WHY WE NEED MILITARY PSYCHIATRISTS - 20TH-CENTURY US MILITARY PSYCHIATRY AND PROPOSAL FOR THE FUTURE

Military psychiatrists perform distinct military functions that contri bute substantially to effective troop performance and cohesion. Three historic approaches to combat psychiatry and the limitations of these approaches are described. A new model is proposed in which military ps ychiatrists, during war, treat psychiatric casualties by combining les sons learned from past wars with current concepts of deployed medical operations and clinical psychiatry. in peacetime, through their pro-ac tive undertakings, military psychiatrists sustain capabilities to perf orm combat operations and operations other than war. And finally, mili tary psychiatrists are situated best to deal with specific cross-cultu ral factors that affect military life. Thus, military psychiatry is a unique mission requiring specialized skills and perspectives. It is op timally practiced by those committed to military life and supportive o f its missions.