One aspect of the recent military activity in Iraq which has received little publicity is the treatment of injuries sustained by coalition forces and the use of equipment that improved survival rates. Troops were trained to give immediate treatment to their colleagues and there have been major breakthroughs in protective gear and trauma care in the battlefield.
Bullet resistant vests were standard issue and surgeries were located close to the frontline, guaranteeing faster treatment. In the Vietnam War, thousands of US troops bled to death. The 'golden hour', as the Americans call it, is the crucial time for the treatment of trauma associated with severe injuries. New equipment, piloted since the 1991 Desert Storm campaign, included ultrasound machines, erector sets to stabilise severe arm and leg wounds, Doppler machines which measure blood flow rates, new blood clotting bandages and certain clotting agents. More coalition troops wore kevlar helmets and 16.4 lb flak jackets, the new version of which includes ceramic plates which can allegedly stop AK-47 rounds fired at point blank range.
How many lives have been saved as a result of this new technology can be estimated through various anecdotes, but there are as yet no reliable statistics. At the Walker Reed Hospital in the USA, two out of three wounds recorded were to arms, hands, legs and feet. The others were in the chest and abdomen. There were twice as many hand and leg injuries than body wounds because of the improved armour. Furthermore, the troops were evacuated over a four to seven day period, whilst in Vietnam it was one to two months before they reached a trauma centre.
Among the other novel approaches to ensure fast treatment were the training of troops in first aid and the provision of a kit which, in some cases, included splints, intravenous lines and antibiotics. The wounded were also moved rapidly to forward surgical teams (20 doctors and nurses). From there, they moved to a support hospital and hence to a medical centre in Germany (with 400 beds) or other advanced health care facilities. Computerised information on the patient was sent with them and the critical core treatment team (a doctor, nurse and technician) to the USA.
Nobody can dispute that these developments are all welcome. But, it is always ironic that such life saving technologies should arise from a culture of war.
