The Warrior’s Combat Surgeon: COL (ret.) John B. Holcomb, MD, FACS—US Army 1985–2008

Abstract

Abstract : John Holcomb's career in the US Army began as a general surgery resident at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. After a year as a general medical officer in Sinop, Turkey, in 1986, he returned to William Beaumont Army Medical Center to complete his general surgery residency in 1991. His first duty assign- ment was at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg where he supported the Special Operations Command. In 1993, with his vacation plans cancelled, he deployed to the coast of Somalia (Fig. 1). Little did he know how this trip would affect his life and the lives of future service members. The peacekeeping quickly turned into 48 non-stop hours of operating on severely wounded from the battlefield of Mogadishu. His Somalia experience gave him a unique and an enduring insight into combat prehospital and surgical care more than any other individual since the Vietnam War. Upon return to the States, John Holcomb converted this experience into the indefatigable pursuit of improved combat casualty care. First stop was the US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAIR) where he was Chief, Military Trauma Research from 1997 until 1999. In 2001, he became the first Director of the Joint Trauma Training Center at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston where he developed combat trauma training, research, and a simulation center. He received additional training in surgical critical care at the University of Texas in Houston from 2001 to 2002. From 2002 until 2008, when he retired, he was the commander of the USAISR and trauma consultant to the US Army Surgeon General.