One of the major reasons that health care is so important for our injured soldiers is to ensure they remain healthy and fit to return to duty if they are able to. The second reason is in the event the soldier is not able to return to active duty, the soldiers' needs are met and they are followed closely by a qualified physician, who is fully equipped and able to provide the quality care needed for transition from active duty to being medically retired. In an article written by Michael Gross entitled "Why Treat the Wounded? Warrior Care, Military Salvage, and National Health"" (Gross, Feb 2008), the article is aimed towards characterizing the goal of military medicine is salvaging the wounded who can return to duty, military medical ethics cannot easily defend devoting scarce resources of those so badly injured that they cannot return to duty. In the past, the seriously wounded have not always been a recipient of the best healthcare available. When many assumed those who were critically wounded would receive the best care, later found the wounded enjoyed little or no medical care.
Gross explains how military medical ethics is guided by principles of military necessity and driven by the principle of "salvage,"" that is, is it imperative to return soldiers to duty and maintain their health? Soldiers who cannot return to battle fall under the purview of non-military or civilian medicine. In this article Gross states: "Salvage, not saving lives per se, is the major function of the battlefield medicine. Salvage is a criterion of medical care unique to military medicine and reflects a specific and objective measure of quality of life that is distinct from the patient's own subjective evaluation. Gross goes on to say the purpose of battlefield medicine is to provide the routine medical care that maintains the fitness of a nation's armed forces"" (Why Treat the Wounded, Feb 2008). Why treat the wounded? Because for so long the wounded received such poor care, it was no less than uncivilized to abandon the wounded and leave them to die on the battlefield.