Blood Bank Logistics in Wartime Medicine: Charles Drew's Innovations and Modern Challenges (warontherocks.com)

• Charles Drew designed the first standardized blood bank using dried plasma.
• The system cut combat death rates from 8% to 4.5% between WWI and WWII.
• Modern U.S. forces are deploying freeze-dried plasma for contested environments.
• Ukraine's war shows forward blood transfusion is essential when evacuation is blocked.

"The U.S. military blood supply system pioneered by Charles Drew during WWII revolutionized combat medicine by enabling mass production and distribution of dried plasma. As the military confronts contested logistics in the Pacific and Arctic, lessons from Ukraine underscore the need for forward blood transfusion near the point of injury."