[jessriedel]

OK but the American field hospitals often only need to stabilize people because the expectation is that anyone needing serious treatment will be airlifted to expensive military hospitals in Germany or the US. In contrast, the victims of humanitarian emergencies in poor/developing countries usually need to be fully treated on site because they aren't getting airlifted anywhere :(

[creshal]

This is a side effect of recent US conflicts being low-intensity COIN operations involving brigade sized or smaller assets that spend most of their time in garrison.

In a conventional conflict mobilizing entire divisions, as the US is now preparing for again, you will see far more capable field hospitals again, because the US won't have the necessary capacity (either in terms of airlift volume nor existing hospital beds) to afford this luxury.

[reactordev]

That is correct. The forward deployable field hospitals are really nurse stations to stabilize any active medical emergency for transport or otherwise stop the emergency (not necessarily treat it, they’ll do what they can).