IN THIS CONTEMPO ISSUE of JAMA, the Medical News & Perspectives Department looks at some aspects of military medicine. The emphasis is on "some aspects," because the scope of US Air Force, Army, and Navy medicine in this age of global (and even orbital) military operations can only be hinted at, even in the number of reports presented in this larger-than-usual Medical News & Perspectives section.
Nonetheless, these Medical News & Perspective articles should give physicians—whether or not these readers have had any experience with the US armed services—an idea of the flexibility, sophistication, unusual demands, and professionalism of this part of the American medical community.—by Phil Gunby