U.S. Army

Medical Corps

The oldest medical organization in the United States. From Jonathan Letterman inventing battlefield triage at Antietam to MASH surgeons in Korea to 97% survival rates in Afghanistan, Army physicians have set the standard for trauma medicine in every war. From evacuation hospitals in Normandy to Combat Support Hospitals in Baghdad to modular Field Hospitals today. The Medical Corps keeps soldiers alive when everything else has failed.

"To Conserve Fighting Strength" Est. 1775

Army Medical Corps

EST. JULY 27, 1775

Army Medical Corps

Physicians · Surgeons · The Healers Under Fire

Army Medical Dept

SURGEONS · HEALERS

The Continental Congress appointed the first Director General and Chief Physician of the Army on July 27, 1775. That makes the Medical Corps the oldest medical organization in the United States. Army physicians have treated casualties in every American war, from surgeons amputating limbs at Gettysburg by candlelight to trauma teams performing damage-control surgery in Role 3 facilities in Kandahar. The Medical Corps is where the Army's doctors serve. The officers who keep soldiers alive when everything else has failed. Read more

Civil War - Modern Military Medicine Is Born 1861 - 1865

Jonathan Letterman

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

Jonathan Letterman

Father of Battlefield Medicine

Medical Director

Evacuation System

Major Jonathan Letterman reorganized battlefield medicine for the Army of the Potomac in 1862. He created the ambulance corps, established aid stations and field hospitals, and built a tiered evacuation system that became the template for every military medical system since. Before Letterman, wounded soldiers lay on battlefields for days. After Letterman, they were triaged, treated, and evacuated in hours. The entire concept of echeloned military medical care, from point of injury to definitive surgery, was his invention. Every combat medic since has worked in Letterman's system. Read more

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World Wars to Vietnam 1917 - 1975

WWII - Mass Casualty Medicine

WWII - Mass Casualty Medicine

Penicillin · Blood Banking · Surgical Innovation

First Mass Military Use

Case Fatality Rate

WOUNDED TREATED

World War II transformed military medicine. Army physicians pioneered the mass use of penicillin, established the military blood banking system, advanced surgical techniques for trauma and burns, and reduced the case fatality rate to 4%. Down from 8% in WWI. Over 670,000 wounded soldiers were treated. Army doctors performed surgery in evacuation hospitals within miles of the front line, in field hospitals on Pacific islands, and in general hospitals that handled the most complex cases. Military medicine became the most advanced trauma system in the world. Read more

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MASH - Korea & Vietnam

KOREA · VIETNAM

MASH - Korea & Vietnam

Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals

Mobile Army Surgical

Korea Fatality Rate

Helicopter MEDEVAC

The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital brought operating rooms within miles of the fighting. Surgeons working in tents, performing life-saving surgery on casualties who arrived by helicopter minutes after being wounded. In Korea, MASH units dropped the case fatality rate to 2.5%. In Vietnam, Dustoff helicopter MEDEVAC and forward surgical capability meant a wounded soldier could be in surgery within the golden hour. Army physicians in Vietnam pioneered trauma surgery techniques that civilian emergency medicine adopted wholesale. Read more

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GWOT - The 97% Survival Rate 2001 - 2021

Combat Medicine in Iraq & Afghanistan

97% SURVIVAL RATE

Combat Medicine in Iraq & Afghanistan

Damage Control Surgery · TCCC · Role 3

Damage Control Surgery

Tactical Combat Cas Care

COMBAT HOSPITALS

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Army physicians achieved a 97% survival rate for casualties who reached medical care. The highest in the history of warfare. Damage control surgery, Tactical Combat Casualty Care, tourniquets pushed to point of injury, walking blood banks, and a medical evacuation system built around the golden hour saved soldiers who would have died in any previous war. Army Medical Corps physicians and surgeons operated in Role 3 hospitals around the clock during surge operations. The survival rate is the Medical Corps' legacy. Read more

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USUHS

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Medical Education

SERVICES ATTEND

The Uniformed Services University. The nation's military medical school in Bethesda, Maryland. It trains physicians specifically for military service. USUHS graduates are medical officers who understand operational medicine, combat casualty care, and military leadership from day one. Unlike civilian-trained physicians who enter through HPSP scholarships, USUHS graduates are already military officers when they begin residency. The school produces physicians who are soldiers first and doctors second. Exactly what the Medical Corps needs. Read more

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Walter Reed

The Man & The Medical Center

Yellow Fever Research

Hospital Opened

National Mil Med Center

PRESIDENT TREATED

Major Walter Reed proved that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. A discovery that saved more lives than any battle in Army history and made the Panama Canal possible. The medical center bearing his name has treated every president and the most severely wounded service members from every conflict since 1909. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center remains the flagship of military medicine. Where the most complex trauma cases, amputee rehabilitation, and medical research converge. Read more

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Unit Types - From Tent Surgery to Theater Command How Army Medicine Is Organized

WWI · WWII · KOREA

Evacuation Hospitals

The Workhorse Hospitals of Two World Wars

Behind Front Line

Evacuation hospitals were the backbone of Army medicine in both World Wars and Korea. These 400 to 750-bed mobile hospitals set up within 30 miles of the front line in canvas tents, requisitioned schools, hotels, and anything with a roof. They performed definitive surgery, treated illnesses, and stabilized casualties for evacuation to general hospitals in the rear. During the Normandy campaign, evacuation hospitals leapfrogged across France behind the advancing armies, tearing down and setting up in hours. The 5th Evacuation Hospital landed on D-Day. The 12th Evacuation followed Third Army from Normandy to Germany. Surgeons operated by lantern light in fields that had been under fire hours earlier. Read more

Field Hospitals

Modular · Scalable · Forward-Deployed

Max Beds w/ Augment

Scalable Design

FIRST CONVERTED 2017

The Army's modern replacement for the Combat Support Hospital. Starting in 2017 with the 10th CSH at Fort Carson, Colorado, the Army began converting all CSHs into smaller, modular 32-bed Field Hospitals with three augmentation detachments. A 24-bed surgical detachment, a 32-bed medical detachment, and a 60-bed intermediate care ward. The old 248-bed CSH was too large and logistically heavy to deploy as a whole unit. The Army had been deploying slices of CSHs for over a decade. The Field Hospital design makes that official. Tailorable packages sized to the actual mission. The 586th Field Hospital at Fort Campbell and the 528th Field Hospital at Fort Liberty are among the active-duty units carrying this mission forward. Read more

PRONOUNCED "CASH"

Combat Support Hospitals

The MASH Replacement That Won the GWOT

Personnel (Full)

DEPLOYABLE MED SYS

The Combat Support Hospital replaced the MASH and became the Army's primary deployable hospital from the 1980s through 2017. Housed in tents and expandable ISO containers, a CSH could deploy with 44 to 248 beds, run split-base operations across two locations, and provide surgical outcomes comparable to stateside trauma centers. The 28th CSH was the first Army hospital into Iraq during Desert Storm in 1991, crossing with XVIII Airborne Corps combat forces. In OIF, CSHs like the 28th ran Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, treating casualties around the clock. The 10th, 21st, 31st, 86th, and 121st CSHs all rotated through Iraq and Afghanistan. At peak, the Army operated 29 CSHs across active and reserve components. Now converting to Field Hospitals, but the CSH era produced the 97% survival rate. Read more

HOSPITAL CENTER

THEATER HOSPITALIZATION

Hospital Centers

Mission Command Over Field Hospitals

Command & Control

Controls Up To Two

Fort Liberty, NC

1ST MED BDE, FT BLISS

Hospital Centers provide mission command over Field Hospitals in theater. The concept dates to World War II, when Hospital Centers coordinated multiple hospitals within a geographic area. Today's Hospital Centers command up to two 32-bed Field Hospitals and their augmentation detachments. The 16th Hospital Center at Fort Liberty was created in April 2020 when the 28th CSH reorganized into the new modular structure, commanding the 528th Field Hospital and its surgical and medical detachments. The 528th Hospital Center under the 1st Medical Brigade at Fort Bliss fills the same role for III Corps. These headquarters give theater commanders a single point of contact for all hospitalization operations in their sector. Read more

Command & Control - Battalion to Theater The Chain That Keeps Soldiers Alive

ORGANIC TO DIVISIONS

Medical Battalions

Division-Level Medical Support

Companies per BN

Forward Surgical Teams

GROUND & AIR EVAC

Every Army division has an organic medical battalion that provides Role I and Role II care. These battalions run battalion aid stations, clearing stations, and ground/air ambulance evacuation. In Vietnam, the 15th Medical Battalion supported the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), the 326th Medical Battalion supported the 101st Airborne, and the 25th Medical Battalion treated over 75,000 patients in a single year at three separate locations. The 9th Medical Battalion's Company D operated the only Army medical facility on a Navy ship, treating casualties aboard the USS Colleton during Mobile Riverine Force operations in the Mekong Delta. Today, Multifunctional Medical Battalions like the 261st at Fort Liberty provide Role I/II care including forward surgical teams, dental, preventive medicine, and ground evacuation on an area support basis. Read more

C2 · COORDINATION

Intermediate Command Between Brigade & Battalion

Command & Control

Battalions Controlled

First in Vietnam

III/IV CTZ VIETNAM

Medical Groups provide an intermediate level of command and control between medical brigades and the battalions and hospitals beneath them. In Vietnam, the 43rd Medical Group activated on November 1, 1965, as the first army-level medical group in country, taking over command of nondivisional medical units in II Corps Tactical Zone. The 68th Medical Group followed in March 1966, covering III and IV Corps. The 55th Medical Group at Fort Bragg coordinated operations across multiple subordinate units during OIF and OEF. Medical Groups manage medical logistics, coordinate patient regulation between subordinate hospitals, and serve as the radio control net for their assigned units. Read more

Medical Brigades

Corps-Level Medical Command & Control

XVIII ABN Corps

Medical Brigades provide command and control for all assigned medical units at Corps level. One Medical Brigade supports each Army Corps. The 44th Medical Brigade, constituted in 1965 and activated at Fort Sam Houston for service in Vietnam, is one of the largest and most diverse in the Army. It participated in 12 of 17 campaigns in Vietnam, deployed elements to Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The 1st Medical Brigade supports III Corps at Fort Hood. The 62nd Medical Brigade supports I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The 30th Medical Brigade supports U.S. Army Europe. The 65th Medical Brigade supports Eighth Army in Korea. In the Army Reserve, brigades like the 332nd, 338th, and 804th fall under Theater Medical Commands and provide the medical surge capacity the Army depends on. Roughly 63% of the Army's medical forces are in the Reserve component. Read more

FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX

Medical Commands

Theater-Level Medical Authority

MEDCOM Established

Surgeon General

East of Mississippi

WEST OF MISSISSIPPI

The U.S. Army Medical Command was established at Fort Sam Houston on October 2, 1994, unifying virtually all of Army medicine under the Surgeon General. MEDCOM replaced the Health Services Command and consolidated hospitals, dental commands, veterinary commands, research, and training under one headquarters. The Surgeon General is dual-hatted as MEDCOM commanding general, a lieutenant general. For deployable medical forces, the 3rd Theater Medical Command (formerly 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support) in Atlanta manages all Army Reserve field medical units east of the Mississippi. The 807th Theater Medical Command at Fort Douglas, Utah, covers everything west. Together they command over 15,000 Reserve medical soldiers across more than 250 deployable units. The Army Reserve Medical Command (ARMEDCOM) handles the TDA medical units. During OIF, no single MEDCOM deployed to theater. Instead, three medical brigades provided command and control, proving the modular approach that now defines Army medical force structure. Read more

250

Years of Service

97%

GWOT Survival Rate

AMEDD

Army Medical Dept

Conserve

Fighting Strength