The "Golden Hour"

Military: "Airborne surgical team headed to Afghanistan," by Nancy Montgomery, Mideast Stars and Stripes, 14 March 2009

This article made me take pause and reflect on the amazing capabilities of modern medicine, and how it has shaped military planning and operations. The "golden hour," or the first hour after a servicemember is wounded, is critical. If a servicemember can survive an initial catastrophic battlefield injury, and subsequent medical evacuation, they have over a 90 percent survival rate. I find that amazing when you consider the lethality of modern warfare, and compare it to the survival rates in other wars (World War II 70%, Korea 75%, and Vietnam 76%).

The golden hour has become so important that it is a reality in military planning. In some cases commanders will think twice about a mission if they can't get troops critical care within the golden hour. Now, don't get me wrong, in most cases, the golden hour is not going to dictate "go" or "no go" criteria for operations. But, it will certainly be factored into the risk assessments that commanders make when considering an operation.