I've spoken here before about the 'unforeseen consequences' of the exponential 'progress' made in battlefield triage. This brings it right home.
A devastating brain injury in Iraq leaves soldier Roberto Reyes with a support system of one - his mother. On January 26, 2005, Specialist Roberto Reyes Jr. was returning to base after a five-day mission when the Humvee he was riding in hit a mine just west of Baghdad. The force of the blast threw Reyes 20 feet and caused the ears of his comrades to bleed.
The sergeant who found Reyes crawling on all fours with his skull hanging open saw Reyes's helmet nearby. A shimmering liquid in it caught his attention; as he poured it out, he realized what it was: part of Reyes's brain.
<snip>
In previous wars, Reyes likely would have been just another casualty. During the first World War, eight out of every 100 soldiers wounded in battle died. In Vietnam, that number had improved to seven out of every 100. But in Iraq, only one in 100 injured soldiers have lost their lives.
Advancements in military medicine make the miraculous routine. New fast-clot bandages and coagulation powders can be poured directly into a wound. Small platoons of medics stay close by and reach wounded troops within 15 to 20 minutes, a significant improvement over the 30-minute average in Vietnam. Those medics can begin surgery immediately; helicopters are equipped as flying emergency rooms so that procedures can continue while soldiers are shuttled to larger aircraft to take them to the largest military hospital outside the U.S. at Landstuhl, Germany. Less than 48 hours after an injury, a soldier can be back in the United States while continuously hooked to life-support machines.
You can read the rest of this sad story, Walter Reed shortcomings and all, here:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/033107C.shtml 
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