Page 115 - JSOM Winter 2023

and direct approach, he conferred a sober, somber and fittingly
dignified atmosphere in light of the War in Ukraine.
General (Ret.) Stephan Schoeps, MD, as president of the Ger-
man Society for Military Medicine and Pharmacy, centered his
welcoming address on the importance of upholding the val-
ues of comradeship and mutual respect, guaranteeing not only
the success of an event like the CMC Conference but also for
multinational medical cooperation. COL Andreas Schmand,
commander of the Special Operation Training Center in
Pfullendorf, Germany, related in his opening address to the
changed view of the Medical Service within the perspective
of the Special Forces, especially in the light of the Russian In-
vasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning, Divisionaire (Major
General) Andreas Stettbacher, MD, head of the Swiss Medical and unconventional warfare. The sessions “Blood on the
Service and Command Surgeon of the Swiss Armed Forces, Floor,” with the topic of whole blood and its importance in
was part of the dynamic history of the CMC Conference. He conventional warfare scenarios, and “Fire and Ice,” putting the
voiced concern about the skilled-worker shortage and its im- spotlight on the treatment of burns and hypothermia in cold
pact on a nation’s defensibility. Underlining the importance of weather, reflected this change in mindset and focus.
German–French relations within the medical branch, General
Jean-Pierre Mahé, MD, as commander of Medical Service of Increasing interest in Tactical Emergency Medicine Systems
the French Special Forces, closed the opening addresses. (TEMS) has been apparent since the first CMC Conference
in 2014. This year´s TEMS Symposium, one of three parallel
tracks, counted 230 listeners from the international commu-
It is an inherent part of the working environment of the tac-
tical medical provider to perform at a high level while deal- nity of police forces medics. Lead by the TREMA (Tactical
ing with often chaotic and perilous situations and under bad Rescue and Emergency Association e.V.), also providing a
conditions with a lack of equipment. For keynote speaker Ben highly realistic workshop with interactive trainings in the for-
Pronk, former Australian Special Forces, the secret of being est adjacent to the conference center, the TEMS Track focused
able to cope and manage under these stresses lies in the resil- on training and medical planning, as well as new challenges
ience of mind and body. His lecture on the “Resilience Shield” and menaces to civil society, for example, the threat of chem-
hit the bull’s eye when he highlighted the inherent character of ical agents like carfentanil. In addition to TREMA’s interac-
the tactical medic and physician, no matter whether part of the tive workshop, a total of 32 different workshops were offered
police or military forces and gave the assembled listeners a lot by mission-experienced mission-experienced and medically-
to think about (Figure 3). qualified personnel (see Figure 5 and Figure 6).

Throughout the following session, one could hear a needle drop
in the fully seated main hall. The six speakers from Ukraine left
the audience thoughtful. With mouths open and heads shaking,
the assembled crowd paid their respect to their comrades and The 5th Inspection of the Special Forces Training Center, Pful-
their enormous performance under the until- recently almost lendorf, in reliable excellence, provided an intimate and pro-
forgotten trials of conventional warfare. The Ukraine experi- ductive “Special Operation Forces (SOF) Medic Meeting” to
ence reports opened the first scientific session and closed the the exclusive group of international SOF medics. Furthermore,
last scientific session of the conference (Figure 4). they conducted a combined approach workshop on Mass Ca-
sualty (MACAL) scenarios including military, police, and civil-
The conferences of the years 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 still ian medical forces, underlining the importance of a common
focused on the casualty care under combat situations within language within the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC)
tactical realities of stabilization missions. Though this reality principles.
still holds true for most of the current multinational missions,
the gradual change of military strategy and focus since 2014, In contrast to the relaxed atmosphere created by the con-
and above all since February 2022, put the fundamental topics ference venue, especially between the scientific lectures and
of combat casualty care under the doctrine of conventional workshops, every participant was deeply touched by the

2023 CMC Abstracts | 113