[The army medical service: past, present, and future]

The changes in the geopolitical situation after the dissolution of the Warsaw-pact forced many western governments to reform drastically their armed forces. Moreover, the postponing of the conscription gave this restructuring a very particular dimension. Despite all this alterations the fundamental missions of the Medical Service of the Armed Forces have not changed. They still consist of maintaining the operational readiness of the troops, taking care of the wounded and reducing physical and mental handicaps. Therefore an entity of levels of consistent and capable medical care is needed. The rational construction of this complete and fulfilling chain of help, from point of wounding to the discharge from the hospital on national territory is the right to exist for an autonomous Medical Service. It goes without saying that this treatment must have the same quality standards as those used in the civilian health care system. Taking this into account the Medical Service of the Armed Forces integrated its means into civilian services for urgency and disaster medicine. In the scientific field there are a lot of close contacts and agreements with several universities in order to deal with the military aspects of the medical research. It is in fact the ethical duty of the Medical Service to provide for optimal care to the Armed Forces. Can a nation omit this? Will arguments of budgetary kind and the relative international "detente" again do forget us the lessons learned from the past? Is an autonomous Medical Service a superfluous luxury?