The People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent medical members to participate in the fight against the epidemic Xinhua News Agency Photo
The PLA sent medical members to participate in the fight against the epidemic Xinhua News Agency Photo
The role of the army in the fight against the epidemic
The army's efforts in helping to prevent and control the epidemic are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Sending military medics to participate in the rescue and treatment of patients directly.
From China's point of view, when the epidemic was spreading, military doctors and nurses from all branches of the military were mobilized, organized and acted on fire, and rushed to Wuhan on New Year's Eve to participate in the fight against the epidemic. Thereafter, the Chinese army took over the Vulcan Mountain Hospital, which was built in seven days, bringing hope to the nation at the most critical moment of the epidemic. Abroad, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a number of anti-epidemic measures in a televised speech on March 16, one of which was to put military hospitals in the eastern region of Alsace, where the outbreak is severe, to assist in the fight against the epidemic, and they will mainly be responsible for taking care of patients and sending them to other areas with better medical equipment. The U.S. has sent more than 200 graduating cadets from the Army's University of Health Sciences to join the military medical corps in the fight against the epidemic. Italy and South Korea have also both announced that they are committing military medics to support civilian hospitals and participate in treating patients in order to ease medical pressure.
Transportation of medical personnel and supplies from Yun-20 to Wuhan, China Military Net Photo
Transportation of medical personnel and supplies from Yun-20 to Wuhan, China Military Net Photo
Evacuation of personnel from the infected area and delivery of supplies.
During the epidemic, China's air force has repeatedly deployed military aircraft to carry out the mission of transporting personnel and supplies to Wuhan and other areas with serious epidemics. in the early morning of Feb. 2, the air force deployed eight IL-76 large-scale transport planes, which took off from Shenyang, Lanzhou, Guangzhou and Nanjing respectively, and transported to Wuhan 795 members of the army's medical team in support of Hubei and 58 tons of supplies in case of emergency. on Feb. 12, the central war zone urgently deployed the Il-20 to transport medical personnel and supplies to Wuhan, which was the first time in China's history that the air force has been deployed to this area. On February 12, the central war zone urgently dispatched in Hubei airborne troops an air assault brigade helicopter regiment of two domestic straight-8 transport helicopters, from Wuhan to Xiangyang, Yichang area transfer 600 pieces of *** counting 4 tons of epidemic prevention and medical emergency medicines and shortage of supplies. February 13, China's air force is 11 military aircraft to Wuhan airlifted the army to support Hubei's medical team members and supplies, including China's home-made transport aircraft Yun-20 large transport aircraft, which is the first systematic large-scale mobilization of active duty Air Force This is the first time that the Air Force has systematically deployed large and medium-sized transport aircraft to carry out emergency airlift missions. After the outbreak of the epidemic in China, some other countries have also sent their air force to Wuhan to evacuate their citizens stranded in Wuhan, or to deliver support materials to China. For example, Germany sent an air force A310 aircraft to the infected area to evacuate its citizens, Turkey sent an air force aircraft A-400M evacuation mission, and to Wuhan to support the 1,000 sets of chemical suits, 93,500 medical masks and 1,000 sets of disposable protective clothing. On February 4, 5 and 9, Russia has sent three times the air force IL-76 transport aircraft to Wuhan to support personal protective equipment and other humanitarian relief supplies. Myanmar, Pakistan and Belarus air forces have also sent anti-epidemic medical aid to Wuhan.
Building or providing emergency medical or quarantine facilities.
In the increasingly serious situation of the epidemic, many countries have a shortage of medical facilities, so countries mobilized their military forces to build "square cabin hospitals" or use military bases to accommodate the isolation of people. 24 March, the Serbian army to learn from China's experience, and quickly transformed the Belgrade Exhibition Center into a square cabin hospital, which can accommodate 3,000 patients. The Serbian army quickly converted the Belgrade Convention Center into a square-cabin hospital with a capacity of 3,000 patients, learning from China's experience. The Iranian Army built a 2,000-bed "square-cabin hospital" in the capital, Tehran, within 48 hours of March 23 to accommodate patients with mild cases and those recovering from C.N.C. Pneumonia. With the worsening of the epidemic in France, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on March 25 the launch of a military operation to combat the epidemic, and the French army has set up a field hospital in the eastern French city of Mulhouse to receive seriously ill patients.
The United States sent two Navy hospital ships, the USS Mercy and the USS Comfort, to New York and Los Angeles to help relieve pressure on local hospitals. In South America, on March 24, the Argentine army deployed a Chinese-donated field hospital at the Camp May military base in Buenos Aires province to provide more beds for patients with new cases of coronary pneumonia. Some countries also used military bases as isolation points. The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) Hanoi Metropolitan Command Military School has been tasked with receiving Vietnamese citizens returning from infected areas who need to undergo quarantine observation and is responsible for daily life support. As of March 23, the Vietnamese military*** deployed 113 quarantine points, isolating nearly 40,000 citizens. Indonesia sent its citizens withdrawn from Wuhan to the Indonesian National Army (TNI) military base in the Natuna Islands for quarantine testing. Italy, after sending military aircraft to pick up its citizens in and around Wuhan on Feb. 3, also sent them to a military base in Cecchiniola for 14 days of quarantine observation.
To conduct medical research and vaccine development.
Military medical researchers also played an important role in fighting the epidemic. The group of experts from the Military Medical Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences and local companies*** developed a new coronavirus nucleic acid detection kit with fully automated nucleic acid extraction technology, which greatly shortened the nucleic acid detection time and accelerated the speed of diagnosis. At present, they are also stepping up the development of a new coronavirus vaccine. The People's Army of Vietnam's military medical forces have also successfully developed their own neocoronavirus test kit.On March 24, U.S. Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy announced that the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases are assisting in the development of five different neocoronavirus vaccines.
In addition to these missions, some countries' militaries have performed other temporarily assigned tasks. For example, the Singapore Armed Forces temporarily deployed 1,500 troops for several days and nights to pack and distribute 5.2 million masks to 89 community centers in Singapore. The Defense Industries Organization (DIO), a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, has begun to produce 20,000 liters of disinfectant per day for the general Iranian public. Thailand has mobilized its military and police to set up checkpoints and stops to control travel and enforce regulations under the Emergency Act and related regulations.
Two U.S. Navy medical ships to help fight epidemic
Two U.S. Navy medical ships to help fight epidemic
Why is the military mobilized to participate in the fight against the epidemic?
The ability of the military to play multiple roles in the fight against the epidemic is related to several factors:
Firstly, the military, because of its strong organization and high degree of discipline, can be mobilized quickly, and thus be put into action very quickly. For example, the Singaporean army packed and distributed millions of masks in a few days, something that other agencies would find difficult to do.
The second is that the army has some specialized forces and equipment that can be used to deal with epidemics, such as military medical personnel, chemical defense forces, large transport planes, hospital ships, etc. These forces and personnel are usually trained accordingly, so that they can respond quickly to emergencies. Moreover, the army's equipment is more adaptable to the needs of multiple situations. For example, helicopters can be quickly deployed to areas inaccessible by other means of transportation or to airports that do not have the conditions for landing large aircraft. In some cities to take "closed city" measures, the helicopter can be used to transport supplies and personnel to these areas.
Third, the army has a top-to-bottom, complete and tight command system, the implementation of the action in an orderly, timely and efficient, better able to meet the special requirements of the epidemic and other crisis situations.
Of course, some countries are constrained by domestic legal provisions, there may be some restrictions on the mobilization of the military, but many can be resolved through the issuance of emergency decrees. Sometimes there are problems of harmonizing the roles of the military and the police, but these do not fundamentally impede the role of the military.
It is for these reasons that many countries have used the military to help fight epidemics. Indeed, not only in the fight against pandemics, the role of the military in responding to non-traditional security threats has been highly valued since the beginning of the 21st century. "In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the militaries of many countries have been a major force in the fight against terrorist forces. In addition, militaries have played an important role in counter-piracy, maritime search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. For example, the anti-piracy escort operation in the Gulf of Aden, the joint search and rescue operation in the Indian Ocean after the 370 incident of Malaysia Airlines, and the rescue of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan by many countries.