Post by lovelace on Dec 25, 2006 9:08:51 GMT -5
13 April, 1969, somewhere in Vietnam, a patrol is deployed out on a reconnaissance mission in the highlands to determine where the NVA are and what they are planning. The quiet 6 man LRRP team discovers a heavily used trail and decides to watch from an ambush position. Claymore mines are set out, fields of fire determined, weapons checked, ammo prepared for lightning reloads, grenades have pins straightened for quick use and finally the LRRPS settle in to wait for the enemy to appear. 1300hrs, a single file of NVA come moving quietly down the trail weapons at the low ready, the point man reaches the far end of the kill zone and CONTACT!!! LRRPs press the clackers and Claymores thunder, M16s on rock and roll pummel the kill zone, and grenades are tossed to finish off those who survived the first seconds of the ambush. Unknown to the LRRPs, this was only the point element of a full NVA company of over 200 men. It’s one of the LRRP’s worst nightmares coming true, they’ve ambushed a much larger force and now the hunters are the hunted. A running gunfight ensues with the LRRPs using a quick reaction drill designed to break contact in this type of situation and the NVA attempting to surround and destroy the 6 man team. Bullets and shrapnel are flying through the foliage, chopping leaves to confetti and shredding small tree trunks. A LRRP is badly hit, as air support comes on station to drive back a determined NVA attack. The 6 man team is saved, but with casualties. They’ve congregated on the summit of a small hill in a clearing. The wounded LRRP can feel his life slowly slipping away even with his friends doing their best. In the distance, he can hear the distinct whop whop whop of a Huey rotor tasked to a DUSTOFF mission. The LRRP will live to fight again, thanks to the efforts of men, machines and a finely tuned system dedicated to treatment and evacuation of the wounded.
The history of battlefield medicine and casualty evacuation is much longer than many realize. Among the ancient Greeks, Homer wrote in the Iliad of 147 wounded in a battle of the Trojan War, there was a 77% mortality rate. The Greeks circa 500BC realized that medical care for wounded soldiers was important and had a system of special medical barracks called klisiai for casualties and even had special ships designated for care of the wounded. Among the early evidence of systematic care for the wounded comes a description of the system employed by the Roman Legions about 100AD. They had first aid on the battlefield, designated ambulances and surgeons assigned specially to the task of casualty care and they situated special trauma hospitals called valetudinarian near every major encampment.
The state of medical care of casualties didn’t change or advance much further through the centuries until Napoleonic times. Napoleon’s medical corps developed the concept of triage of casualties to determine who received first care and who would be evacuated first to the rear. The concept of a battlefield aid station is an invention of the US Civil War. A Dr. J Letterman with the Union Army of the Potomac proposed reorganizing the medical personnel to a structure very similar to that we see in the modern military with the most forward doctors concentrating on triage and stabilization for transportation to increasingly large and more sophisticated hospitals in the rear areas.
Not much else changed through WW1 and 2, other than medical advances, and a decrease in the time from wounding to time of first actual medical treatment other than first aid. With the changes brought with motorized transport and better medical training, casualties in WW2 faced an 85% chance of survival if treated and evacuated within the first hour of wounding. This number is about 3 times higher than WW1. Fast forward in time to Korea and Vietnam, and the number climbed to an astonishing 98% survival if treated within the “golden hour”. Casualties from Korea, Vietnam and later could/can be expected to be transferred to major medical facilities in as little as 72 hours from first treatment at a forward aid station. The main change in that time period is the use of aircraft in evacuation, now known by soldiers as the Dust-off. Interestingly enough, the first recorded “dust-off” medical mission was during the Franco-Prussian War, circa 1870-71. The Germans were besieging Paris, completely encircling it. Mail bags, a few high ranking officials and 160 casualties were evacuated from Paris by observation balloon.
So what does this meandering historical excursion have to do with a devotional? Here are a couple of thoughts. Militaries throughout history have been cognizant of the need of care of the wounded so that they could return to active duty or resume useful life as a civilian. It is a fact of war that soldiers are subject to being wounded, and the same is true in spiritual war, else why would Paul use the military illustration in Ephesians? We can well picture what physical wounds are, but what about spiritual ones? How about fear, disappointment, depression, anger, or jealousy? I’d say that these are evidence of spiritual wounds where the enemy has managed score hits. It has been said that the spiritual army of God is the only one that kills it’s wounded. That shouldn’t be the case. King David fell in spiritual battle but was lifted again. What it takes is participation in a spiritual “dust-off” mission by fellow believers. Paul says that we are all parts of the body of Christ and that we aren’t all hands or feet. As in an army, not everyone is a general, infantryman, artillery, tanker, or even cook yet all are devoted to the same goal. If a soldier is wounded, his fellows do all they can to help him and support him until the dust-off arrives to remove the soldier to medical care. I’d like to think of God as the ultimate dust-off. He’s known as the Great Physician and He truly cares for us all. All we have to do is get in contact and call for Him.
Mark 2:17
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Philippians 1:6 (New International Version)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 58:6-9 (New International Version)
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (New International Version)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
The history of battlefield medicine and casualty evacuation is much longer than many realize. Among the ancient Greeks, Homer wrote in the Iliad of 147 wounded in a battle of the Trojan War, there was a 77% mortality rate. The Greeks circa 500BC realized that medical care for wounded soldiers was important and had a system of special medical barracks called klisiai for casualties and even had special ships designated for care of the wounded. Among the early evidence of systematic care for the wounded comes a description of the system employed by the Roman Legions about 100AD. They had first aid on the battlefield, designated ambulances and surgeons assigned specially to the task of casualty care and they situated special trauma hospitals called valetudinarian near every major encampment.
The state of medical care of casualties didn’t change or advance much further through the centuries until Napoleonic times. Napoleon’s medical corps developed the concept of triage of casualties to determine who received first care and who would be evacuated first to the rear. The concept of a battlefield aid station is an invention of the US Civil War. A Dr. J Letterman with the Union Army of the Potomac proposed reorganizing the medical personnel to a structure very similar to that we see in the modern military with the most forward doctors concentrating on triage and stabilization for transportation to increasingly large and more sophisticated hospitals in the rear areas.
Not much else changed through WW1 and 2, other than medical advances, and a decrease in the time from wounding to time of first actual medical treatment other than first aid. With the changes brought with motorized transport and better medical training, casualties in WW2 faced an 85% chance of survival if treated and evacuated within the first hour of wounding. This number is about 3 times higher than WW1. Fast forward in time to Korea and Vietnam, and the number climbed to an astonishing 98% survival if treated within the “golden hour”. Casualties from Korea, Vietnam and later could/can be expected to be transferred to major medical facilities in as little as 72 hours from first treatment at a forward aid station. The main change in that time period is the use of aircraft in evacuation, now known by soldiers as the Dust-off. Interestingly enough, the first recorded “dust-off” medical mission was during the Franco-Prussian War, circa 1870-71. The Germans were besieging Paris, completely encircling it. Mail bags, a few high ranking officials and 160 casualties were evacuated from Paris by observation balloon.
So what does this meandering historical excursion have to do with a devotional? Here are a couple of thoughts. Militaries throughout history have been cognizant of the need of care of the wounded so that they could return to active duty or resume useful life as a civilian. It is a fact of war that soldiers are subject to being wounded, and the same is true in spiritual war, else why would Paul use the military illustration in Ephesians? We can well picture what physical wounds are, but what about spiritual ones? How about fear, disappointment, depression, anger, or jealousy? I’d say that these are evidence of spiritual wounds where the enemy has managed score hits. It has been said that the spiritual army of God is the only one that kills it’s wounded. That shouldn’t be the case. King David fell in spiritual battle but was lifted again. What it takes is participation in a spiritual “dust-off” mission by fellow believers. Paul says that we are all parts of the body of Christ and that we aren’t all hands or feet. As in an army, not everyone is a general, infantryman, artillery, tanker, or even cook yet all are devoted to the same goal. If a soldier is wounded, his fellows do all they can to help him and support him until the dust-off arrives to remove the soldier to medical care. I’d like to think of God as the ultimate dust-off. He’s known as the Great Physician and He truly cares for us all. All we have to do is get in contact and call for Him.
Mark 2:17
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Philippians 1:6 (New International Version)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 58:6-9 (New International Version)
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (New International Version)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
