Combat Nerve Blocks

Soldiers who got hit bad in Vietnam had a 30% chance of dying; in Iraq
it's less than 13%. (another viewpoint : consider that for every death
in Iraq there are another 8 soldiers with an amputation or severe wound
coming home). But it's ironic that with all the medical advances
allowing soldiers to live through their wounds, the pain management is
still pretty much simply morphine. But the Army's chief
aanesthesiologist is working on adding nerve blocks to the arsenal.
More : http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/pain.html

I don't know anything about what's it like to get shot. But I can
certainly tell you from breaking my leg that the difference between
morphine and a nerve block is like night and day. You can get a LOT of
morphine and still be totally miserable. Combat nerve blocks might even
increase survivability even more (preventing deaths from shock) and
possibly alleviate future chronic pain in the survivors as well.