This is a graph from Naval Institute Proceedings, Feb 2004 (Sorry, I’m a little behind in my reading). It’s not available online, nor is the accompanying article (just trust me).The article is “Forward Resuscitative Surgery in Operation Iraqi Freedom”, by Captains Bohman, Baker and Stevens, all Medical Corps (docs).
It’s a good article, and points out things that went well, and things they’d like to have done better. The above graph is very interesting, but has some limitations: this is only those who went to forward Resuscitative Surgical Stations, and the N=96, (34 Marines and 62 Iraqis), so not a huge sample.
The authors state that the number of GSW’s was higher than expected, which they attribute to better survival from better helmets and vests. They also point out that the overall Marine died-of-wounds rate was 1%, much lower than previous 2.1 – 8% rates.
THINGS ARE NOT AOK IN IRAQ.
WE ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EAGER TO PAT OURSELVES ON THE BACK AS GOOD MEN DIE AND ARE MAIMED FOR LIFE.
ON THE NON-LINEAR BATTLEFIELD WE CANNOT AFFORD OUR MEN TO GET WOUNDED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SOME INJURIES ARE SO SEVERE NO AMOUNT OF MEDICAL CARE CAN SAVE THEM.
DETAILS:
http://www.geocities.com/skedco2000/nlbmedicalthreats.htm
Mike,
It’s a caps-lock key, over there on the left. Only lazy people who cannot punctuate and people who are off their meds try to communicate in all caps.
i must now post a comment to restore balance to this blog. as always, glad to help.
Hahaha.. Very nice!