These forward stations—staffed by trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, and critical‑care nurses—function as compact emergency rooms positioned only 1–3 kilometers behind the fighting.
By Hezy Laing
The IDF Medical Corps has built its modern identity around one uncompromising truth: in combat, speed is the difference between life and death.
This principle, known as the Golden Hour, holds that a wounded soldier’s chances of survival rise dramatically if advanced medical care is delivered within the first 60 minutes after injury.
The doctrine emerged after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when military physicians such as Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Giora Martinovich and trauma specialist Prof. Avi Rivkind studied casualty data and concluded that too many soldiers were dying before reaching hospitals.
Their findings pushed the IDF to overhaul battlefield medicine, leading to the deployment of forward medics, mobile surgical teams, and rapid evacuation units by the time of the 1982 Lebanon War.
The system matured in the 1990s and early 2000s with MEDEVAC helicopters, armored ambulances, and highly trained combat medics capable of performing advanced trauma procedures normally handled by civilian paramedics.
By the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF reported that more than 90 percent of soldiers who received care within the Golden Hour survived.
Today, the challenge is even greater.
In Gaza’s dense urban terrain, reaching a wounded soldier can mean moving under fire, crossing rubble, or navigating areas seeded with explosives.
IDF medics carry 20–25 kilograms of lifesaving equipment and are trained to perform hemorrhage control, airway management, and rapid stabilization in under 90 seconds, because every minute lost reduces survival odds.
Evacuation turns the Golden Hour into a race against time.
Armored ambulances and Namer APCs often serve as the first evacuation platforms, capable of moving casualties even under anti‑tank fire.
In many recent operations, the IDF has extracted wounded soldiers to forward medical stations in 15–25 minutes, despite the complexity of the terrain.
These forward stations—staffed by trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, and critical‑care nurses—function as compact emergency rooms positioned only 1–3 kilometers behind the fighting.
From there, casualties are transferred to major hospitals by helicopter or armored ambulance, completing the entire chain—injury, stabilization, evacuation, and hospital arrival—in under 60 minutes during many Gaza operations.
Once airborne, helicopters can reach central Israel’s trauma centers in 8–12 minutes, dramatically improving outcomes.
The results are striking.
Over the past decade, the IDF has sharply reduced preventable battlefield deaths, particularly from bleeding and airway obstruction—the two leading causes of combat fatalities.
Former Surgeon General Col. Dr. Tarif Bader has described the Golden Hour as “a culture of responsibility,” a promise that every wounded soldier will be reached as fast as humanly possible.
In a battlefield where seconds determine survival, the Golden Hour has become not just a doctrine but a system, a culture, and a lifeline that continues to save lives every day.
