Orthopedic injuries before combat deployment--will the soldiers be ready for combat when their unit is called upon?

Orthopedic injuries can occur anytime; but, before a known deployment, they can affect mission planning for commanders. A longitudinal cohort study of 158 soldiers with an orthopedic injury approximately 3 months before, and after, initial deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from a U.S. Army Brigade Combat Team was performed. Only 53 were fit to deploy on time, with six more deploying within 3 months to follow, leaving 99 in the cohort (62.7%) not deploying. Half the injuries (79) are lower extremity; however, spine injuries (44) were least likely to rehabilitate with only six (13.6%) deploying. Upper extremity injuries (35) were most deployable with 17 (48.6%). It was not expected for the entire cohort to deploy; however, it was expected that an additional 3 months for rehabilitation (6 months total) would result in more than six of the remaining 105 soldiers (3.8% of the cohort) to recover from their injuries and deploy, considering 33.5% of the cohort was deployable in 3 months or less. Distribution of injury location is a significant indicator of rehabilitation success for deployment fitness.