Marine Corps Combat Casualty Care: Determining Medical Supply Requirements for an Infantry Corpsman Bag

摘要

Wartime experience with the current combat corpsman medical bag has shown it to be unsatisfactory for use by the infantry platoon corpsman. Part of the Marine Corps Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment (MOLLE) system, the MOLLE medical bag was designed to be a modular system that could be customized by the corpsman for specific missions. However, in the field, corpsmen say they found the bag to be too large, too heavy, and filled with supplies and equipment they never use. Experienced combat corpsmen voiced the need for a lightweight patrol medical kit containing only those items necessary for immediate lifesaving treatments, such as hemorrhage control and fluid resuscitation. Naval Health Research Center was tasked by the Marine Corps Systems Command, to determine the medical supply requirements for a modular corpsman s bag that could satisfy the specific wartime needs of platoon combat corpsmen.