Military medicine

{{Short description|Medicine concerning military personnel and operations}} {{use American English|date=October 2024}} {{For|the journal|Military Medicine (journal)}} {{war}}

[[File:Ambroise Paré, on the battlefield using a ligature for the a Wellcome V0016758.jpg|thumb|French surgeon Ambroise Paré ({{circa|1510}}–1590) – known as the "Father of Military Medicine"{{cn|date=October 2024}} – attending to a soldier's amputated leg.]] thumb|Two French military surgeons treating wounded enemies after the battle of Inkermann, November 5, 1854. [[File:Diekirch-Militärmuseum 040.jpg|thumb|WWII era field hospital re-created operating tent using puppets, Diekirch Military Museum, Luxembourg]] [[File:47th CSH0216.JPG|thumb|A U.S. Combat Support Hospital (CSH), a type of mobile field hospital, used in war or disasters; successor to the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH)]] [[File:NORMASH (1952) (16005170175).jpg|thumb|Norwegian NORMASH personnel during the Korean War]] [[File:US Navy 060704-N-1577S-002 Medical staff from Operation Smile and the Military Treatment Facility (MTF) aboard the Military Sealift Command (MSC) hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), perform a cleft lip surgery.jpg|thumb|Medical staff aboard the US hospital ship USNS ''Mercy'']] [[File:US Navy 060608-N-6501M-004 The U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), anchored off of the coast of Jolo City.jpg|thumb|The US hospital ship USNS ''Mercy'' marked with the red cross, the international protective sign]] [[File:US Navy 021023-N-5329L-002 Capt. Mike Salmi Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) from the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) Miesau, Germany, and Dilmurod local national Interpreter.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army medical personnel train local Uzbek anesthesia providers at the Fergana Emergency Center in support of Operation Provide Hope.]] [[File:Transportpanzer SanitaeterMSA.jpg|thumb|German Kosovo Force armoured medical transport, marked with the protective sign]] [[File:1 Air Ambulance Unit (043264).jpg|thumb|Air ambulance of the Royal Australian Air Force in 1943, marked with the protective sign]] [[File:Miloš L 01.jpg|thumb|right|Miloš L (UGV), a military robot for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield.]] The term '''military medicine''' has a number of potential connotations. It may mean:

*A medical specialty, specifically a branch of occupational medicine attending to the medical risks and needs (both preventive and interventional) of soldiers, sailors and other service members. This disparate arena has historically involved the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases (especially tropical diseases), and, in the 20th century, the ergonomics and health effects of operating military-specific machines and equipment such as submarines, tanks, helicopters and airplanes. Undersea and aviation medicine can be understood as subspecialties of military medicine, or in any case originated as such. Few countries certify or recognize "military medicine" as a formal speciality or subspeciality in its own right. * The planning and practice of the surgical management of mass battlefield casualties and the logistical and administrative considerations of establishing and operating combat support hospitals. This involves military medical hierarchies, especially the organization of structured medical command and administrative systems that interact with and support deployed combat units. (See Battlefield medicine.) * The administration and practice of health care for military service members and their dependents in non-deployed (peacetime) settings. This may (as in the United States) consist of a medical system paralleling all the medical specialties and sub-specialties that exist in the civilian sector. (See also Veterans Health Administration which serves U.S. veterans.) * Medical research and development specifically bearing upon problems of military medical interest. Historically, this encompasses all of the medical advances emerging from medical research efforts directed at addressing the problems encountered by deployed military forces (e.g., vaccines or drugs for soldiers, medical evacuation systems, drinking water chlorination, etc.) many of which ultimately prove important beyond the purely military considerations that inspired them.

==Legal status== Military medical personnel engage in humanitarian work and are "protected persons" under international humanitarian law in accordance with the First and Second Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which established legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field or ship's medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. International humanitarian law makes no distinction between medical personnel who are members of the armed forces (and who hold military ranks) and those who are civilian volunteers. All medical personnel are considered non-combatants under international humanitarian law because of their humanitarian duties, and they may not be attacked and not be taken as prisoners of war; hospitals and other medical facilities and transports identified as such, whether they are military or civilian, may not be attacked either. The red cross, the red crescent and the red crystal are the protective signs recognised under international humanitarian law, and are used by military medical personnel and facilities for this purpose. Attacking military medical personnel, patients in their care, or medical facilities or transports legitimately marked as such is a war crime. Likewise, misusing these protective signs to mask military operations is the war crime of perfidy. Military medical personnel may be armed, usually with service pistols, for the purpose of self defense or the defense of patients.

==Historical significance== The significance of military medicine for combat strength goes far beyond treatment of battlefield injuries; in every major war fought until the late 19th century disease claimed more soldier casualties than did enemy action. During the American Civil War (1860–65), for example, about twice as many soldiers died of disease as were killed or mortally wounded in combat.<ref>{{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|year=1988|title=Battlecry of Freedom|publisher=Ballantine Books, New York|isbn=0-345-35942-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/battlecryoffreed00jame}}, p. 485</ref> The Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) is considered to have been the first conflict in which combat injury exceeded disease, at least in the German coalition army which lost 3.47% of its average headcount to combat and only 1.82% to disease.<ref>''Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon''; 14th ed., Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna 1894; Vol. 8, p. 939.</ref> In new world countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, military physicians and surgeons contributed significantly to the development of civilian health care.<ref>Vivian Charles McAlister. "Origins of the Canadian School of Surgery" Canadian Journal of Surgery (2007) 50 (5) : 357–363. Available at: [https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/17633]</ref><ref name="historypmc">{{cite journal|vauthors=Manring MM, Hawk A, Calhoun JH, Andersen RC | title=Treatment of war wounds: a historical review. | journal=Clin Orthop Relat Res | year= 2009 | volume= 467 | issue= 8 | pages= 2168–91 | pmid=19219516 | doi=10.1007/s11999-009-0738-5 | pmc=2706344 }}</ref>

Improvements in military medicine have increased the survival rates in successive wars, due to improvements in medical evacuation, battlefield medicine and trauma care.<ref name="historypmc"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/MedSpt/chpt3.htm |title=Chapter 3 – Medical Support 1965–1970 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606042103/http://www.history.army.mil/books/vietnam/MedSpt/chpt3.htm |archive-date=2016-06-06 }}</ref> Similar improvements have been seen in trauma practices during the Iraq war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/iraq-war-10-year-anniversary-survival-rate-of-wounded-soldiers-better-than-previous-wars|title=Iraq War 10 year anniversary: Survival rate of wounded soldiers better than previous wars|first=Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News|last=Service|date=16 March 2013|access-date=13 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904084833/https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/iraq-war-10-year-anniversary-survival-rate-of-wounded-soldiers-better-than-previous-wars|archive-date=4 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some military trauma care practices are disseminated by citizen soldiers who return to civilian practice.<ref name="historypmc"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/military-medical-techniques-saving-lives-at-home|title=Military medical techniques saving lives at home – News stories – GOV.UK}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gunbabygun.com/role-gun-advancement-medicine/|title=The role of the gun in the advancement of medicine|date=8 January 2015|access-date=13 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106121802/http://www.gunbabygun.com/role-gun-advancement-medicine/|archive-date=6 January 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> One such practice is where major trauma patients are transferred to an operating theater as soon as possible, to stop internal bleeding, increasing the survival rate. Within the United States, the survival rate for gunshot wounds has increased, leading to apparent declines in the gun death rate in states that have stable rates of gunshot hospitalizations.<ref name="JenaSun2014">{{cite journal|last1=Jena|first1=Anupam B.|last2=Sun|first2=Eric C.|last3=Prasad|first3=Vinay|title=Does the Declining Lethality of Gunshot Injuries Mask a Rising Epidemic of Gun Violence in the United States?|journal=Journal of General Internal Medicine|volume=29|issue=7|year=2014|pages=1065–1069|issn=0884-8734|doi=10.1007/s11606-014-2779-z|pmid=24452421|pmc=4061370}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/murder-rate-drops-as-more-survive-gunshots-stabbings-1.2481904|title=Lower murder rate linked to medical advance, not less violence}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324712504578131360684277812|title=In Medical Triumph, Homicides Fall Despite Soaring Gun Violence|first1=Gary|last1=Fields|first2=Cameron|last2=McWhirter|date=8 December 2012|newspaper=Wall Street Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Anthony R. |last2=Thomas |first2=Stephen H. |last3=Fisher |first3=Gene A. |last4=Hirsch |first4=David J. |title=Murder and Medicine: The Lethality of Criminal Assault 1960–1999 |journal=Homicide Studies |date=May 2002 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=128–166 |doi=10.1177/108876790200600203 |s2cid=51845968 |url=http://www.universitychurchchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Murder-and-Medicine.pdf |access-date=1 December 2022 |language=en-us}}</ref>

In many English-speaking countries the ''military'' title of surgeon is applied to any medical practitioner, due to the historical evolution of the term. The US Army Medical Corps retains various surgeon United States military occupation codes in the ranks of officer pay grades, for military personnel dedicated to performing surgery on wounded soldiers.

==Impact== According to a 2025 study, which examined inter-state wars from 1900 onwards, found that militaries that have better military medicine have improved military effectiveness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Accorsi |first=Pedro |last2=Fazal |first2=Tanisha M. |date=2025 |title=Military Medicine and Military Effectiveness |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2025.2558844 |journal=Security Studies |doi=10.1080/09636412.2025.2558844 |issn=0963-6412|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Military medicine by country==

===North America===

====Canada==== *Royal Canadian Medical Service *Royal Canadian Dental Corps *Canadian Forces Health Services Group *Surgeon General (Canada) *National Defence Medical Centre

====United States==== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs *Military Health System *''Military Medicine'', academic journal *TRICARE *United States Unified Medical Command *Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences *Medical Education and Training Campus *Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine *Defense Health Agency *National Center for Medical Intelligence *Health Professions Scholarship Program *Joint Task Force National Capital Region/Medical *Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center *Association of Military Surgeons of the United States *Tactical Combat Casualty Care *Armed Forces Institute of Pathology *Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute *Defense Health Program Budget Activity Group *Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board *National Museum of Health and Medicine *Medicine in the American Civil War *National Museum of Civil War Medicine {{div col end}}

;U.S. Army {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Surgeon General of the U.S. Army *Army Medical Department *Battalion Aid Station *Borden Institute *Combat Support Hospital *Fort Detrick *Fort Sam Houston *Forward Surgical Teams *United States Army Medical Corps *United States Army Nurse Corps *United States Army Veterinary Corps *Mobile Army Surgical Hospital *Portable Surgical Hospital *68W, the "combat medic" *Combat Medical Badge *Expert Field Medical Badge *''Textbook of Military Medicine'' published by the U.S. Army *United States Army Medical Department Center and School *United States Army Medical Department Museum *U.S. Army Dental Command *U.S. Army Medical Command *United States Army Medical Research and Development Command *United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases *United States Army Medical Command, Vietnam *United States Army Medical Command, Europe *Walter Reed Army Medical Center *Walter Reed Army Institute of Research *U.S. Army Public Health Center *Army Medical School *United States Army Health Services Command *Army Medical Museum and Library *Army Medical Department regimental coat of arms *Combat lifesaver course {{div col end}}

;U.S. Navy {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy *Bureau of Medicine and Surgery *United States Navy Health Care *U.S. Navy Medical Corps *U.S. Navy Dental Corps *U.S. Navy Nurse Corps *U.S. Navy Medical Service Corps *U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman *United States Naval Hospital (disambiguation) *Special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman *Battalion Aid Station *Naval Hospital Corps School *Naval Medical Center San Diego *Naval Medical Center Portsmouth *National Naval Medical Center (Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) *Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan *Naval Hospital Guam *Naval Health Clinic New England *Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point *Naval Medical Research Command *Naval Health Research Center *Naval Medical Forces Atlantic *Naval Medical Research Unit South *Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton *Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory *Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District *Old Naval Observatory *Hospital ship *USNS Mercy *USNS Comfort *Sick bay *Loblolly boy *Diving medicine *United States Navy staff corps {{div col end}}

;U.S. Air Force {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force *U.S. Air Force Medical Service (including Dental Corps, Medical Corps, Nursing Corps, and other corps) *United States Air Force Nurse Corps *United States Air Force Pararescue *United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine *Museum of Aerospace Medicine *Aeromedical evacuation *Critical Care Air Transport Team *Expeditionary Medical Support System *Aviation medicine {{div col end}}

===Europe===

====France==== *French Defence Health Service *École du service de santé des armées

====Belgium==== *Belgian Medical Component

====Germany==== *Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service *Bundeswehr Medical Academy *Luftwaffe Institute of Aviation Medicine *Naval Medical Institute *Generaloberstabsarzt *Generalstabsarzt *Generalarzt *Oberstarzt *Oberfeldarzt *Oberstabsarzt *Stabsarzt *Oberarzt (military) *Assistenzarzt (military)

==== Italy ==== *Corpo sanitario dell'Esercito Italiano *Corpo sanitario militare marittimo *Corpo sanitario aeronautico *Servizio sanitario dell'Arma dei carabinieri

====Russia==== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Main Military Medical Directorate *Kirov Military Medical Academy (founded in 1798) *Military academies in Russia#Kuybyshev Military Medical Academy *''Military Medical Business'', academic journal *Russian Museum of Military Medicine {{div col end}}

====Serbia==== *Military Medical Academy

====Sweden==== *Surgeon-General of the Swedish Armed Forces *Medical Corps of the Swedish Armed Forces *Swedish Armed Forces Centre for Defence Medicine *Surgeon-in-Chief of the Swedish Army *Surgeon-in-Chief of the Swedish Navy *Surgeon-in-Chief of the Swedish Air Force *Swedish Army Medical Corps *Swedish Naval Medical Officers' Corps *Swedish Armed Forces Diving and Naval Medicine Centre *Swedish Army Veterinary Corps

====United Kingdom==== [[File:British Medical Services in the Second World War NA10302.jpg|thumb|right|A British soldier enjoying a beer after donating at a blood bank, Italy 1943]] {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Royal Navy Medical Service *Royal Naval Hospital *Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service *Medical Assistant (Royal Navy) *Institute of Naval Medicine *Naval surgeon *Surgeon's mate *Loblolly boy *Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service *List of hospitals and hospital ships of the Royal Navy *Army Medical Services *Royal Army Medical Corps *Royal Army Dental Corps *Royal Army Veterinary Corps *Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps *Combat Medical Technician *Medical Support Officer *Regimental Aid Post *Territorial Force Nursing Service *Royal Army Medical College *Museum of Military Medicine *RAF Medical Services *Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service *RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine *RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine *Surgeon-General (United Kingdom) *Defence Medical Services *Defence Medical Academy *Ministry of Defence Hospital Units *Defence CBRN Centre

===Asia===

====India==== *Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (India) *Army Medical Corps (India) *Armed Forces Medical College *Command Hospital *Army Hospital Research and Referral *Military Hospitals ====Israel==== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Logistics, Medical, and the Centers Directorate *Medical Corps (Israel) *Unit 669 {{div col end}}

====Sri Lanka==== Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps

====Thailand==== [http://www.mcpcm.com Phramongkutklao College of Medicine]

====Vietnam==== *Vietnam Military Medical University (''Học Viện Quân Y'') in Hanoi

===Other regions===

====Australia==== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Joint Health Command (Australia) *Australian Army Medical Women's Service *Australian Army Medical Units, World War I *Australian Army Nursing Service *Royal Australian Army Medical Corps *Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps *Royal Australian Army Dental Corps *Australian Army Veterinary Corps *Australian Army Psychology Corps *Royal Australian Navy School of Underwater Medicine *RAAF Institute of Aviation Medicine *List of Australian hospital ships {{div col end}}

====South Africa==== *South African Medical Service *South African Military Health Service

===International===

*International Committee of Military Medicine *Committee of Chiefs of Military Medical Services in NATO (COMEDS)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Bowlby, Sir Anthony and Colonel Cuthbert Wallace. "The Development of British Surgery at the Front." ''The British Medical Journal'' 1 (1917): 705–721. * Churchill, Edward D. "Healing by First Intention and with Suppuration: Studies in the History of Wound Healing.” ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 19 (1964): 193–214. * Churchill, Edward D. “The Surgical Management of the wounded at the time of the Fall of Rome.” ''Annals of Surgery'' 120 (1944): 268–283. * Cowdrey, Albert E. ''Fighting for Life: American Military Medicine in World War II'' (1994), scholarly history, 400 pp * Cowdrey, Albert E. ''United States Army in the Korean War: The Medics War'' (1987), full-scale scholarly official history; [https://archive.org/details/medicswar00cowd online free] * Fauntleroy, A.M. "The Surgical Lessons of the European War." ''Annals of Surgery'' 64 (1916): 136–150. * Fazal, Tanisha M. (2024). ''Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War''. Oxford University Press. * Grissinger, Jay W. "The Development of Military Medicine." ''Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine'' 3 (1927): 301–356. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2393635/pdf/bullnyacadmed00916-0003.pdf online] * Harrison, Mark. ''Medicine and victory: British military medicine in the Second World War'' (Oxford UP, 2004). * Whayne, Col. Tom F. and Colonel Joseph H. McNinch. “Fifty Years of Medical Progress: Medicine as a Social Instrument: Military Medicine.” ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' 244 (1951): 591–601. * Wintermute, Bobby A. ''Public health and the US military: a history of the Army Medical Department, 1818–1917'' (2010).

===Primary sources=== * Kendrick, Douglas B. ''Memoirs of a Twentieth-Century Army Surgeon'' (Sunflower University Press, 19920, U.S. Army

==External links== {{Commons category}}            '''U.S. military medicine''' *[https://web.archive.org/web/20000125013551/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-medi.htm Military Medicine] related links from USAF Air University *[http://www.amsus.org/ Association of Military Surgeons of the United States] (AMSUS) **[http://www.amsus.org/journal/ ''Military Medicine'', the International Journal of AMSUS] *[http://patriotmedicine.com/ ''Patriot Medicine'', a vertical network for the military medical ecosystem] *[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/combatdocs/medicine.html Military Medicine Through Time]. Life and Death in the War Zone | NOVA | PBS *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070502160749/http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/index.html The Borden Institute Homepage] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100311062038/http://www.lrc.usuhs.mil/local/archives.html Military Medicine Documents at USU Archive] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110708123018/http://caseyfuller.com/snake.htm U.S. Army Preventive Medicine news archive from the 7th Infantry Division (Light) Panorama weekly newspaper 1988.] *[http://www.vnh.org/ Virtual Naval Hospital – a digital library of military medicine and humanitarian medicine] * http://www.ipernity.com/doc/57114/5652001/in/keyword/487917/self (military medical exams)

'''Australian military medicine''' *[http://www.amma.asn.au/ Australian Military Medicine Association]

'''International Magazine for Military Medicine''' *[http://www.mci-forum.com MCIF MEDICAL CORPS INTERNATIONAL FORUM] International Magazine for Military Medicine

'''NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine''' *[http://www.coemed.org NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Military Medicine}} Category:Military medicine Category:Medical specialties Category:Military supporting service occupations