Recent S&T Accomplishments

Recent USAMRDC S&T advancements demonstrate support for key initiatives within the Army Futures Command and ASA(ALT) in Soldier Readiness and Combat Casualty Care. Advancements in Soldier Readiness focus on tools for Combatant Commanders to understand Soldier mental and physical capabilities/deficiencies, which will inform strategies to maximize Soldier performance during sustained operations and other MDO-relevant settings. Advancements in Combat Casualty Care include life/limb/eyesight saving capabilities at the point-of-injury with the focus on returning Soldiers to lethality as quickly as possible. Examples of recent advancements are noted below:

Soldier Readiness:

• Optimally Tailored Resilience Strategies: Psychological readiness strategies for individuals and teams, and evidence-based tools to assist Leaders in matching Soldiers with modules to enhance readiness. (Transition Partner: U.S. Army Sharp, Ready and Resilient (SR2) Directorate)

• Medical Strategies to Sustain Soldier Alertness & Performance in all Settings (2B Alert Decision Tool): A mission-planning tool to maximize the duration of a Soldier's ready state during continuous operations. The wearable technology allows squads/individuals to be assessed before, during, and after operations for performance degradation and the initiation of countermeasures, if needed. It will maintain Warfighter mental acuity at 80+% of baseline across 48 hours of continuous wakefulness, and restore mental acuity to 80+% and sustains for 6 hours during 72 hours of sleep deprivation. (Transition Partner: USAMMDA)

Combat Casualty Care:

• Partial Functional Replacement Capability for Injured Lungs for Extra Corporeal Life Support: Guidance on use of minimally invasive partial support of lung function in trauma casualties. Deliverable will be incorporated into guidance for far-forward organ support, controlling oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in patients with acute lung injury. (Transition Partner: Joint Trauma System)
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  The ocular wound chamber (OWC) is a flexible semi-transparent device that attaches to the periocular surface. It is FDA cleared Class I exempt that is intended to be used as a single use, disposable device to provide a moist wound healing environment. The Sensory Trauma group at the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research first demonstrated improved wound healing and reduced possible infections using the OWC in animal injury models. These encouraging results lead to a successful transition of this device for testing in a clinical study in FY19. The ultimate goal is that this small, lightweight, and easy to use device could be used in MDO settings at the point-of-injury to provide the greatest opportunity to retain Soldier sight.