The May 19 to 21, 2010 symposium "Assessing Potentially Hazardous Environmental Exposures Among Military Populations" brought military and civilian preventive medicine practitioners and scientists together to review the current state of exposure and outcome measurement, prevention, and compensation. Placed in recent historical context, the strides presented are remarkable, yet important challenges remain. Operational as well as ethical imperatives within the military and the growing complexity of civilian disasters demonstrate the need for continued and enhanced collaboration across military and civilian sectors.