text: Chapter 11
  11-6. The medical commander may recommend changes in the theater evacuation policy to adjust patient
  flow within the deployed setting to include skip policy and surge capacity when necessary. The policy
  establishes, in number of days, the maximum period of noneffectiveness (hospitalization and convalescence)
  that patients may be held within the theater for treatment. This policy does not mean that a patient is held in
  the theater for the entire period of noneffectiveness. A patient who is not expected to be ready to return to
  duty within the number of days established by the theater evacuation policy is treated, stabilized, and then
  evacuated out of the theater. This is done providing that the treating physician determines that such
  evacuation will not aggravate the patient’s disabilities or medical condition. For example, a theater
  evacuation policy of seven days does not mean that a patient is held in the theater for seven days and then
  evacuated. Instead, it means that a patient is evacuated as soon as possible after the determination is made
  that he cannot be returned to duty within seven days following admission to a Role 3 MTF.
  EVACUATION PRECEDENCE
  11-7. The initial decision for evacuation priorities is made by the treatment element or the senior nonmedical
  person at the scene. Soldiers are evacuated by the most expeditious means of MEDEVAC based on their
  medical condition, assigned evacuation precedence, and availability of MEDEVAC platforms. Patients are
  evacuated from the POI or wounding to the appropriate MTF. The evacuation precedence for the Army
  operations at Roles 1 through 3 are:
  * Priority I, URGENT is assigned to emergency cases that should be evacuated as soon as possible
  and within a maximum of one hour to save life, limb, or eyesight and to prevent complications of
  serious illness and to avoid permanent disability.
  * Priority IA, URGENT-SURG is assigned to patients that should be evacuated as soon as possible
  and within a maximum of one hour who must receive far forward surgical intervention to save
  life, limb, or eyesight and stabilize for further evacuation.
  * Priority II, PRIORITY is assigned to sick and wounded personnel requiring prompt medical care.
  This precedence is used when the individual should be evacuated within four hours or if the
  personnel’s medical condition could deteriorate to such a degree that this person will become an
  URGENT precedence, or whose requirements for special treatment are not available locally, or
  who will suffer unnecessary pain or disability.
  * Priority III, ROUTINE is assigned to sick and wounded personnel requiring evacuation but whose
  condition is not expected to deteriorate significantly. The sick and wounded in this category
  should be evacuated within 24 hours.
  * Priority IV, CONVENIENCE is assigned to patients for whom evacuation by medical vehicle is
  a matter of medical convenience rather than necessity.
  Note 1. The NATO STANAG 3204 has deleted the category of Priority IV, CONVENIENCE.
  However, this category is still included in the U.S. Army evacuation priorities as there is a
  requirement for it in an OE.
  Note 2. The Army has implemented the AE standard of a one-hour mission completion time for
  urgent and urgent surgical missions (time from mission request to delivery of the patient to the
  appropriate medical care). If appropriate medical care for urgent and urgent surgical missions can
  be reached within the one-hour standard by other transportation conveyances, the one-hour
  evacuation standard is met.
  RESPONSIBILITIES
  11-8. The Service component commander is responsible for evacuation at the operational level and is
  responsible for executing the evacuation of casualties. The Army is the only Service with dedicated
  MEDEVAC assets and is specifically tasked by DOD to provide intratheater AE. Strategic AE is the
  responsibility of the U.S. Transportation Command.