Based on trends in the geostrategic environment, advances in technologies that allow SOF greater maneuver and capabilities in extreme environments, and the evolving role of the DOD as part of national security, what might SOF’s new roles and missions be, as part of the Joint Force, in novel operational environments? Such environments could include: the polar regions and approaches; areas of extreme heat and humidity too severe for normal human tolerance; the open ocean, to include all layers of the pelagic zone, the seabed, and resource exploitation platforms; and outer space, to include cislunar and lunar orbits. What might operations in these extreme environments look like? And what capabilities would be needed to sustain operations there?
- Bedard, Maj. Alexander F., "Medical Support for Manned Military Space Missions: A Role for an Existing Medical Service, or a New Approach for the Final Frontier?" ACSC paper, 2018.
- Hanson, Col. Matthew et al, "Medical Support in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Contested Environment," collected Air University student work, published as an AU Press Fairchild Paper, 2021, 106 pgs.