22. Lessons learned were included in training as American commitment to the war waned
The Navy’s Top Gun School was formed as an effort to learn from the mistakes made in combat in Vietnam and was highly successful at correcting them. But it was an effort which improved only the Navy and Marines’ efforts in the war. The Air Force continued to rely on technological improvements, as well as a strategy which clearly failed to produce the desired results. The same was true throughout the services, in some areas lessons learned in combat were included in training programs while others were ignored by a hidebound command system, both military and civilian. Some of the training received by new recruits in the United States was immediately overturned by local junior officers and senior non-commissioned officers in Vietnam.
American doctors learned to carry sidearms while conducting Medical Civil Action Programs (MEDCAP) which provided medicine and examinations to villages and hamlets. American medical professionals also led a drive to identify all prostitutes, giving them identification cards with photographs. If an American serviceman came down with a sexually transmitted disease, its source could then be identified and treated. The developments of medical care trauma teams in Vietnam – the MASH units – were studied and applied to civilian emergency care, after a 1966 report described the subject, and led to the development of emergency medical technicians in the United States.
