Improvements in the immediate medical and surgical care of battle casualties, and in body armour, have meant that soldiers are surviving injuries which would have killed them if sustained in previous conflicts. This has resulted in an increase in the complexity of the wounds that require reconstruction and new challenges for the orthoplastic team. Management of wound exudate, pain and nutrition are vitally important, as is control of the wound microbiology.These patients are best looked after in a single facility which has on-site trauma specialties, so that corporate knowledge of how to look after these unique injury patterns can be developed.