Battalion Aid Stations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section uses abbreviations that may be confusing or ambiguous. To meet Wikipedia's quality standards and be more accessible to a general audience, this article or section may require cleanup. Please improve the article or discuss changes on the talk page. (help) |
The Battalion Aid Station (BAS) is a medical section within a battalion's support company in the U.S. Army. As such the BAS is the forward-most medically-staffed treatment location. During peacetime it is led by a Medical Operations Officer, a lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps (U.S. Army). During combat, a commissioned doctor with the Army Medical Corps may assume leadership of the platoon and direct medical operations. However in practice the Medical Service officer retains control of training, planning, administration of the platoon while the Medical Corps officer directs medical care. The primary mission of the BAS is to gather the sick and wounded from the battalion, stabilize, and provide emergency medical evacuation to the combat support hospital or other medical treatment facility.
The Battalion Aid Station belongs to (is an organic component of) the unit it supports. It may be split into two functional units for up to 24 hours, the Main Aid station consisting of the MD and three 68W combat medics and a Forward Aid Station consisting of the Physician Assistant and three more 68Ws. This allows the section to support more than one unit or care as the unit advances or withdraws.
