David Plaster
First Medic & Foreign Defender in Ukraine in 2014
David Plaster is a Hoover Institution Veteran Fellow, founder of NGO Anomaly, and cofounder of the Kyiv Center for
Defense Policy. In Ukraine since 2012, he works at the intersection of tactical medicine, defense reform, and veteran transition.
Challenge, Capstone & Connection
The Challenge
In wars like Ukraine, drones, artillery, and electronic warfare have changed casualty care. Evacuation is often delayed,
movement is contested, and wounded personnel are frequently first treated by nonmedical teammates making time-sensitive
decisions with limited equipment and no guarantee of rapid handoff.
Hoover Connection
The fellowship helped sharpen the policy framing of frontline experience and turn a battlefield adaptation into a more
structured training, verification, and reform agenda with relevance for Ukraine, the United States, and allied forces.
Hoover Capstone
Scaling Prolonged Casualty Care for Nonmedical Personnel in Drone-Contested Environments develops a doctrine-aligned nonmedical execution layer for prolonged casualty care.
The model described in the manuscript as ASM+ focuses on hemorrhage-control reliability, conservative tourniquet conversion and replacement decisions, simple triage,
deterioration recognition, and stronger handoff quality.
24 Hours to Multiple Days
Care may last this long when evacuation is delayed or only intermittently feasible
25,000 +
People
Personnel that have been trained since May 2024, showing a real operational demand signal.
150,000 +
People
Approximate broader training lineage from NGO Anomaly involementsince August 2021.
Strengthening Ukraine’s Defense Resilience
About David Plaster
He has lived in Ukraine for more than thirteen years, contributing to security force assistance, veteran transition, and civil society resilience programs since 2014. Through NGO Anomaly, Plaster has led initiatives in tactical medical training, demining standards, and policy development in cooperation with Ukrainian ministries, NATO partners, and international donors. His work bridges grassroots implementation with strategic reform, integrating Western best practices into Ukraine’s defense and humanitarian sectors. Plaster is currently advancing proposals on drone-assisted medical evacuation and improved NATO-aligned military medical planning to strengthen Ukraine’s long-term resilience.