FORT BENNING, Ga., (July 15, 2015) -- Maj. Gen. Richard W. Thomas, chief medical officer and director of the Defense Health Agency Healthcare Operations Directorate, visited the Maneuver Center of Excellence as part of the Combat Leader Speaker Program to speak to students about military medicine.
"For 240 years, medics have served shoulder to shoulder with war fighters," Thomas said. "Before you had a country, you had Army medics - military medics - serving with their counterparts. That's what sustains the fighting strength, and over time we have evolved into the finest military and medical system in the world."
Thomas spoke to the students about Army medicine as a whole, focusing on the evolution of medical practices and the involvement of Army medicine in areas around the world, combat situations or otherwise.
"Who would have thought more than a year ago that we would have U.S. military medics dealing with Ebola in West Africa?" Thomas said. "The fact is, when they want it done, they're going to call us. And that won't change."
He emphasized to the students that while they didn't need to understand medicine, they did need to understand training.
"(About) 80 percent of the time when there is a casualty, the first responder is not a medic. It's your buddy," Thomas said. "The medic is not always the first person to get there ... make sure your folks are fully trained in the tactical combat casualty care course and other programs we have established over the years."
Thomas demonstrated the importance of preparedness by showing the students a timeline of the vertically integrated trauma care system the military has been working on over the last 14-plus years of continuous combat operations.
Using the example of a wounded Marine, he showed students how the care begins with the first responder - typically someone in the squad of the injured troop - who provides basic lifesaving care, then calls a medical evacuation team.
The medevac team transports the injured to a forward surgical team who care for his wounds, then send him to a combat support hospital for stabilization and surgery.
Finally, the Marine is medevaced out of the war zone and back to the United States for long-term care and rehabilitation.
"That is a continuum of care that is unprecedented and has never been seen before in the history of the world," Thomas said. "We think its commonplace because it so streamlined, and it should be."
Thomas told the students that with the advancement of the trauma process and quick care by Soldiers, the survival rate of an injured Soldier has gone up to 90 percent.
Thomas encouraged the students not to get complacent, and to always strive to further their knowledge about military medicine and ways they could improve themselves and their Soldiers.
"We are the best in the world at what we do, and it's not by accident; it's by design," Thomas said.
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