"In Vietnam, tourniquets were not typically used" because it was thought they led to many amputations, said Dr. Kevin Kirk, an Army lieutenant colonel who is chief orthopedic surgeon at San Antonio Military Medical Center.

WSJ: Once-doubted tourniquet seen as Boston lifesaver

Mr. HARLAN OLMAN (Military Strategist): Bob Gates is in essence becoming the surgeon or the doctor of a patient, in this case Iraq, which is equivalent to a person who is now in their 60s who has smoke and drunk considerably during their entire life and the doctor says you have lung cancer, you have heart cancer and your liver is failing.

NPR: Cultural Shift Coming at the Pentagon

At the request of the military, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent and a neurosurgeon, was the lead surgeon in an operation on a 12-year-old Haitian girl rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

CNN: Survivors still being pulled from Haiti rubble