Page 84 - JSOM Spring 2018

sequelae blast injury can have upon unprotected eyes among Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the US
their Afghan soldiers, even they had mixed opinions, varying Government.
from lack of access to eye protection to the aforementioned
cultural stigma of eyewear. The US Military has attempted Disclosures
to address the cultural gap in Afghanistan, including the per- The authors have indicated they have no financial relation-
ception that eye contact is a sign of reliability and trustwor- ships relevant to this article to disclose.
thiness. Although the measures of success during military
9
operations in Afghanistan are challenging to assess, from a Author Contributions
medical perspective, the effect eyewear has had upon the Af- All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
ghan security forces during this IED-laden war demonstrates
the need to bridge this cultural void to mitigate long-term dis- References
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team care in Kandahar, Afghanistan: Current injury patterns and
care practices. Injury. 2012;43(12):2072–2077.
Conclusion 2. Department of the Army. The Army Vision Conservation and
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More than 10 years of training and fighting alongside Afghan Washington, DC: Department of the Army; 2009.
security forces have led to many changes in the medical treat- 3. Thomas R, McManus JG, Johnson A, et al. Ocular injury reduc-
ment of war casualties, with extensive improvements mitigat- tion from ocular protection use in current combat operations. J
ing the loss of life and limb of Coalition forces. Improvements Trauma. 2009:66(4):S99–S103.
in eye protection use among US Military Servicemembers have 4. Sullivan MJC. The significance of culture in capacity-building op-
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Forces College/Collège Des Forces Canadiennes JCSP 36/PCEMI
ever, Afghan security forces continue to suffer extensive and 36;2011.
possibly life-threatening orbital injuries that could be avoided 5. Feghali E. Arab cultural communication patterns. Int J Intercul-
if eye wear was deployed properly. Addressing the cultural dif- tural Rel. 1997;21(3):345–378.
ferences between Coalition and Afghan forces could improve 6. “No sunglasses for Turkish soldiers in Afghanistan.” 27 April
eye protection compliance and mirror the marked decrease in 2005. Hurriyet. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/no-sunglasses-for-turkish
ocular injuries due to IED blast among Coalition forces dur- -soldiers-in-afghanistan-314972. Accessed 4 February 2018.
ing the remainder of Operation Enduring Freedom. Bridging 7. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, US Army
Training and Doctrine Command. Arab cultural awareness: 58
the cultural gap for eye protection use in Afghanistan could factsheets. TRADOC DCSINT Handbook No. 2. 2006. https://fas
occur with increased multinational military partnerships, but .org/irp/agency/army/arabculture.pdf. Accessed 4 February 2018.
this may take several years of cross-cultural dynamism to yield 8. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook: Afghanistan.
a lasting change. 2003. http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2003/geos/af
.html. Accessed 4 February 2018.
9. Wunderle WD. Through the Lens of Cultural Awareness: A Primer
Disclaimers for US Armed Forces Deploying to Arab and Middle Eastern
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and Countries. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press;
do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the 2006.

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