Gen Eric Schoomaker, the Army’s top doctor, said the Army and Air Force medical communities are working to ensure that the highly successful aeromedical evacuation system now in place in the global war on terror continues without a hitch as the land service’s end strength increases over the next few years. Speaking to defense reporters May 27 in Washington, D.C. (see above), Schoomaker said his largest role in the Army’s expansion is to make sure facilities and infrastructure are up to par as forces are realigned across the globe from Korea to Europe. These facilities have been vital in supporting aeromedical efforts in the GWOT thus far, he said, noting that more than 50,000 service personnel have been evacuated from theater with a survival rate that hovers around 98 percent. The Army, for its part, also has to make sure that the right equipment, such as the small infusion pumps that travel on Air Force medevac aircraft, is ready and positioned where it needs to be, he said. Schoomaker said he just returned from a visit to Afghanistan. He had high praise for the Air Force-led Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Air Base.
Earlier this week, the People’s Republic of China confirmed it is halting its nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., in retaliation for the U.S. continuing to sell arms to Taiwan. The move reinforces a “pattern of behavior” from Beijing, experts say.