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Medical Screening of a Repatriated Afghan National Army Special Operations Command Prisoner of War

Winter 2019

Florance JM, Hicks M. 19(4). 16 - 18. (Case Reports)

Abstract

The Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A) Surgeon partnered with the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command (ANASOC) Surgeon to complete medical screening of a repatriated ANASOC soldier following a 2019 combined raid on a Taliban prison that freed 35 prisoners of war (POWs). This article discusses the presentation and management of the ANASOC POW while also providing a literature review of common pathologies within the POW population. The purpose of this document is to address a unique aspect of military medicine in the expectation that future military providers are prepared to receive repatriated soldiers and prepared to care for fellow prisoners should they themselves become captured.

Keywords: Afghanistan; Afghan Campaign 2001-present; military medicine; warfare; war wounds; military personnel; prisoners; veterans; prisons; terrorism

PMID: 31910467

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