United States. Department of Defense

“ Will you be adequate, will you be successful in salvaging the lives and limbs of those comrades by applying the principles of the lessons hard-learned by countless generations of combat surgeons that have preceded you? ”

“ This edition of the Emergency War Surgery Handbook is written for and dedicated to the new generation of young, as yet untested surgeons, who may be given the opportunity and the honor of ministering to the needs of their fallen fellow countrymen. What is the likelihood that you will be called to serve? the ancient Plato provided the answer: "Only the dead have seen the end of war!" ”

“ The WDMET data indicate that 100 combat casualties, who survive long enough to be evacuated from the field, could be statistically expected to present the following casualty mix:
Thirty casualties with minor or superficial wounds, minor burns, abrasions, foreign bodies in the eye, ruptured ear drums, and deafness.
Sixteen with open, comminuted fractures of a long bone, of which several will be multiple and several will be associated with injury of named nerves.
Ten with major soft tissue injury or burns requiring general anesthesia for debridement. Several will have injury of named nerves. ”