The experience of military surgeons from a north Afghanistan deployment and lessons for the future

A military surgeon is a physician who works in a standard clinical field, but who also has to learn to adapt his skills to exceptional circumstances and must cope with special challenges due to his deployment in crisis regions, a fact that is one of the major factors influencing military medical strategy planning. The only certainty is that these special circumstances differ fundamentally from the routine circumstances at the military hospitals of the mother country. The limitations in personnel, equipment and technical resources, the isolation within the deployment region, the lack of a local healthcare system, the specialized aspects of the patients, and the nature of the injuries and diseases represent the main unique challenges.