Abstract

This article is designed to provide a short summary for medical personnel with limited military experience to understand how the medical staff function works within a military headquarters. It places planning military health services support in the context of wider planning for military operations. It starts by examining the Contemporary Operating Environment and the role of military forces within it, then considers the generic military planning process and how the medical staff in a headquarters plan the medical support to military operations. The final element of the article is a discussion of the composition of the personnel required within a medical branch in a military headquarters.