From the Battlefields to the States: The Road to Recovery. The Role of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in US Military Casualty Care

Abstract

The transformation of the modern battlefield with respect to weaponry, modes of transportation, enemy capabilities and location, as well as technological advances, has greatly altered the tactical approach to the mission. Combat casualty care must continually evolve in response to the differences in types of injury, the number and triage of casualties, timing of treatment, and location of care. These battlefield changes have been demonstrated on a large scale in the global war on terrorism, which includes the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The medical response has kept pace with this 21st-century conflict. Even in the new environment of armed conflict and with the advent of new technologies, the principles of managing orthopaedic combat casualties remain clear: preservation of life and limb, skeletal stabilization, and aggressive wound débridement. For United States service members wounded in the current conflicts, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is a crucial stop along the road to recovery.