tissue (64%), orthopedic (45%). thoracic (35%). skull fracture (27%), brain injury (25% ). Disease Diagnoses: cardiac (15%) and pulmonary (8%). Conclusions: This is the first analysis of OEF/OIF CCATT patients. Phase I of this study demonstrates the strengths and limitations of TRAC²ES and CCATT Mission Reports to describe the characteristics/enroute care of this unique population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was performed to assess the safety of performing intramedullary (IM) nailing in an established echelon III theater hospital. Twenty-two patients (23 fractures) sustained subtrochanteric or diaphyseal femur fractures and presented to the Air Force theater hospital (AFTH) at Balad Air Base, Iraq, for definitive treatment. Sixteen grade IIIA open fractures underwent staged intramedullary nailing. Seven closed fractures were treated with either immediate or staged intramedullary nailing as facility operations tempo dictated. Definitive follow-up was only available for 8 fractures at 2 months and for 5 fractures at 6 months, but no patient was readmitted to any U.S. military hospital in Iraq for treatment of infection or intramedullary nail removal. Although the results are not conclusive, the authors suggest that intramedullary nailing may be performed with acceptable infection risk in an established echelon III facility. Further study will help to establish the efficacy of this treatment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Joint Medical Work Station (JMeWS) is a theater medical surveillance system that integrates information from three separate health data collection systems for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Our objective was to characterize JMeWS data during its first year of implementation in 2003, We conducted a descriptive analysis of health events documented in JMeWS among military personnel deployed to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Among the 38,,498 individuals (7.8%/ with a JMeWS record, women, college-educated, older individuals, and Reserve/Guard personnel were over-represented. There was wide variability by service (Air Force, 25%; Army, 5.5%; Marine Corps, 1.2%; and Navy, 0.6%). The most common diagnoses were in the categories of injury and poisoning, respiratory conditions, and musculoskeletal disorders. Differences in distribution of the various patient encounter modules in theater likely resulted in variable data capture across, services. System enhancements should improve future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. Coalition Air Force Transition Team (CAFTT) in Iraq. It looks into the CAFTT's efforts in rebuilding the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF). It discusses the approaches developed by CAFTT to address the unique challenges facing the IqAF, which provides a good framework to consider in future situations. It also presents the main lines of operation and the lessons learned during the transition like the approaches that succeeded and the challenges still limiting rapid progress.

Presents global security news briefs as of January 2005. Efforts of the U.S. government to counter negative news on the Iraq war during the campaigns for the presidential elections in November 2004; Results of a study that identified plants that removed most depleted uranium from weapons testing ground; Amount of research money spent by the U.S. Air Force in studying telekinesis.

Comments on an article which focuses on the myths of the Gulf War. Views on Iraq as military intact; Sources of information regarding the performance of the United States Air Force in the Gulf War; Assessment of the effectiveness of airpower in World War II.