1-2.
EFFECTS OF DISEASES UPON TROOPS
a. When one speaks of Military Preventive Medicine, it is traditional to give
examples of battles, wars, and nations that have been lost because of epidemics. One
of the best examples is that of Napoleon's Grand Army which marched into Russia with
480,000 men and retreated back to Paris with only 10,000. Of the 470,000 that did not
make it back only 60,000 fell from combat causes. The remaining 410,000 succumbed
to disease. Cold injury, caused by the severe Russian winter, accounted for many and
a disease called epidemic (louse-borne) typhus accounted for even more. Prior to
World War I, the leading cause of death among military troops during wartime was
disease.
b. History shows that disease and injury as military problems are factors for
which the military leader must plan. In Table 1, the periods of war listed were ones in
which combat was the heaviest. In spite of these concentrated fighting periods, hospital
admissions for disease and nonbattle injury far exceeded admissions because of hostile
action of the enemy. Furthermore, experience reveals that hospital admissions for
disease usually exceed hospital admissions for nonbattle injury and battle injury
combined. For example, of the 81.8 percent hospital admissions for disease and
noncombat injury in Vietnam in 1969, only 13.7 percent were for nonbattle injury and
68.1 percent were for disease.
DISEASE AND
BATTLE
WAR PERIOD AND LOCATION
NONCOMBAT INJURY
INJURY
World War II
November 1942 to August 1945
95%
5%
Pacific Theater of Operations
World War II
June 1944 to May 1945
77%
23%
European Theater of Operations
Korean War
83%
17%
July 1950 to July 1953
Vietnam War
81.8%
18.2%
1 January 1969 to 31 December 1969
Table 1-1. Percentage of United States Army (US Army) hospital admissions during
selected war periods.
1-3.
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HEALTH
a. The commander of a military organization is responsible for the health of his
command. In the fulfillment of this responsibility, he is assisted by a staff of trained
specialists. The surgeon, who is the chief medical advisor to the commander, provides
technical medical advice and is responsible for the successful functioning of the medical
service within the command.
MD0008
1-3