ABSTRACT
Military medical personnel in wars have learned how important it is to dispense care to trauma victims. No matter how good the team at the 12th Evac was, a seriously wounded soldier had to arrive there alive if the professionals were to have an opportunity to practice their craft. The mobile hospital at Tay Ninh was a busy place. Most helicopters, however, delivered their wounded to the 12th Evacuation Hospital at Cu Chi. When compared with past generations, most Americans in the late twentieth century go through their lives greatly insulated from pain and injury. Nevertheless, if field strength was 60 percent of paper strength, then a combat soldier would probably have had about a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded. Wounded outnumbered the killed in Vietnam by about five to one. Because the environment in Vietnam was so violent, wounds came in all sizes and types.
