Environmental disasters. The COVID pandemic. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Bundeswehr is facing new challenges both in its provision of administrative assistance and with regard to national and collective defence. As a result, the Bundeswehr Medical Service faces pressing issues concerning the future of civil-military cooperation as well as the management of potentially large casualty numbers. In our interview with Major General (MC) Dr. Hans-Ulrich Holtherm, Commandant of the Bundeswehr Medical Academy in Munich, we discuss these issues as well as matters of the resilience of society as a whole. The interview with the former head of the COVID Crisis Management Team at the Federal Ministry of Health was conducted by Professor Dr. Carlo Masala and PD Dr. Frank Sauer in April 2023. In the interest of improved readability, the transcript has been edited slightly.