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With the increasing tempo of military conflicts in the last decade, much has been learnt about imaging battlefield casualties in the acute setting. Ultrasound in the form of focused abdominal sonography in trauma (FAST) has proven invaluable in emergency triage of patients for immediate surgery. Multidetector CT allows accurate determination of battlefield trauma injuries. It permits the surgeons and anaesthetists to plan their interventions more thoroughly and to be made aware of clinically occult injuries. There are common injury patterns associated with blast injury, gunshot wounds and blunt trauma. While this body of knowledge is most applicable to the battlefield, there are parallels with peacetime radiology, particularly in terrorist attacks and industrial accidents. This pictorial review is based on the experiences of a UK radiologist deployed in Afghanistan in 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]