CMH 30-10-1. Army Historical Series. Provides a long-needed in-depth analysis of the Army Medical Department's struggle to maintain the health and fighting ability of the nation's soldiers during both World War 1, a conflict of unexpectedd proportions and violence, and the years that preceded World War 2.

From the Book's Foreword: Long-awaited, Mary C Gillett's final work The Army Medical Department, 1917-1941, complete her four-volume study covering the years from 1775 to 1941. Although the Medical Department had improved medical standards and practices because of the latest advances in scientific medicine and was making significant progress toward creating an organizational structure and a supply system able to handle the demands of a conflict of any size, its reserves of trained personnel and supplies were seriously inadequate when the nation entered world War I in the spring of 1917. The narrative first describes the struggle of an unprepared department to meet the myriad demands of a war unprecedented size and complexity, then follows postwar efforts to meet the needs of the peacetime army during nearly two decades of continental isolationism and budgetary neglect, and finally covers the brief period of growing awareness of America's involvement in another major conflict and the intensive preparation efforts that ensued.

"The Army Medical Department, 1917-1941," completes a four-volume study covering the years from 1775 to 1941. Although the Medical Department had improved medical standards and practices because of the latest advances in scientific medicine and was making significant progress toward creating an organizational structure and a supply system able to handle the demands of a conflict of any size, its reserves of trained personnel and supplies were seriously inadequate when the nation entered World War I in the spring of 1917. The narrative first describes the struggle of an unprepared department to meet the myriad demands of a war of unprecedented size and complexity, then follows postwar efforts to meet the needs of the peacetime army during nearly two decades of continental isolationism and budgetary neglect, and finally covers the brief period of growing awareness of America's probable involvement in another major conflict and the intensive preparation efforts that ensued. Taken together, Gillett's four volumes provide a wealth of information on the development of the Army Medical Department and its contributions to scientific medicine. They also challenge long-standing myths that during times of crisis effective medical organizations can be created with relative ease and that the advances in one or more medical specialties do not have a deep and lasting impact on the profession's many other fields of endeavor, from hospital organization to emergency medical procedures and evacuation policies and methods. In sum, Gillett's four-volume compendium will be a welcome addition to command libraries of all officers responsible for the health of their soldiers while also benefiting greatly those interested in the history of military medicine. However, The Army Medical Department, 1917-1941, has a much broader application than the basic subject matter would suggest. Its major lessons tell much about how the Army continually attempts to transform itself to meet the exigencies of its ever-changing environment; underscore the impact of key leaders in times of crisis; and highlight the value of careful planning, organizational flexibility, and decisive implementation to achieve the most beneficial results.

Mary C. Gillett's fourth and final volume The Army Medical Department, 1917–1941, provides a long-needed in-depth analysis of the department's struggle to maintain the health and fighting ability of the nation's soldiers during both World War I—a conflict of unexpected proportions and violence—and the years that preceded World War II. In 1917, unprepared as a result of the widespread conviction that to prepare for war is to encourage its outbreak, the Medical Department faced confusion exacerbated by a shortage of both equipment and trained personnel. While bringing to bear knowledge of disease and disease prevention gained in the years after the Spanish-American War, it redesigned and developed its approach to evacuation; struggled to limit the damage to health and effectiveness caused by poison gas, an unfamiliar and deadly weapon; worked to devise ways to limit the suffering and deaths from gas gangrene; began its research into the unique problems of aviators; and desperately tried but failed to control the 1918 influenza pandemic, leaving behind a mystery concerning this disease that is yet to be completely solved. As Gillett's volume reveals, budget cutting and the popular conviction that there would never be another war as horrible as World War I initially retarded all efforts by department leaders to organize for a major conflict during the interwar period. With the nation eased into accepting the likelihood of war by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Medical Department for the first time in its history was able to prepare, albeit to a limited degree, for war before the first gun was fired. In today's arena, The Army Medical Department, 1917–1941, has a far-reaching application for all officers responsible for the health of their soldiers.

The Army Medical Department, 1865-1917, is the third of four planned volumes that treat the time of revolutionary change in the organization of the U.S. Army and in medicine. Mary C. Gillett traces major developments for the Medical Department-from its rebirth as a small scattered organization in the wake of the Civil War, through the trials of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection, to the entrance of the United States into World War I.

This book focuses on an organization, the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, which the author has been privileged to be affiliated with – in one way or another – for the greatest part of her adult life. As an active duty officer, the author had first-hand knowledge about the Army Nurse Corps inner workings and spent the last years of her Army career (from 1992) researching and writing the Corps history. One of her goals in researching and writing this history was to intrigue and provide a sense of gratification for the reader. After the conclusion of the Vietnam War, several wide-ranging and significant changes exerted myriad effects on the Army Nurse Corps. The most influential of these phenomena included the dismantling of the Selective Service System, the reorganization of the Army, the launch of the Health Services Command (HSC), the opening of the Academy of Health Sciences, the transformation of the Office of the Army Surgeon General, the inauguration of improvements in the Army Reserve and National Guard, and the evolution in the roles and status of women.

Specialty Volume of Textbooks of Military Medicine. TMM. Edited by Shawn Christian Nessen, Dave Edmond Lounsbury, and Stephen P. Hetz. Foreword by Bob Woodruff. Prepared especially for medical personnel. Provides the fundamental principles and priorities critical in managing the trauma of modern warfare. Contains concise supplemental material for military surgeons deploying or preparing to deploy to a combat theater.