Mirth, Medicine and the Military
A Vietnam Survivor's Memoir with Poetic license
by
Book Details
About the Book
I am writing this memoir to clarify my role in creating the little ASH unit(Army Surgical Hospital) that I built at the III Corps 5th Special Forces C Team in Bien Hoa Vietnam in 1966 and 1967. I had converted the simple 40 bed convalescent dormitory upon my arrival with no major trauma capability and only an outpatient dispensary only capable of dealing with the most minor of war wounds into a mini trauma unit that had two operating rooms, a housing for the field X-ray unit and a laboratory. The unit when I left was able to provide nearly full spectrum acute care for all war injuries. Although every component of the book is not military, there is humor happening at almost every stage when I was in medicine. There are also stories where in spite of my relative inexperience (naivete) there were usually successful outcomes. That is, neither was I kidnapped nor did I end up in the stockade.
About the Author
The author is a Board Certified Surgeon who after being drafted in the first year of his residency was able to build a little version of the traditional MASH unit in Vietnam for the indigenous mercenary troops. At the completion of his tour, he was one of the most decorated medical draftees leaving Vietnam. In his career he has been an academic surgeon for several universities.