OPINION — By any honest measure, veterans have long been unintended pioneers in the advancement of medicine.
The unique realities of war and military service have forced innovation that later benefits civilians for generations. Modern triage systems emerged from battlefields where medical personnel had to decide, in seconds, who could be saved.
Medevac transportation by helicopter increased survival rates in conflicts like Vietnam and later became a staple of civilian emergency medicine. Advances in trauma surgery, prosthetics, rehabilitation medicine and even treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder were accelerated because war left no alternative but to innovate.
