Continuous improvement in immediate, life-saving treatment on the battlefield is an institutional obsession within military medicine. Combat medics, corpsmen, nurses, and surgeons return from contingency missions determined to save lives in future wars that were just beyond their reach in the last. rnAt the heart of that conviction is the standard to which the entire brotherhood of military medicine must hold itself personally accountable: the golden hour, broadly the first 60 minutes following trauma or the onset of acute illness. The chances of survival are greatest if surgery or advanced trauma life support can be provided within that hour. While this standard may have formed the foundation of the United States' civilian emergency medical service, it is forever rooted in the battlefield experiences of the Military Health System (MHS) in the previous century. Military medicine's commitment to high standards and its mission, along with the experience derived in combat, has consistently produced major contributions to the larger body of medicine and increased understanding rnin advanced trauma care, burn therapy, and emergency surgery.
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