ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The Army is continuing to grow a program that partners with civilian hospitals and trauma centers to give combat medics more hands-on experience, the Army surgeon general said.

“Our program is growing tremendously within the Army,” Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle told the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on defense March 5.

Lt. Gen. Nadja Y. West, Army surgeon general and Army Medical Command commanding general, said her 30 months so far as the Army’s top medical officer have been a time of big changes and more changes are ahead.

Technology has advanced combat trauma care, but the skills of medics, nurses and surgeons will continue to have the greatest impact on prolonged battlefield care, said Lt. Gen. Nadja Y. West, surgeon general of the Army and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command.