What are the epidemics related to military affairs?

Currently, the COVID-19 epidemic is spreading around the world. In the process of fighting the epidemic, various countries have used military force, and the military has indeed played an important role. So, what exactly has the military done in fighting the epidemic? Why is military force needed? What kind of cooperation does the military have in the field of military medicine and what are its future prospects? This article attempts to conduct a preliminary discussion.

The People's Liberation Army dispatched medical team members to participate in the fight against the epidemic. Xinhua News Agency Picture

The People's Liberation Army sent medical teams to participate in the fight against the epidemic. p>

The military's efforts in assisting in epidemic prevention and control are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Sending military medical staff to directly participate in treating patients.

From China's perspective, when the epidemic was spreading, military doctors and nurses from all branches of the military mobilized quickly, organized quickly, and acted quickly. On New Year's Eve, they rushed to Wuhan to participate in the fight against the epidemic. After that, the Chinese army took over the Huoshenshan Hospital, which was built in 7 days, bringing hope to the Chinese people at the most severe moment of the epidemic. Abroad, French President Macron announced a number of anti-epidemic measures in a televised speech on March 16. One of them was to invest in military hospitals in the eastern Alsace region, where the epidemic is severely affected, to assist in the fight against the epidemic. They will be mainly responsible for caring for patients and Patients are sent to other areas with better medical equipment. The United States has sent more than 200 graduating students from the Military University of Health Sciences to join the military medical team fighting the epidemic. Italy and South Korea have also announced that in order to relieve medical pressure, they will deploy military medical staff to support private hospitals and participate in the treatment of patients.

Chinese military network map of Y-20 transporting medical personnel and supplies to Wuhan

Chinese military network map of Y-20 transporting medical personnel and supplies to Wuhan

Withdrawal Transport people and supplies to epidemic areas.

During this epidemic, the Chinese Air Force has dispatched military aircraft many times to carry out tasks of transporting personnel and materials to Wuhan and other severely affected areas. In the early morning of February 2, the Air Force dispatched eight Il-76 large transport aircraft, taking off from Shenyang, Lanzhou, Guangzhou, and Nanjing respectively, to urgently airlift 795 military personnel to support the Hubei Medical Team members and 58 tons of supplies to Wuhan. On February 12, the Central Theater Command urgently dispatched two domestic Z-8 transport helicopters from an air assault brigade helicopter regiment of the Hubei Airborne Forces to transport 600 pieces of urgently needed anti-epidemic medicines totaling 4 tons from Wuhan City to Xiangyang and Yichang. and scarce supplies. On February 13, the Chinese Air Force dispatched 11 military aircraft to Wuhan to transport medical personnel and supplies to Wuhan to support Hubei's medical team, including my country's domestically produced Y-20 large transport aircraft. This is the first time the Air Force has systematically dispatched active large and medium-sized transport aircraft to carry out emergency operations. Big airlift mission. After the outbreak in China, some other countries also sent their air forces to Wuhan to evacuate their own citizens stranded in Wuhan, or to deliver support supplies to China. For example, Germany sent an Air Force A310 aircraft to evacuate its citizens from the epidemic area, and Turkey sent an Air Force aircraft A-400M to carry out the evacuation mission, and supported 1,000 sets of chemical protective suits, 93,500 medical masks and 1,000 sets of medical masks to Wuhan. Disposable protective clothing. On February 4, 5 and 9, Russia dispatched Air Force IL-76 transport aircraft three times to Wuhan to assist with personal protective equipment and other humanitarian relief supplies. The air forces of Myanmar, Pakistan, and Belarus have also delivered anti-epidemic medical aid supplies to Wuhan.

Construct or provide emergency medical or isolation facilities.

As the epidemic situation becomes increasingly severe, many countries have encountered the problem of insufficient medical facilities. For this reason, various countries have mobilized their military forces to build "field hospitals" or used military bases to house quarantined personnel. On March 24, the Serbian army learned from China’s experience and quickly converted the Belgrade Convention and Exhibition Center into a makeshift hospital that can accommodate 3,000 patients. Starting from March 23, the Iranian Army built a "field hospital" in the capital Tehran within 48 hours with a capacity of 2,000 isolation beds to receive mild and convalescent COVID-19 patients. As the COVID-19 epidemic in France worsened, French President Macron announced the launch of anti-epidemic military operations on March 25. The French army set up a field hospital to receive critically ill patients in the eastern French city of Mulhouse.

The United States dispatched two naval hospital ships, the USS Mercy and the USS Comfort, to New York and Los Angeles to help relieve the pressure on local hospitals. In South America, on March 24, the Argentine army deployed and used a field hospital donated by China at the "Camp de Mayo" military base in Buenos Aires Province to provide more beds to treat COVID-19 patients. Some countries also use military bases as isolation points. The Military School of the Vietnam People's Army Hanoi Capital Headquarters is responsible for receiving Vietnamese citizens who need to undergo quarantine observation after returning from epidemic areas and is responsible for daily life support. As of March 23, the Vietnamese military has deployed 113 isolation points, with nearly 40,000 citizens quarantined. Indonesia sent its citizens evacuated from Wuhan to the Indonesian National Army military base in the Natuna Islands for isolation and testing. After Italy sent military planes to pick up its citizens in Wuhan and nearby areas on February 3, they were also sent to the Cecchiniola military base for 14 days of quarantine observation.

Carry out medical research and vaccine development.

In the fight against the epidemic, military medical researchers also played an important role.

The new coronavirus nucleic acid detection kit jointly developed by an expert group from the Institute of Military Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences and local company ***, combined with fully automatic nucleic acid extraction technology, has greatly shortened the nucleic acid detection time and accelerated the diagnosis. Currently, they are stepping up their efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The Vietnamese People's Army's medical force has also successfully developed its own COVID-19 testing kit. On March 24, U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced that the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases were assisting in the development of five different COVID-19 vaccines.

In addition to the above-mentioned tasks, the military of some countries also performed other temporarily assigned tasks. For example, the Singapore Armed Forces temporarily deployed 1,500 soldiers to work for days and nights to package and distribute 5.2 million masks to 89 community centers in Singapore. The "Defense Industry Organization" under the Iranian Ministry of Defense began to produce disinfectant needed by the public, producing 20,000 liters per day to supply ordinary Iranians. In accordance with the Emergency Law and related regulations, Thailand mobilized the army and police to set up checkpoints or interception points to control people's travel and enforce relevant regulations.

Two hospital ships of the U.S. Navy assist in the fight against the epidemic

Two hospital ships of the U.S. Navy assist in the fight against the epidemic

Why mobilize military forces to fight the epidemic?

The reason why the military can play multiple roles in the fight against the epidemic is related to several factors:

First, because of its strong organization and high discipline, the military can do to be mobilized quickly and put into action quickly. For example, the Singapore Army packs and distributes millions of masks within a few days, which is difficult for other agencies to do.

The second is that the military has some specialized forces and equipment that can be used to respond to the epidemic, such as military medical personnel, chemical defense forces, large transport aircraft, hospital ships, etc. These troops and personnel are trained accordingly in normal times, and in emergencies can respond quickly. Moreover, the military's equipment is more adaptable to the needs of various situations. For example, helicopters can quickly go to areas that are inaccessible to other means of transportation or to airports that do not have the conditions for large aircraft to land. After some cities adopt "city closure" measures, helicopters can be used to transport supplies and personnel to these areas.

Third, the military has a complete and strict command system from top to bottom, and its actions are orderly, timely and efficient, and can better meet the special requirements when epidemics and other crises occur.

Of course, some countries are subject to domestic legal regulations and may be subject to some restrictions in mobilizing troops, but many of them can also be solved by issuing emergency decrees. Sometimes we also face issues such as how to coordinate the roles of the military and the police, but these will not fundamentally hinder the role of the military.

It is for these reasons that many countries have deployed their military to help fight the epidemic. In fact, not only in fighting epidemic diseases, the role of the military in responding to non-traditional security threats has been highly valued since the beginning of the 21st century. After the "9·11" incident, the military of many countries became the main force in combating terrorist forces. In addition, the military plays an important role in anti-piracy, maritime search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. For example, the anti-piracy escort operations of multinational navies in the Gulf of Aden, the joint search and rescue operations of multinational navies in the Indian Ocean after the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 incident, and the multi-national military dispatch of troops for rescue after the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan.