services, legal order, and welldocumented forensic protocols.” By demonstrating the potential of forensic nursing, and how it can directly contribute to the mission of the military, the DoD stands to ensure a standard of care for personnel, even when deployed overseas or in unconventional settings. In a world with skyrocketing costs for health care,14 veterans aging at an increased pace,15 and the escalating costs of the war on terror,16 military nursing is poised in the unique position to carve out new applications of forensic science parallel to the more conventional territory of its civilian counterpart. GLOBAL ACCESS TO CARE Military members stationed overseas or in remote environments are no less likely to be victimized, nor are they any less deserving of access to the same quality and effective standard of care they would have in the United States. Civilian agencies, often employed or contracted by the government to provide forensic services for the military stateside, cannot compete with this mobility and access to care. In addition, forensic teams mobilized to collect and preserve human remains, as well as treat the wounded and survivors of terror and disaster events, would significantly augment the mission of ships sent to disaster regions. Guaranteeing military members access to competent effective forensic care under any circumstances and in any location is paramount. The Joint Commission has mandated that all patients who present to the health care system for urgent, emergent, or routine medical care must be screened for domestic violence and personal safety. This mandate must be equally extended to our fighting forces abroad. A forensic nurse is exceptionally qualified to meet that mandate and ensure access to forensic care, education, referral, and follow-up. If one subscribes to Birk’s17 assertion that forensic nurses practice “anywhere the worlds of law and medicine collide,” one must also assume that these worlds also collide in the armed forces. The U.S. military prides itself in providing the same standard of care to military members, whether at home or overseas. That standard of care should be equally guaranteed in matters of forensic interest. Military nurses specializing in forensics can assure a level of expertise that upholds that standard anywhere in the world. CHAIN OF COMMAND Organizing a clear command structure for the military forensic nurse’s community is very important in justifying “billets,” or available job openings. Therefore, by establishing a subdivision of military medicine devoted to the forensic needs of the DoD, the military can justify the creation of those jobs and begin the process of organizing its forensic experts. Ideally, each regional medical forensic pathologist would have one or two forensic nurses assigned to his or her office. These nurses could work with the pathologist on all cases of forensic interest, and would be directly involved with each command in their region to promote, educate, mentor, and, when needed, assist, an on-site forensic specialist on matters of forensic interest. LCDR Cynthia Ferguson, USN, an active duty certified nurse midwife and forensic nurse examiner stationed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, has taught military members about subjects of forensic interest for several years. She teaches content related to workplace 44 MILITARY MEDICINE, Vol. 173, January 2008 Standing by to Serve Downloaded from on 08 April 2022 violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault to a variety of audiences. Additionally, she formulated a potential command and organizational structure that could be instituted to place forensic nurses in practice on active duty. With the development of the DoD Office of Clinical Forensics, forensic nurse examiners could be put in the vital position of helping to develop evidence-based practice guidelines based on organized and purposeful research initiatives where medical policy, procedures, and standards relate to forensic evidence collection. Her vision for Navy forensic practitioners working together in a network that allows for more streamlined avenues to information, education, training, and professional partnership is being drafted for proposal at this writing (Fig. 1). It is under these proposed offices that forensic nurses can specialize in and further the practice of forensics with military applications. There is “something for everyone” in forensic nursing. Every specialty is represented and every forensic interest is available. The ability to use this forum to organize research studies and formulate educational programs for commands is endless. It could serve as a clearinghouse of information for all members of the military seeking forensic information. This unique office could partner with the Armed Forces Center for Child Protection and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology to hold an annual educational convention for military health care providers. A cadre of military forensic specialists could be assigned to dispatch teams in times of local, national, or global disaster. During war or conflict, they could be deployed to overseas sites to provide forensic support, human remains collection and identification, and response to bioterror events. During peacetime, their primary mission would be that of training, education, preventive care, consultation, and