Responsibilities of the emergency service of the federal army in foreign interventions

: The security environment of our country has undergone a fundamental change since the end of the East-West confrontation. This has led to an extension of the Federal Armed Forces' mission to include, apart from military national defence, participation in multinational and supranational missions abroad. The Medical Service must adapt to this new mission. Emphasis is no longer placed on medicine with limited means, but rather on field medical support, whose procedures and measures guarantee a level of quality in missions abroad which is equal to the standard of medical care in Germany. Surgery in field operations comprises the entire spectrum of surgical medicine and makes it necessary to have field surgeons who have received follow-on training, particularly in traumatology. Preclinical care is conducted in rescue stations and rescue centres which fall under the responsibility of the Services, while immediate clinical care is provided in the hospitals and station hospitals of the central medical service.