The ‘Walker dip’

Abstract Throughout recent history there has been a pattern whereby military medical care improves in wartime and these advances are lost by the time the next conflict occurs. This dip in medical performance potentially represents lives that may be lost and recovery that may be impaired for our young servicemen and women at the start of every new conflict. When reviewing the wars of the last two centuries, three themes emerge. Firstly, post-war military cuts fall disproportionately on medical services, leaving a mismatch between the size of forces that can be deployed and the ability to care for them when injured. Secondly, insufficient medical representation in military operational planning results in the neglect of medical logistics; and finally, technical and procedural lessons are not adequately captured and incorporated into training and doctrine.