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Naval Expeditionary Logistics Enabling Operational Maneuver from the Sea (1999) / Chapter Skim
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5 Force Medical Support
Pages 52-57

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From page 52...
... Patients could spend from 30 to 120 days in the theater health care system before being evacuated to hospitals outside the theater; by then, patients were stable and required little care en route. The concept of casualty care supporting OMFTS is dramatically different from the traditional approach (see Figure 5.1)
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From page 53...
... If evacuation times are long, shore-based capabilities must be sufficient to stabilize the patient before movement.2 The long distances implicit in the OMFTS vision of combat operations mean that tactical aeromedical evacuation from the battlefield to ship-based care could take 1 to 2 hours. Thus, the keys to casualty survival will be effective first aid and lifesaving emergency surgery on the battlefield.
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From page 54...
... AEROMEDICAL EVACUATION Timely evacuation from the battlefield to ship-based medical care and from the ship to a hospital or hospital ship is a critical element in the OMFTS casualty-care concept. For these evacuations, the Marine Corps probably will not use dedicated medical evacuation aircraft but will assign aircraft to medical evacuation missions as needed, i.e., aircraft of opportunity.
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From page 55...
... Once emergency care has been provided, patients must be moved from the ships to hospitals that can continue the care. Current ship-capable aircraft, including the V-22, lack suitable en route care capabilities for long, medical evacuation flights; in-theater hospital care, a hospital ship, or transfer to strategic medical evacuation must be readily available.
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From page 56...
... The following are a few examples of the type of equipment that is long overdue in the field: • Pneumatic tourniquets for each corpsman's kit; • Portable device to take vital signs in a noisy, unlighted evacuation vehicle; • Easy-to-use, life-sustaining emergency equipment for use on an "evacuation vehicle of opportunity"; • Pain management compounds that can be administered by untrained personnel; • Wound-dressing material impregnated with clotting substances; • Blood substitutes that are ready for field use without laboratory verification, refrigeration, or preparation; • Infection control management; • Shore-facility oxygen generator; • Miniaturized, reusable monitor of physiological signs; • Means for shipboard manufacturing of intravenous liquids and solutions; • Imaging equipment for casualty care in an austere environment; • Better tents or shelters for forward surgical units; and • Gear for medical personnel treating contaminated patients. Creating a balanced, effective casualty care system that will support OMFTS requires redirecting medical training, research and development, acquisition, and management to the critical features of the system: Marines who are trained to stop bleeding and aid breathing of a wounded "buddy," corpsmen who are trained and equipped to provide simple but lifesaving trauma care on the battlefield; forward surgical teams trained to practice combat trauma care in small, austere, deployable medical facilities; and aeromedical evacuation that provides essential en route patient monitoring and care.
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From page 57...
... FORCE MEDICAL SUPPORT 57 RECOMMENDATION: The Navy and Marine Corps should reengineer the casualtycare system to match the warfighting concepts of OMFTS, giving highest priority to improving first-responder care, developing a forward surgical unit, handling and caring for patients contaminated by biological, chemical, or radiological agents, and evacuating patients to at-sea care facilities and onward to points of strategic aeromedical evacuation.
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Key Terms

  • forward surgical
  • medical evacuation
  • aeromedical evacuation
  • marine corps
  • surgical unit

  • trauma care
  • medical personnel
  • route care
  • amphibious assault
  • assault ships

  • tactical aeromedical
  • evacuation missions
  • require immediate
  • vietnam war
  • corps combat

  • rapid evacuation
  • hospital ship
  • practice combat
  • combat development
  • essential care

  • evacuation flights
  • development command
  • medical capabilities
  • stop bleeding
  • lack suitable

  • assault ship
  • effective casualty
  • perform medical
  • prolonged evacuation
  • critical element


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