I hope this issue will provide you all with some further reading material to get you through the frustrating COVID19 lockdown. It has been a very challenging time for all in our community and added a layer of complexity to our defence force members and supporters.
This second issue for 2020 provides a potpourri of articles, including several international contributors; demonstrating the effect of heat exposure and previous experience on soldier’s performance; a prevalence study on urological cancers in Homeland war veterans in Croatia; and an article from Turkey outlining the effect of depression on a reproductive and sexual health program in male soldiers.
Skipp et al.offer an integrative review of a deployed military field hospital with regards to infection prevention and Watt and Kehoe provide adjunct activities to improve veteran’s mental health.
A regular contributor, CMDR Neil Westphalen, offers us an article outlining the military medical capabilities of the ADF and also provides us with a further contribution in his Navy medical history theme, taking us back to Ancient Egypt and Greece to help us reflect on the development of medicine over the ages. In a similar vein, Dennis Shanks outlines the mortality secondary to measles in armies of the 20th century.
I would like to conclude this editorial by offering a huge vote of thanks to three retiring editorial board members who between them have devoted many years of service to this journal, offering sage counsel on the many journal articles submitted to the journal for publication.
Colonel Darryl Tong, oral and faciomaxillary surgeon with the New Zealand Defence Force, is Professor and Head of the department of oral diagnostic and surgical sciences at the University of Otago. His particular interest and PhD topics were maxillofacial trauma and ballistic injuries in war from an integrated historical and surgical viewpoint. He served in Afghanistan in 2009 and in a field hospital for the Christchurch earthquake tragedy.
Dr Tyler Smith received his BS in mathematics and statistics from California State University and his PhD at UC San Diego. He is a statistical epidemiologist and professor at the National University. We have benefited from his expertise in military and population health analytics, and PTSD and suicide in the military and health outcomes.
Dr Benjamin Mackie is an army reserve nursing officer and a lecturer in nursing at the University of Sunshine Coast, achieving his PhD at Griffiths University. He is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Critical Care Nurses (FACCCN) and we have benefited greatly from his interest in hospital disaster preparedness and nursing critical care.
We wish them all well for their future academic and military careers and hope we can continue to reach out for their expertise for future articles requiring their reviewing input.
Associate Professor Martin Richardson Commander RAN Deputy Editor
