group commander reduces his span of control by attaching company and smaller size
units to medical battalions (Figure 5-1). Remember, the medical brigade is part of the
COSCOM organization.
b. The medical brigade is a flexible organization. It is a functionally oriented
organization consisting of a headquarters and headquarters company, medical groups,
medical battalions, combat support hospitals (CHS), EVAC hospitals, medical
ambulance companies, medical clearing companies, medical collecting companies,
TOE 8-600 series teams, an air ambulance company, a medical laboratory detachment,
a MEDSOM unit combat zone and, when required, a convalescent center and field
hospitals.
c. In essence, the medical brigade commander assigns missions to subordinate
medical groups and attaches to them the numbers and types of medical units needed to
perform the assigned mission.
5-9.
MEDICAL BRIGADE OPERATIONS
The corps surgeon provides the corps commander with a continuing series of
long-range plans for provision of corps level health service support. The medical
brigade commander fills out the details of these plans and translates them into missions
for the subordinate medical groups, including necessary adjustments in group
attachments to best meet the health service requirements of the current situation. The
brigade commander's approved plan then is implemented as orders to subordinate
medical groups. The medical brigade commander is the operator of the corps level
health service support system and he accomplishes this through centralized control of
decentralized operations.
a. Mission
(1) The mission of the medical brigade is to provide corps level health
service support within a corps area.
(2) The mission of the headquarters and headquarters company is to
command, control, and supervise all assigned and attached units. In other words, all
nondivisional medical units of the corps will be under the command of the medical
brigade commander. According to the medical brigade TOE, the medical brigade
commander is also assigned the additional role of COSCOM surgeon.
b. Allocation. The medical brigade is allocated when required to support the
corps mission and the corps force. A brigadier general, MC, commands the brigade.
The capabilities of the headquarters include: command; control; staff planning; and
supervision of operations, training, and administration of subordinate medical units.
c. Hospitalization. The hospitals of the corps medical brigade provide
hospitalization for all classes of patients in the combat zone. Hospitals and other
medical facilities provide patients with the treatment necessary to return them to duty or
to prepare them for further evacuation.
MD0002
5-9
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