Medical research in the Department of Defense; guest editorial.

Abstract

Paralleling the technological development of modern weapons systems, less publicized but very important medical research is being conducted within the Department of Defense. Without effective manpower the developments in modern weapons systems could not be effectively utilized. In the armed services man must be prepared to take his place quickly in environments where there are wide ranges of temperature, pressure, and humidity; visual problems; noise and vibration; positive and negative g-forces; noxious gases; and ionizing radiation. In addition man must be prepared to make his temporary abode among populations in foreign lands where exotic diseases are commonplace and many better known diseases, as we know them, are endemic. Man must be prepared to become acclimated and function as part of the defense team from the polar regions to the tropics and from pressures beneath the seas to the rare atmospheres of extreme altitudes, where wide latitudes of temperature, from the