Annotations

C.  Definition of Deployment

OBJECTIVE

Identify patients who have a history of deployment.

ANNOTATION

Deployment is defined as any current or past event or activity that relates to duty in the armed forces that involves an operation, location, command, or duty that is different from the military member’s normal duty assignment (DoD, JP 1-02, 1994). Military members meet deployment criteria anytime they leave the physical locale of the parent command and enter an environment for operational deployment or are stationed in a hostile territory.

The number of military members deployed in any specific operation can vary from one to hundreds of thousands. A deployment may last anywhere from a few days to six months or longer. Military members may deploy to a well-supported U.S. or foreign military base in a developed country, a field setting in an urban or rural part of a developing country, or on a ship visiting foreign ports (DoD Directive 6490.2, 1997 DoD Instruction 6490.3, 1997).

The Clinical Practice Guideline for Post-Deployment Health Evaluation and Management also applies to individuals who were not deployed, but have health concerns relating to a deployment; e.g., family members of recently deployed personnel.

DISCUSSION

DoD criteria for deployment includes all activities from origin or home station through destination, specifically including intra-continental US, inter-theater and intra-theater movement legs, staging, and holding areas. DoD officially defines deployment as follows:

• The change from a cruising approach or contact disposition to a disposition for battle (Navy)
• The movement of forces within areas of operation
• The positioning of forces into a formation for battle
• The relocation of forces and materiel to desired areas of operations

Deployment missions vary and may include:

• Military liaison and training support
• Joint and coalition force exercises
• Construction projects
• Humanitarian assistance, including health care
• Refuge relief
• Peacekeeping
• Peacemaking
• Low-intensity conflict (LIC)
• War
• Any combination of the above and other missions

Within the US, military members may deploy to conduct the following operations

• Fight forest fires
• Provide disaster relief
• Assist against terrorist actions
• Maintain civil order
• Support drug interdiction and border patrol operations

The military member may also deploy as part of an official Joint Staff deployment, which is defined as, “a troop movement resulting from a [Joint Chiefs of Staff] unified command deployment order for 30 continuous days or greater to a land-based location outside the US that does not have a permanent US military medical treatment facility” (DoD, Joint Staff Memorandum, 1998).

REFERENCES

1. Department of Defense Directive 6490.2. Joint Medical Surveillance. August 30, 1997.
2. Department of Defense Instruction 6490.3. Implementation and Application of Joint Medical Surveillance for Deployments. August 7, 1997.
3. Department of Defense Joint Publication 1-02. Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. 1994.
4. Department of Defense, Joint Staff Memorandum. Deployment Health Surveillance and Readiness, December 4, 1998.