Response to Mr. Lee's letter to the editor.

Mr Lee implies we did not thoroughly investigate his product. In fact, our article, “Evaluation of Commercially Available Traction Splints for Battlefield Use,” also cited Auerbach et al.’s 1984 research in which the RS was deemed superior to the Thomas splint. We also were aware of the advertised internal memoranda by combat medic instructors from the Army Medical Department Center & School in 1987 that reported their opinion that the RS was superior to the Hare and Thomas splints then in use. Technology available for battlefield care has changed over 30 years, and comparisons must be made to the devices available at this current time for a similar application.