Burned at Sea During the World’s Largest Maritime Exercise: Implications for Large-Scale Combat Operations

Abstract Burns are among the most devastating forms of trauma, and both immediate and long-lasting physical, physiological, psychosocial, and functional effects have been well documented in the civilian burn literature. From a military standpoint, burn injuries comprise approximately 5-10% of battlefield casualties during conventional (non-nuclear) conflict;3 the risk of thermal injury is particularly high during war at sea. Little data exist regarding the total costs of caring for those with battlefield burn injuries. These gaps in the literature impact our ability to plan medical support for combat operations and to develop effective strategies for returning burned servicemembers to duty and to community life. The purpose of this report is to describe the immediate and long-term resources utilized in the care of 2 coalition-nation Sailors severely burned on the Pacific Ocean and treated at the U.S. Army Burn Center, and to describe their long-term outcomes. Given the presence of burn injury on the modern battlefield, there is an urgent need to plan for the care of servicemembers who have sustained burn injury in future large scale combat operations, to include war at sea. It is imperative this plan be properly resourced and include an organized program of prehospital care, aeromedical evacuation, acute care, and long-term follow-up--addressing the complex, multi-domain, and chronic effects of severe thermal injury. These cases illustrate such a program.