The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-07-25
GO INTO NO MANS LAND
They Are the Only Soldiers Who Go
Into These Hazardous Places With
No Defense What
ever.

line nTSt united States soldier to be
killed in the war and the first to be
wounded were both in the Medical
| Corps. This fact must have impressed
the American people with the impressed
risks which are taken by army doctors.
Before we entered the war the brav-
cry and sacrifice of medical officers at
the front had probably been too little
appreciated. AS matter Of fact, the
officers and enlisted men in the Medical
Corps are the only soldiers who go into
No-Man IS Land with no defense what
ever. The tireless work on the battle
field of the stretcher bearers, all of
whom are in the Medical Corps is
full of danger.
No profession has volunteered its
| services to the country more gener-
ously than the medical profession.
! About $4,000 physicians, or nearly one
fourth of the eligible physicians of the
| country, have expressed their willing
ness to resign practice and go to war.
Some have already received their
training and have gone to France.
Some are waiting to be called, and
about 1000 are now in the camps re-
ceiving the special instruction that will
Lit Them for a military life.
When a physician receives word
that his offer to join the army has
been accepted, he is ordered to report
for duty at one Of the two training
camps where army surgical schools are
located. One is at Fort Riley, Kans.,
and the other is at Fort Oglethorpe,
Tenn. The doctors live in barracks
at these camps, just like any soldier
in the national army. The complete
course Of training which they under
go lasts three months.
The first month is given over to
teaching them the simple rules and
| routine of military discipline. They
learn to drill and to command COM
panies of men, and they study the
organization of the army and the
functions of its different parts. Dur
ing the second month they occupy
themselves with the special duties Of
medical officers. They are taught how
a field hospital is run, how hospitals
are managed behind the lines and the
new conditions and problems which
confront an army on the European
battle fronts. During the third month
they concentrate upon some special
branch Of medical work. Some are
specialists in X-Ray photography, some
in head surgery, and others in the
various other departments of medicine
and surgery
About half Of the graduates of these
camps are sent away for service in the
front lines. The men picked for this
are the younger men and those who
are more robust and able. to with
stand the necessary hardships. The
rest go into the different hospitals and
institutions behind the lines. About
ten per cent go into head surgery, ten
per cent into Roentgenology, thirty-fve
per cent into general surgery, another
| ten per cent into cardiovascular prac-
tice, and so on. The proportion of men
assigned to any given branch is
determined by the need for specialists
in that line.
| OF course, it has not been possible
to train in this fashion all of the ply
sicians in the Medical Corps. The need
was SO pressing that many had to be
taken directly out of civil life and
given uniform. It is the purpose of
the surgeon general IS staff to do this
as little as possible in the future, so
that the officers in the Medical Corps
may all have knowledge of military
technique.