Corps improves tracking wounded Marines

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By Cpl. Joel Abshier, 2nd Marine Logistics Group


MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (July 7, 2006) -- The individual marine is the Corps’ most valuable asset and with ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, finding new ways to better support those wounded in action is paramount to success.

To begin, the Marine Corps has wasted no time overlooking any small detail of a Marine’s medical evacuation process. A conference held June 19 and 20 at Quantico, Va., established an outline to help identify problems Marines have had or are currently dealing with that can be improved from the evacuation process to follow-up treatment.

“The goal of the conference was to improve on the systems already in place to help us better track, account for and service wounded or hospitalized Marines,” said Sgt. Michael R. Albin, the staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Deployed Administration Section, Group Consolidated Administration Center, 2nd Marine Logistics Group.

One of the those systems is the Ill Injured Patient Tracker which is primarily operated by hospital staff and utilized by administrators to properly track the wounded.

“Our main source of visibility right now for (wounded in action) Marines leaving theater is via the IIPT,” Albin said. “It’s my most valuable resource in regard to ensuring the Marine’s pay and record information is accurate. A number of pay entitlements are involved with deployments and in many cases, medically evacuated Marines become entitled to more pay as a result of their illness or injury received in a combat zone.”

There are many stipulations involved with a Marine’s ability to rate additional entitlements related to their injury or illness. This is why it’s important for any Marine who has been wounded in action or received an illness or injury while in theater to maintain thorough records of their medical treatment. The records may contain valuable information that can be used down the road.

In some cases, when Marines are severely injured, a majority of the responsibilities involved with tracking the Marine fall with the unit.

There are a multitude of other resources that can be used to help track the medically evacuated, Albin explained. Military medical treatment facilities release daily reports of incoming and outgoing patients that are distributed to the upper echelons of a unit’s command for accountability purposes.

“A more comprehensive and consolidated report, preferably online, would allow administrators to have more visibility of a Marine’s patient status and location,” Albin said. “I do, however, believe the administrators in 2nd MLG have established the best (medical evacuation) tracking system out there. We’ve taken an incredibly proactive approach to problemsolving and have maintained 100 percent accountability of our Marines since the system’s inception several months ago.”

Horror stories of Marine’s being lost in the medical treatment pipeline are soon to be, if not already, a story of the past. Although it is currently an imperfect system, units are striving to ensure medically evacuated Marines are top priority.