Point Books During Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

Original Title:	Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital
ISBN:	0316067903 (ISBN13: 9780316067904)
Edition Language:	English

Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital Hardcover | Pages: 243 pages

Be Specific About Containing Books Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

Title	:	Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital
Author	:	Heidi Squier Kraft
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 243 pages
Published	:	October 24th 2007 by Little Brown and Company
Categories	:	Nonfiction. War. Military Fiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Medical. Health. Medicine

Chronicle As Books Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

Caveat: I rated the book 5 stars because I thought it was a poignant personal memoir of a young mom in a combat zone - not because I thought the writing was amazing or the storytelling especially great. I'd have liked to read a bit more about her professional perspective as a psychologist and the psychological toll that this particular war is taking on our warriors. I was a bit surprised by her retelling the bit about the suicidal Iraqi informer working with the SF who she only reluctantly spoke with and who later was killed - she seemed rather callous about this mans fate (a man who felt like he sold his soul to collaborate with the Americans). In any case, the reason I loved this book is because it resonated with me as a simple memoir - likely a strung together set of entries from a personal diary - not an amazing piece of literature. As a young mother's modern war memoir, this is a great book. As an insightful peek into the psychological effects this war has had / is having on a generation of marines, soldiers, and Iraqis - not so much.

While Heidi Squire Kraft's tale of her experience with the Marines in Al Anbar province (she was a Navy Psychologist and young mother of 15 month old twins when she was deployed) is at once gratuitously personal - which I usually find a bit cheesy - I quickly got over it because of the power of her narrative. She taps directly into the emotional punch of telling first hand the emotional trauma of war and of the tenacity and fragility of "her Marines." I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it! It's not a glorious war memoir about subduing the bad guys but, a genuine and heart-wrenching account of the real life results of modern combat, that she and her brother and sister Naval Medical Providers encountered at her field surgical unit each day and night as those Iconic young men of our Marine Corps returned from the horrors of their dirty job in Al Anbar province Iraq in 2004. It's also a genuine and completely real peek into the personal emotions of a young mother and American Hero who walked away from her family - her babies - to do her part in the people's dirty work we call the Iraq war. We've all been exposed to the amazing and heroic young men who've given so much during this conflict, here's a story that relates the story from the perspective of a young mother who answered the same call. Semper Fi Heidi!

Full Disclosure: I'm an Army Reserve Medical Service Corps Officer who has done a tour "over there" and understands the perspective of leaving a young family here and going over there to do a job that involes supporting the medical care of warriors in combat.

Rating Containing Books Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

Ratings: 4.16 From 963 Users | 179 Reviews

Evaluate Containing Books Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

I'm admittedly biased. Heidi, the author, is my sister-in-law. When her twin children, her only children, were 15 months old, Heidi was deployed to Iraq. She was a clinical psychologist in the Navy there for 7 months. We received regular e-mail updates from her that made the war in Iraq very close and personal to my wife and me. I'm so proud that Heidi wrote this book. It came out a few months before my book, Inheriting the Trade , was published so we shared the publishing experience together

I was really interested to read this, because I was originally thinking of doing basically what Dr. Kraft did (except with a degree in social work). I think my life is going to take me in a different direction, but this book certainly reminded me where that passion came from originally. Kraft is obviously proud of the people she works with and the (mostly) young Marines who are so devoted to one another and so devastated by every loss. I appreciate her openness about deeply personal matters,

I check this out from the library after reading a review in Army Magazine. Dr. Kraft my be a talented psychologist, but she is not a talented writer.

To my mind this bood has a very good lesson for everyone. This book based on a real story. It is about a woman called Heidi, served a USA Navy and she was a psychologist at this military branch. She is getting deployed to the Iraq and should leave her family and parents behind. She is being so stressed about the situation and trying her best not to show it in front of her little kids. In Iraq Heidi missing her family a lot, but also she knows how important she is at the plase where she is. Heidi

In an old M*A*S*H* episode, Hawkeye is distraught at losing a patient on the table. His Commanding Officer shares with him that, Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors cant change rule number one. Plucked from her quiet psychologists caseload on a stateside military base, Dr. Heidi Kraft finds that old adage remains true on the battlefields of Iraq today. She leaves behind her fifteen month old twins and husband to spend seven months at a makeshift base in the

This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The author did an exceptional job of transporting you to the combat support hospitals in Iraq and getting a glimpse of the heroism performed by the military and the medical personnel there on a daily basis. I felt sad, terrified, educated and completely inspired. I also happen to be a new physician, a new psychiatrist, and new to the army, so it really hit home with me. If I could speak directly to the author I would thank her for her

Former Navy Psychologist Kraft has written a heartfelt account of her time in Iraq serving with, and aiding mostly, US Marines with psychological issues.As a man, and a former Marine, I felt some frustration in reading this book as it provides little insight into the psychological situations combat personnel confront as a result of their experiences. Of course, the other side of this perspective is that Dr.Kraft is revealing something of that which she had to deal with everyday as a giver of aid