The latter contained eight men composed of a doctor, medics, and litter bearers. The first line of care was organized around two groups: a battalion aid station and a separate forward collecting station. Combat medical care doctrine in Korea consisted of a relay system. By the following year, 90 percent of the doctors stationed in Korea were draftees. A doctor draft was instituted in August 1950, and the first medical draftees arrived in Korea in January 1951. The most acute shortage was with doctors, particularly specialists. Like the other organizations within the military, when the war started in June 1950, the medical departments were short of everything. Wounded American soldiers are given medical treatment at a first aid station, somewhere in Korea, July 25, 1950. ![]() The extensive detail and accessibility of this data allowed for the most thorough and comprehensive analysis of military medical information yet. In addition, computerized data collection (in the form of computer punch cards) of the type of battle and non-battle casualties was used for the first time. The newest antibiotics were used widely, and other drugs that advanced medical care included the anticoagulant heparin, the sedative Nembutal, and the use of serum albumin and whole blood to treat shock cases. These included vascular reconstruction, the use of artificial kidneys, development of lightweight body armor, and research on the effects of extreme cold on the body, which led to development of better cold weather clothing and improved cold weather medical advice and treatment. The Korean War also provided an opportunity to study and test new equipment and procedures, many of which would go on to become standards of care in both the military and civilian medical communities. Ridgway, Commanding General of the United Nations Forces in Korea This was not only by virtue of improved medical treatments available at all echelons, but also in large measure because of his ready accessibility to major medical installations. “The wounded soldiers in Korea had a better chance of recovery than the soldier of any previous war. 20, 1951, half would have died if only ground transportation had been used. The Eighth Army surgeon estimated that of the 750 critically wounded soldiers evacuated on Feb. Another example tellingly highlights the impact of the helicopter. Bowler, set a record of 824 medical evacuations over a 10-month period. Howard wrote, “fundamentally changed the Army’s medical-evacuation doctrine.” Helicopter medevacs transported more than 20,000 casualties during the war. Both had been developed and used to a limited extent prior to 1950, but it was in the Korean War that both – particularly the helicopter – came into their own, and as Army Maj. That success is attributed to the combination of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH unit, and the aeromedical evacuation system – the casualty evacuation (casevac) and medical evacuation (medevac) helicopter. In the Korean War, that number was cut almost in half, to 2.5 percent. ![]() In World War II, the fatality rate for seriously wounded soldiers was 4.5 percent. ![]() Though the Korean War came to be regarded as a failure by many because of its unsettled conclusion, in one area it was an unreserved success: the care and treatment of wounded soldiers.
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