Fifth week of Desert Storm fighting brings new challenges for medicine

Abstract

AS ANTICIPATED, Desert Storm ground fighting is bringing a new set of challenges in terms of prompt evacuation and treatment of wounded allied soldiers. When Iraqi forays into Saudi Arabia brought a start to ground fighting 3 weeks ago, the situation also highlighted the importance of US military medical planning. This includes self- or buddy-care by US troops who are trained in some essential emergency medical procedures such as control of bleeding, additional procedures (such as airway clearance) by a "combat lifesaver" in the squad with additional training and equipment (<i>JAMA</i>. 1991;265:557-559), help from Advanced Trauma Life Support-certified corpsmen, and eventually attention from a physician. As also was expected, evacuation of the wounded is challenging along this flat terrain where would-be rescuers are vulnerable to enemy groundfire. Helicopters are much less likely to be used for frontline medical evacuation (than they were used, for instance, in the Southeast Asian theater