By Lieutenant Scot Cregan (US)

A major incident can occur any time, anywhere. A large scale accident such as an explosion, flooding, or release of hazardous materials can lead to mass causalities. The skills of assessing mass casualties, triage and responding to these emergencies are vital to the official organization of medical officers in NATO’s Reserve Forces known as CIOMR, the “Confédération Interalliée des Officiers Médicaux de Réserve” (Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers) .

By Capt. Lauri Turpin, USAF Reserve

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.

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

Fifteen CIOMR officers traveled to the Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center and Care Center in Ankara to see how Turkey is caring for its wounded warriors. Most of the patients were victims of landmines.

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

A German team took first place in the 2008 CIOMR first aid competition. Forty-nine teams competed in the annual event that tests the medical response skills of reservists. Each team of four competitors who went through a planned scenario and were judged on their reactions to an injured person in a simulated wartime environment.

Children come into the world even in wartime, when the conditions for them and their mothers may be highly dangerous. The role of military medics in dealing with such situations was the subject of the seminar "Man­agement of obstetric emergencies in an austere environment.

Formerly, when we were talking about penetrating injuries we thought about knives and bullets, and in the civilian arena all this is still more or less valid. In the military however, things have changed. Bullet injuries have become relatively rare and experience from Iraq and Afghanistan shows that fragments and blast are the order of the day. The situation on the battlefield has changed over time Colonel Walter Henny says.

By Major Michelle Faucher - CIOR Public Affairs

With a keen eye, the judges studied the competitors as they assessed the situation and began to administer first aid. Under majestic Latvian pines, the CIOMR first aid competition was in full swing as international military teams – each consisting of three participants – raced into the tents, fully camouflaged and raring to go.

By Major Michelle Faucher, CIOR Public Affairs

Bagram, Afghanistan ---

As Spring finally arrives in Afghanistan, the cherry blossoms bloom with only hours of beauty before the hot sun cuts their lives short. Members of the multi-national hospitals at Bagram Air Field bustle about their daily schedule, staying ever vigilant for emergencies that may threaten to cut short the young lives of the NATO-led coalition of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Afghan locals.