May 15, 2025

Austere Resuscitative and Surgical Care Teams: Supporting Far-Forward Trauma Care on the Future Battlefield

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina — Over two decades of conflict in the Middle East, deployed military medical capabilities have made significant advancements in tactical combat casualty care, damage control resuscitation, and damage control surgery. Among these improvements include the austere resuscitative and surgical care (ARSC, pronounced ärsk) teams, whose history extends back to Operation Eagle Claw in 1980 when special operations forces (SOF) identified a need for far-forward surgical teams. The concept of ARSC teams expanded to conventional forces in the 1990s, later proving crucial during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The ARSC can be defined as an “advanced medical capability delivered by small teams with limited resources, often beyond traditional timelines of care, and bridges gaps in roles of care to enable forward military operations and mitigate risk to the force.”01 The recent deployment of these highly skilled teams closer to the front lines has made combat surgical capabilities readily accessible in the most restricted operational environments.

May 1, 2025

Digital Twins for a Digital World: Data-Driven Training Optimizing the Ready Medical Force

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina — As the military transitions its focus to large-scale combat operations (LSCO) within the context of the multi-domain doctrinal concept, significant challenges facing the military health system were identified for which there are no immediate solutions.01,02 Alongside this shift in focus, strategic documents and senior military leaders suggest that ubiquitous data collection, robust cyber-secure networks, massive processing power, and scalable artificial intelligence (AI) constitute a technological revolution that is changing the character of war.03 The military health system’s ability to deliver tactical combat casualty care must evolve along with doctrinal and technological changes. The military health system needs to seize the opportunity to rapidly shift its priorities and resources to address these changes. This article helps address the imminent yet unwritten requirement to apply emerging technologies to military medical training.