Casevac is a portmanteau word that means "casualty evacuation". This can apply to injured soldiers or civilians, and is used to denote the emergency patient evacuation of injured people from a combat zone. Casevac can be done by both ground and air. Casevacs by air today are almost exclusively done by helicopter, a practice begun on a small scale toward the end of World War II; before that, STOL aircraft, such as the Fieseler Fi 156 or Piper J-3 were used. Casevac aircraft are not necessarily equipped with specific life saving equipment or specially trained medical personnel. They are used as a primary means of getting a casualty back to another location were they can be treated by professional medical staff.