U.S. Army

Medical Service Corps

The largest and most diverse corps in the Army Medical Department. MSC officers run the hospitals, manage the supply chains, lead the research, and prevent the diseases that have killed more soldiers than bullets in every war before Vietnam. From MASH units in Korea to 97% survival rates in Afghanistan, the Medical Service Corps built the military healthcare system that keeps the force alive. Doctors heal patients. The MSC runs the system.

"To Conserve Fighting Strength" Est. 1917

EST. JUNE 30, 1917

Army Medical Service Corps

The Backbone of AMEDD

Army Medical Dept

The Medical Service Corps is the largest and most diverse corps in the Army Medical Department — healthcare administrators, medical logisticians, health services officers, optometrists, podiatrists, preventive medicine officers, behavioral scientists, and biomedical researchers. MSC officers don't just treat patients — they run the hospitals, manage the supply chains, analyze the health threats, and lead the organizations that deliver military medicine. AMEDD runs on the MSC. Read more

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World Wars — Building Military Medicine 1917 – 1945

Sanitary Corps & Medical Admin

The MSC's WWII Predecessors

Sanitary Corps Est.

Medical Admin Corps

MSC OFFICERS · WWII

The MSC traces its lineage to the Sanitary Corps of WWI and the Medical Administrative Corps of WWII — the officers who managed the massive hospital systems that treated millions of casualties. In WWII alone, over 50,000 Medical Administrative Corps officers ran evacuation hospitals, general hospitals, convalescent centers, and the logistics pipeline that moved medical supplies from factory to foxhole. The MSC consolidated these functions in 1947 into a single corps of healthcare professionals. Read more

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Medical Evacuation System

From Litter Bearer to Flying Ambulance

Mobile Army Surgical

Helicopter MEDEVAC

SURVIVAL RATE · GWOT

MSC officers designed and managed the medical evacuation system that evolved from WWII aid stations to Korea's MASH units to Vietnam's Dustoff helicopter ambulances to the GWOT's golden hour standard. The concept of echeloned care — point of injury, battalion aid, forward surgical, combat support hospital, stateside medical center — was an MSC logistics and planning achievement. In Iraq and Afghanistan, that system achieved a 97% survival rate for soldiers who reached medical care. The MSC built the pipeline that kept them alive. Read more

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Medical Science & Research Beyond the Hospital

Army Medical Research

USAMRDC — Walter Reed's Legacy

Walter Reed Institute

Infectious Disease

Vaccines · Treatments

COMBAT CASUALTY CARE

MSC scientists and researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and USAMRIID have made discoveries that saved millions of lives — military and civilian. Army researchers developed vaccines for yellow fever, hepatitis, and malaria. USAMRIID is the military's biodefense research center — the lab that handles the most dangerous pathogens on earth. MSC officers lead research programs in combat casualty care, infectious disease, and operational health that advance both military and civilian medicine. Read more

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Preventive Medicine

Keeping the Force Healthy Before They Get Sick

Prev Med Officer

Detachments Deployed

Food · Vector · Environ

NON-BATTLE INJURY

In every war before Vietnam, more soldiers died from disease than enemy action. MSC preventive medicine officers ensure that never happens again — water quality testing, food safety inspections, vector control, environmental health assessments, and occupational health surveillance. Preventive medicine detachments deploy with every division. They test the water, inspect the food, spray for mosquitoes, and monitor for health threats before they become casualties. The mission nobody sees that saves the most lives. Read more

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Medical Logistics

Class VIII — Medical Supply Chain

Health Services Maint

Medical Materiel

Supply · Cold Chain

THEATER TO FOXHOLE

Medical logistics — Class VIII supply — is the most unforgiving supply chain in the Army. Blood products have a shelf life measured in days. Pharmaceuticals require cold chain management. Medical devices require calibration and maintenance. MSC medical logisticians manage the system that ensures the right medical supplies reach the right treatment facility at the right time. In a combat theater, a broken supply chain means soldiers die from treatable wounds. MSC medical logisticians make sure it doesn't break. Read more

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Hospital & Medical Command Leadership

MSC Runs the Enterprise

Medical Command

Military Treatment Facility

Defense Health Agency

RUNS THE SYSTEM

MSC officers command military treatment facilities, lead medical brigades and battalions, and hold senior positions throughout the Military Health System. While physicians provide clinical care, MSC officers provide the leadership that makes healthcare delivery work — staffing, budgeting, facilities management, strategic planning, and organizational command. The transition to the Defense Health Agency expanded the MSC's role in managing healthcare across all services. Doctors heal patients. The MSC runs the system that lets them do it. Read more

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107

Years of Service

Largest

AMEDD Corps

97%

GWOT Survival Rate

Conserve

Fighting Strength