The new procedures that uses leftover foreskin, tissues from sheep, pigs, and special kinds of metal, are based on regenerative medicine, that often involves tricking the body into growing again the organs, muscles, or other parts damaged on the battlefield.
"We're basically pushing the envelope of regenerative and restorative medicine at a much faster rate than ever," the 'New York Daily News' quoted Colonal John Scherer, director of the US Army Medical Department's Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program, as telling the ABC News.
Many soldiers who thought they would remain debilitated for the rest of their lives have benefited from these advancements.
One of them is Marine Ron Strang, the 28-year-old who lost half of his quadriceps because of an explosion that detonated while he was on foot patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. His skin healed, but without the muscle, he couldn't walk.
"I had to use a cane or walker," Strang said.
Strang can now walk again, thanks to an experimental treatment in which doctors grafted pig tissue in his thigh and then used his stem cells to regrow his muscle.
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"I had no clue this even existed. I was skeptical at first, but it was amazing to learn how it works," said Strang.
Researchers are hoping to mirror successes like these with other unexpected materials.
Scientists at the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have used a titanium frame to regrow ears from sheep cartilage stretched out over a scaffold, supported by pieces of metal.
"The scaffold is special because it's made of collagen, which is the component of your skin that makes it stretchy, and a metal framework that helps maintain the shape," Cathryn Sundback, co-director of the hospital's Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication, told the ABC News.