Abstract
To the Editor.— The recent retrospective by Custis 1 and the editorial by Egeberg 2 focus on the progress we have made in caring for our wartime wounded. However, it seems that Drs Custis and Egeberg have missed the most important point: the best way to keep military casualties to a minimum is to prevent war. The authors assume that war is inevitable and that our role as physicians is to treat the casualties of war without asking Why this war? Physicians more than anyone else understand the old adage about an ounce of prevention. Diarrheal diseases, diphtheria, polio, tetanus, and measles are almost obsolete in our country today because of advances in public health and preventive medicine. We simply cannot stop at the issue of medical preparedness for war. We must address the roots of war. We must ask ourselves what our country has done to address the economic
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