Basic training of all services has lead to an unequaled body of literature on stress injuries. Recently, the focus has been upon stress fractures in female recruits, an area unstudied until the last decade. Preventive measures including footwear and training patterns are applicable to any practice. Military orthopaedic surgeons are comfortable in a field environment as well. During the last 10 years we have deployed to the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Haiti, Panama, Sri Lanka, the former Yugoslavia and other areas.
Care is delivered in operating rooms aboard ship, in tents and in foreign hospitals.
Army and Navy deployable hospitals provide up to 1,000 beds, surgical suites for all specialties, blood bank facilities and the ability to provide routine as well as trauma care. Air Force medical evacuation units and aircraft allow rapid transportation and in-flight treatment, if required. Rarely does one service operate independently today. A typical example involved several Army personnel injured by a land mine in Somalia. A Marine helicopter flew them to a ship where initial debridement and fixation was performed by a Navy surgeon.