Administrative Corps was established by the Act approved June ., 1920. Appointees therein must have had enlisted service in the Medical Department. These officers act in the capacity of adjutants mess officers, registrars, property officers, commanders of detach ments, and the like, in medico-military units, thereby relieving medical officers of the necessity of performing these essential bu non-professional duties.
National Guard. The organized militia, known as the Nationa Guard, possesses a medical department consisting of a medical corps dental corps, veterinary corps and enlisted force, conforming ir organization, discipline and equipment to like units of the Medica Department of the regular army. The personnel, known collectively as sanitary troops, is divided into three groups: (a) those assigned to combatant units ; (b) those organized into sanitary units such as medical regiments, hospital companies and ambulance companies and (c) those belonging to state staff corps and departments.
PEACE-TIME ORGANIZATION
Surgeon-General's Office. Whether in peace or war, the surgeon- general's office in Washington is one of the coordinate bureaus of the War Department which function under the Secretary of War through the intermediate channel of the chief-of-staff. The surgeon-general advises the War Department in matters relating to his bureau, coordinates all technical activities of the Medical Department through corps area or department surgeons, originates medical policies, compiles medical statistics, distributes personnel to the corps areas and geographical departments, and directly controls all matters ^relating to the purchase of supplies and the expenditure of appropriations for construction and repair of hospitals and employ- ment of civilians. These functions did not change materially in character between 1910 and 1921 but the work expanded greatly; then the duties were divided between four divisions: Personnel, Supply, Sanitation, and Museum and Library; the organization on Oct. I 1921 included the following eleven divisions, each being staffed with one or more officers specially selected because of their knowledge of the subjects handled: Administrative; Coordination, Organization and Equipment; Dental; Finance and Supply; Hospital; Library; Personnel; Sanitation; Statistical; Training; Veterinary.
Aviation Service. Detailed administration of Medical Depart- ment matters relating to aviation is handled by a medical officer attached to the staff of the chief of the air service.
Department _and Corps Area Surgeons. The continental United States^ is divided for administrative purposes into nine " corps areas," and the outlying possessions into three departments (Hawai- ian, Philippine, and Panama Canal). A department or corps-area surgeon, as one of the staff of the commanding general of each department or corps area, presides over the medical activities therein. Station Personnel. At all military stations, other than general hospitals, medical officers and a suitable detachment of enlisted men of the Medical Department are assigned to care for the troops and to administer the station hospital, which usually provides beds for at least 3% of the forces. If the command is part of a tactical unit some or all of these medical officers and enlisted men are nominally attached to the combatant troops in preparation for active service. General Hospitals. Large institutions, known as " general hos- pitals," are maintained (a) to afford better facilities than can be provided at station hospitals for the observation and treatment of obscure, complicated and serious cases, (b) to instruct and train junior officers, nurses and enlisted men, and (c) to furnish a nucleus for expansion in time of war. In 1910 there were four such hospitals in the United States army, which number in 1921 had been increased to six.
Education, Training and Investigation. The Army Medical School, Washington, D. C., was established in 1893 with the object of training students in the duties which pertain to the Medical Depart- ment. The student body consists of officers of the Medical Corps, the Medical Reserve Corps and the National Guard, and of enlisted men in the Medical Department. From 1910 to 1919 the regular course covered about eight months, but it was shortened and instruction in the non-medical features of a complete medico- military curriculum transferred to the Medical Field Service School, established in 1920 at Carlisle, Pa.
WAR-TIME ORGANIZATION
Object of the Medical Department in War. The objects of Medical Department administration in war are : First, the preservation of the strength of the army in the field by (a) the institution of requisite sanitary measures for preventing avoidable sickness; (6) the reten- tion of effectives at the front ; and (c) the prompt succour of wounded on the battlefield and their removal to the rear, thus preventing the unnecessary withdrawal of combatants from the firing line to accompany them. Second, the care and treatment of the sick and injured in the zone of the advance, on the line of communications, and in the home territory. Third, the promotion of general moral among the troops through the knowledge that efficient medical and surgical attention is immediately available.
Voluntary Aid and the Red Cross. Organized voluntary aid may be utilized to supplement the resources and assist the personnel of
the Medical Department only through the American National Red Cross. Before military patients are assigned to establishments main- tamed by the Red Cross Society these establishments will be placed under the immediate direction of a medical officer of the army.
Administrative Organization in the Theatre of Operations. The theatre of operations is divided into (a) the combat zone, including division areas, corps areas and army areas; (b) the communications zone, including all territory from the rear of the combat zone to and including the base. In a large expeditionary force a chief surgeon coordinates all Medical Department activities of the force, including the combat and communications zones; he organizes his office on the basis described above for the surgeon-general's office.
Communications Zone. The chief surgeon of this zone, as a mem- ber of the staff of the commanding officer thereof, exercises imme- diate control over the Medical Department units therein, such as station and general hospitals, supply depots, training schools, central laboratories, hospital trains, boats and ships, ambulance parks, etc. The function of the Medical Department in the zone of communica- tion is medical procurement, storage and supply, care of the troops within its area, evacuation of sick and wounded, and definitive hospitalization. The following are the more important units: The general hospital (formerly termed base hospital) is for definitive treatment, having a normal capacity of 1 ,000 beds but capable of crisis expansion by tentage to 2,000. These institutions provide every facility for the care of the sick and wounded; certain ones specialize on particular classes of injuries or diseases. The authorized personnel consists of 40 officers, 120 nurses and 312 enlisted men of the Medical Department. The station hospital (formerly styled camp hospital) has a standard capacity of 300 beds and serves the immediate local needs of troops belonging to the communications zone. The personnel consists of 13 officers, 35 nurses and 100 enlisted men of the Medical Department. A hospital train consists of 1 6 cars accommodating 360 patients, with a Medical Department person- nel of four officers, 40 enlisted men, and female nurses as required.
Combat Zone The area covered by this zone includes the troops which are organized into divisions, corps and armies. The Medical Department personnel pertaining to an army, to a corps or to a division is administered by an army, corps or division surgeon respectively, under supervision of the surgeon of the next higher unit. The functions of the surgeon are coordination, supervision and control of the medical service at all times and during combat par- ticularly the relief or reenforcement of the actively engaged Medical Department units by means of army, corps or divisional troops. The work concerns itself only with sanitation, care of troops, collection of casualties and temporary hospitalization.
Army and Corps Medical Department Troops. To an army, in addition to its administrative medical personnel, there are attached four medical regiments, 15 evacuation hospitals, 12 surgical hos- pitals, one convalescent hospital, one army laboratory, three army supply depots, three army veterinary evacuation hospitals, and one veterinary convalescent hospital ; collectively these form part of the army troops. The 15 evacuation and 12 surgical hospitals are for the temporary care of non-evacuable cases and the convalescent hos- pital is for those practically well and needing little attention, but not yet ready to return to duty. A corps has an administrative medical organization similar to that of an army but smaller; it has one medical regiment as part of its corps troops. The evacuation hospital has the primary function of taking over patients from divisional (field) hospitals, established by the hospital companies of a medical regiment, so that these mobile units may move with their divisions; provision is made for very complete surgical treatment if necessary. The capacity is 750 beds and the personnel 38 officers, 50 female nurses and 281 enlisted men. The surgical hospital supple- ments the evacuation hospital for the purpose of handling near the ront those cases requiring immediate operation. The bed capacity s 250 and the personnel consists of 19 officers, 20 female nurses and 90 enlisted men. The convalescent hospital has a bed capacity of 5,000 and a personnel of 21 officers and 153 enlisted men.
Medical Department Troops Attached to a Division. The infantry division, which is a basic tactical unit, has a Medical Department personnel of 148 officers and 1,375 enlisted men. Part of these are directly attached to combatant units; the remainder belong to the medical regiment. The regimental medical personnel cares for the sick and injured in camp and on the march; supervises local sanita-
- ion; goes into action with the troops; and establishes battalion or
regimental aid stations where wounded are collected and given emporary care. The medical regiment, replacing the sanitary
- rain of the pre-war period, consists of a sanitary battalion, an
imbulance battalion with 40 motor and 20 animal-drawn ambu- ances, and a hospital battalion of three hospital companies, each operating a tent (field) hospital of 250 beds capacity. Its personnel consists of 68 officers (medical, dental and veterinary) and 860
- nlisted men. The medical regiment of a division provides personnel
or the division surgeon's office and for sanitation of the division area, collects wounded men by litter squads from battalion or regimental aid stations and transports them to the ambulances, maintains wheeled transportation service for movement of casualties, upplies temporary hospitalization, procures and issues medical upplies for the command, renders laboratory service and collects, reals and temporarily hospitalizes sick animals.
