NatGeo - Inside Afghan ER

According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, during World War II, the likelihood of surviving battlefield wounds was 69.7 percent; by the end of the Vietnam War it had improved to 76.4 percent; and survival of those wounded in the current Iraq (and Afghanistan) War has increased to an astounding 90.4 percent.

The reasons for this include the new state-of-the-art, bullet-proof vests that soldiers are equipped with and the fact that military combat hospitals are equipped with the best technology available.

Improved soldier body armour has resulted in distinctly new patterns of combat injuries. Unprotected areas of the body account for the majority of injuries. Bullet-proof vests may protect the heart, but not even Kevlar helmets can offer complete protection for the head. Shrapnel can make its way into the brain via the face, the forehead or the nape of the neck. Such wounded soldiers are quickly evacuated to the combat hospital, usually by medevac helicopter.

This documentary, broadcast at 8 pm last night, is about the US military's combat hospital at Camp Salerno located 90 miles from Kabul. This four bed trauma facility is one of only three US combat hospitals in Afghanistan and it appears no different from any well equipped ER in the developed world.

The type of injuries that the modern soldier sustains in the head and neck area frequently involves the mouth and teeth. Thus the skills of the dentist is increasingly becoming more of value in the modern combat hospital.