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When the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Canadian Armed Forces decided to create a brand new forward aeromedical evacuation capability, he wanted it completed from the ground-up in a little over one year time. In this talk, Lieutenant Colonel Leilani Doyle recounts how this was accomplished from the early concept, through development and finally to the deployment of the CMERT (Canadian Medical Emergency Response Team) on the UN mission Operation MINUSMA in Mali in 2018. Lessons from the talk focus on three areas: commitment, cooperation and patience. The true test of commitment is seeing an idea actualised. Lieutenant Colonel Doyle and her colleagues had written a memo arguing that the Canadian Armed Forces needed a MERT-type capability. The CDS agreed with them, so despite the daunting nature of the task and tight timelines, they needed to bring the idea to fruition. This project required immense cooperation. When tackling it, the team found experts from various disciplines were generous with their time