Prolonged Care in Combat Medicine

During the United States’ post-9/11 counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US service members survived wounds that would have been fatal in any previous conflict. This was largely because of the care they received—beginning at the point where they were wounded and continuing through evacuation to medical facilities in theater and transport to military hospitals at Landstuhl, Germany and in the United States. But prolonged casualty care will be vastly more challenging in what the Army calls LSCO (large-scale combat operations) environments. To explore why—and what will be required to meet the challenges—John Amble is joined on this episode by Colonel Jennifer Gurney, the chief of the DoD Joint Trauma System, and Lieutenant Colonel Max Ferguson, an infantry battalion commander whose recent deployment experience offers insights on how this crucial issue affects tactical-level maneuver units.

The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.