Military Medicine
One of the most essential of the support services in the various militaries is medical. From the military point of view, medical care is a force multiplier; because wounded or injured members can be treated and returned to service. From a historical view, military involvement in medicine has resulted in gains that might otherwise not have been achieved. From the point of view of the average service member; medical care is a morale builder because it shows that his service cares about him. Quite a few people will deny that this is a valid view; because in their opinion, the service doesn't care about the person, but only about his utility to the service. This may also be a valid viewpoint; but it's irrelevant. You can SEE the change in morale when a soldier arrives in a medical facility and begins receiving care.
I worked as a Liaison Officer to the 41st Combat Support Hospital last summer at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana. Out of several hundred soldiers that came through our doors during that two weeks; I heard of only one that was less than delighted to be treated there. The rest were thrilled with the brief break from the heat, bugs and exhaustion of the field problem; even though they were heading back that way soon. They were astonished at the level of care that was available for them. Medical care IS a force multiplier.
The medical systems currently in the military were not only not always there; their predecessors were often looked down on as being a painful necessity rather than a benefit. Only the improvement of medicine changed this view; and the military was the impetus for much of the improvement as doctors learned how to prevent disease and improve care for injuries. Commanders have always realized the significance of health care, even when they didn't know how to improve it. For centuries, the rate of military deaths due to disease far outweighed the deaths due to combat.
Realizing this, the military has frequently been the institution that advances health care, by the simple fact that the captive audience of soldiers and sailors can be ordered to receive treatment. The Continental Army became the first army in history to be totally immunized against a disease when George Washington ordered inoculations for smallpox. Although the army was a captive audience; and many of the soldiers probably felt about smallpox vaccines very much like today's soldiers feel about anthrax; the treatment worked. It not only protected the troops; but it also helped to prove the effectiveness of vaccines on a large scale.
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