DECEPTION IN WAR AND PEACE
Deception of an enemy force in conflict dates back millennia. In the lead up to the second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, Lieutenant General Montgomery initiated a deception plan, Operation Bertram, to mislead the Axis forces on the time, place and direction of any future attacks. This involved the concealment of ammunition dumps, staging areas, tank concentrations, and troop movements. Critically, the Axis forces were deceived into believing that the attack would be in the south and not before early November 1942. The resulting victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign and revived the morale of the Allied forces. Attempts at misleading others in peace, however, particularly in the medical realm, are concerning. Nguyen et al. have reviewed anti-vaccine discourse on social media. Their data shows that anti-vaccine discourse on social media is ‘deeply rooted in anything but scientific knowledge and reasoning’, relying on personal opinion and experience rather than facts, and any sources used “are, at best, highly questionable”. This highlights the ongoing importance of peer-reviewed scientific journals, such as JMVH, in establishing the evidence-base to guide and enhance high quality healthcare. Our first issue of 2023 contains a range of articles on diverse topics spanning military training, operational healthcare, military medical history, clinical treatments and veterans’ health. We continue to attract a good range of articles, including from overseas, as is demonstrated in this issue with articles from Australia, Greece, Iran, Scotland and the United States. Other military and veterans’ health articles, however, are always very welcome, and we would encourage all our readers to consider writing on their areas of military or veterans’ health interest. We would particularly welcome papers based on presentations given at our 2022 conference or planned for our 2023 conference, but welcome any articles across the broader spectrum of military health.
Dr Andy Robertson, CSC, PSM
Commodore, RAN
Editor-in-Chief
- Playfair, Ian Stanley Ord. The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume IV, The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa. London: HMSO, 1966, 17-18.
- Nguyen A, Catalan-Matamoros D. Anti-Vaccine Discourse on Social Media: An Exploratory Audit of Negative Tweets about Vaccines and Their Posters. Vaccines (Basel). 20
