The medical successes realized in Vietnam can be attributed to several factors: rapid evacuation of casualties by helicopter or ambulances; the availability of whole blood; well-equipped field hospitals; highly skilled and well-organized surgical teams; and improved medical management. Of these important factors, rapid evacuation by helicopter contributed the most to saving the lives of the wounded. Without effective helicopter evacuation, it would have been difficult to exploit the other factors and management of medical resources would have been less efficient.