Thanks.
Each of the forward operating bases has a team of medical personnel. Usually the head of that team is a mid-level provider, what we call a physician assistant. It's not well known in Canada, but it's well accepted in the United States. I think you're going to hear more and more about them in the Canadian health care system.
Up to now, we've trained them ourselves, and we're very proud of their capabilities. They are senior NCOs, usually warrant officers, and they will have a team of medical technicians with them that varies in size. They actually have pretty good diagnostic skills, and they have very good radar for what's going on with soldiers because they've been soldiers for a long time.
If they see somebody that they or the chain of command suspects is having difficulty, they will usually observe them. They'll take them into a small tented area, or sometimes it's surrounded by concrete barriers and Hesco Bastion. They will usually observe the guy for one or two days and then make a call on whether he is improving and just needed some rest to get himself back on track or whether he needs to be seen further back.
You don't necessarily make the decision to transport back lightly, because sometimes moving from place to place can be one of the more risky things to do. They'll try to use a helicopter, which is less risky.
On top of the core team at the forward operating bases, headed by the physician assistant, the members of the mental health team, who spend most of their time back at Kandahar airfield--the psychiatrist, the social worker, the mental health nurse--will also make periodic trips from time to time just to get the lay of the land out at the forward operating bases, introduce themselves and sort of walk around, along with, of course, the chaplains, who are a pretty good early warning system as well.