By Lt. Col. Ann Peru Knabe, US Air Force

If you’d like to be a doctor in the Australian military, you’d have to join the Reserves.

“The Australian Reserves have a targeted, niche capability that fits a capacity not available with the regular forces,” said Rear Admiral Graeme S. Shirtley, Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Forces.

As the Surgeon General, he is the expert on the subject, as many of the reserve specialists to whom he refers are surgeons and anesthesiologists, nurses and radiologists. On the other hand, while there are many pilots and ship captains in the active duty, there are none in the Australian Reserves.

“Our reservists ‘fill in the blanks’ of the permanent forces,” Shirtley said. “In order to be successful with this structure, we must remain well-aligned so that the Reserves can deliver when the active duty calls them.”

Structuring the military in this way poses benefits, but also a variety of unique challenges. For instance, in the past, a reservist called to duty would likely lose income as a result of his or her service. In the event of an injury or death, it was unlikely that a civilian insurance policy would pay out, as many Australian life insurance policies preclude coverage for war or war-related activities. Also, Australian Reservists do not receive veterans’ benefits unless they have deployed into on active duty orders. In the past, this has caused some difficulty with recruiting or volunteerism.

“This has caused great concern among Reservists’ family members,” said Ken Kipping, Chairman, ADF Financial Services Consumer Council of the Australian Defense Force. “That is one of the reasons for the new legislation.”

The Australian legislation he is referring to includes three main acts: The Employer Support Payment Scheme, the Defense Reserve Protection Act of 2001, and the Defense Rehabilitation and Compensation Act of 2004.

“This is the strongest piece of Reserve legislation that I’ve seen anywhere in the world,” said Shirtley.

“These new policies have the full support of the Australian Chief of Defense,” Kipping said, “It has great implications for our troops.”

The legislation was introduced to protect and support Reservists and their civilian employers. For instance, the Employer Support Payment Scheme pays civilian employers for the loss of their highly specialized employees while they are deployed.

“While I was deployed in Iraq, my employer was paid back for the cost of replacing my services during that time,” Shirtley said.

He acknowledges that this is an expensive venture for the Australian government, but points out that in exchange, the government is receiving the services of highly specialized, highly technical personnel, who must remain fully trained and qualified on their own time and at their own expense. These doctors or nurses are prepared at any time to transition from civilian hospital to war zone.

“Instant surgeon, just add military,” Shirtley says, laughing.

However, Shirtley is serious when he talks about his commitment to the continuing development and support of Australian Reserve Forces.  “I am currently developing a program for our medical personnel to travel to Cincinnati to train on additional medical procedures,” he said. “I have just returned from London, where I spoke about our programs.”
           
This is why Shirtley, Kipping and their delegation are attending CIOR, even though they only come as observers.

“We are interested in learning from any country that has an advantage. This is also an opportunity for the other countries here to learn what we are doing and to provide equal or even better coverage for their nations’ troops,” said Kipping. “That is the great thing about CIOR.”