Previous: 7-90: Medical Evacuation
7-92. Casualty evacuation is a term used to refer to the movement of casualties aboard nonmedical vehicles or aircraft.
7-93. If dedicated medical evacuation platforms (ground and air) are available, casualties should be evacuated on these conveyances to ensure they receive proper en route medical care.
7-94. Since casualty evacuation operations can reduce combat power and degrade the efficiency of the Army health system (AHS), units should only use casualty evacuation to move Soldiers with less severe injuries when medical evacuation assets are overwhelmed. Planners should ensure casualty evacuations operations are addressed in the operation plan (OPLAN)/OPORD as a separate operation, as these operations require preplanning, coordination, synchronization, and rehearsals. The casualty evacuation plan should ensure casualties with severe or life threatening injuries are prioritized for evacuation and are evacuated on dedicated medical evacuation platforms.
7-95. When possible, nonmedical vehicles/aircraft transporting casualties should be augmented with a + combat medic or CLS. (On nonmedical aircraft, sufficient space may not be available to permit a caregiver to accompany the casualties.) + (Refer to ATP 4- 25.13 for more information.) The type of en route monitoring and medical care/first aid provided is limited by the following factors:
- Skill level of the individual providing care. (The combat medic is military occupational specialty [MOS]-qualified [MOS 68W] to provide EMT; the CLS is trained to provide enhanced first aid). The combat medic can provide emergency medical intervention, whereas the CLS only can monitor the casualty and ensure the basic lifesaving first-aid tasks are accomplished.
- Medical equipment available.
- Number of casualties being transported.
- Accessibility of casualties—if nonstandard evacuation vehicle is loaded with the maximum number of casualties, the combat medic or CLS may not be able to attend to the casualties while the vehicle is moving. If the condition of a casualty deteriorates and emergency measures are required, the vehicle will have to be stopped to permit care to be given.
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