In addition to the bilateral exchange of information, it is imperative for practitioners to have a wider conceptual understanding of military health systems and their role nationally, regionally, and globally. Footnote 3 It is necessary for both parties in a partnership to understand each other’s health system and also the contextual factors that have influenced this. Many countries have well-established partnerships between their military medical services as a means to augment diplomatic relationships. Finally, resulting questions and discussion points will be addressed, finishing with conclusions and recommendations. The methodology will be illuminated through two case studies (Germany and France). This will be followed by a description of the project’s methodology, focusing on the human factor in open source data collection.

The first section of this article will outline challenges relating to military medical information. Footnote 2 However, it is challenging to determine where to start and how to conduct a valuable search.Īccordingly, this paper describes the development of a structured method to search for information on a country’s military medical system from open access sources accessible from the Internet. These complex situations require the effective synthesis and analysis of new sources of information and intelligence. Footnote 1 This has been emphasized by recent events such as the Ebola outbreak and COVID-19 pandemic. Military medical services provide an important supporting function to a country’s military forces, as well as being a component of a country’s overall health system.

Military medical conferences 2016