CAM RANH BAY, Vietnam — The 6th Convalescent Center here is the Army's only rehabilitative and medical treatment care facility.

Rather than lose a man by medevacing him to the states following an injury which requires about a 30-day recovery period, an injured soldier is sent to this 44th Medical Brigade Facility located here on the South China Sea.

"We provide full, in-depth rehabilitative care for casualties so they can return to the combat commands rather than be lost to the total military strength in Vietnam," said Col. James Shafer, center commander.

The patients sent here are ambulatory — that is, they're up and around — but they're obviously not ready for duty. Because of the medical care and physical therapy given patients at the center, they return to their units in top physical condition.

This way, Shafer explained, "a man won't be a danger or hindrance to either himself or his unit when he returns to the field."

"As soon as I left here after my first injury," said Pfc. Bill Albright A Co., 1st Bn., 4th Inf. Div., "I was sent right back to the field, humping the mountains. I felt petty good and being in the field didn't bother me at all physically."

There are usually 750 to 850 patients at the 1,300 bed center and it requires only eight doctors to care for these men — around one-third of all hospitalized patients in Vietnam.

"Without this center it would either cause an overload of patients at the field hospitals — where open bed space is required in a case of a mass casualty situation — or it would force those hospitals to unload the patients on off-shore facilities or medevac them to the states. Once a man's medevaced out of Vietnam he's lost to the field commands," Shafer said.

By freeing badly needed medical personnel from caring for patients whose conditions do not require a doctor's constant attention and by relieving the field hospitals of convalescent care for patients who really need physical conditioning programs, the center performs a vital backup function to the remaining 18 44th Medical Brigade hospitals in Vietnam.

Two physical reconditioning experts, Spec. 5 Darrell Elliot and Pfc. Bob Plotner, put those men who are physically able through a rugged daily activity routine.

"Rather than let patients be responsible for their physical development, we monitor their progress so they'll be able to return to their units with no physical limitations," Plotner said.

As part of the reconditioning program, 1st Lt. Gary Smith, reconditioning officer and a former college football defensive safety at the University of Montana, explained that a man progresses from light to heavy activity until he's prepared to return to normal duty.

From the "daily dozen" organized exercise and mile run to weight-lifting, sports, swimming and surfing, a man's physical development is monitored so he won't over-exert or reinjure himself.

Elliot and Plotner even organized and prepared patients for the Friday night fights, a weekly event at the center in which patients fight patients in the ring while being watched closely by doctors. About 1,000 people from all area units usually see the bouts.

"While many of us gripe about the physical training here," said Pfc. Larry Dever, B Co., 1st Bn., 4th Inf. Div., "none of us has any doubts about returning to our units able to do whatever they throw at us."

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