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Paradise General: Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq
by Dave Hnida (Goodreads Author)
by Dave Hnida (Goodreads Author)
Jon's review
bookshelves: books-read-2010, first-reads
Sep 26, 10
bookshelves: books-read-2010, first-reads
Read from September 18 to 25, 2010
I won this book from the Goodreads giveway and I personally would like to thank Dr. Hnida for selecting me as well as his signing and personal note attached to book.
This is a really good memoir and a fast-paced read. I am astonished at Dr. Hnida self-sacrifice to serve our country - to be deployed not once but twice to the theater of war. He could have easily stayed at home and continued his successful private practice, but as he highlights he felt penance. Dr. Hnida is a Littleton, CO Pediatrician who lost some of his patients in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. He is also the father of Katie Hnida, the first female to every kick in a Division 1 football game. The culmination of the Columbine shooting, his daughter's rape and his Father's tortured soul from his experiences in WW2 are what led Dr. Hnida to join the military and help our troops.
In his book, he did a phenomenal job of illustrating the hellish conditions our troops are serving under and the ghastly injuries they are suffering. He provided a very humorous and humanistic touch to his writing to keep himself and others sane, while also providing comfort, shelter and world-class care to the vulnerable who often hung onto life by a thread. Many lives were saved as a result.
One of the most troubling aspects of this book however was aid and comfort to the enemy. A Doctor's creed is to do no harm, but when that life is an insurgent who just finished planting a bomb, which is the primary cause of American casualties in Iraq, how difficult for the layman to comprehend that our Doctors do everything they can to save their lives. Dr. Hnida handled this dilemma extraordinarily well and I certainly understand that at the end of the day we're human first and it goes against any Doctors' principle not to treat a patient if brought to their operating room. It is clearly a dichotomy. My sincere hope from this is that it leads to a realization within that individual that your enemy just saved your life. Further that our media would focus more of their resources on bringing these kinds of stories to light.
This is a really good memoir and a fast-paced read. I am astonished at Dr. Hnida self-sacrifice to serve our country - to be deployed not once but twice to the theater of war. He could have easily stayed at home and continued his successful private practice, but as he highlights he felt penance. Dr. Hnida is a Littleton, CO Pediatrician who lost some of his patients in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. He is also the father of Katie Hnida, the first female to every kick in a Division 1 football game. The culmination of the Columbine shooting, his daughter's rape and his Father's tortured soul from his experiences in WW2 are what led Dr. Hnida to join the military and help our troops.
In his book, he did a phenomenal job of illustrating the hellish conditions our troops are serving under and the ghastly injuries they are suffering. He provided a very humorous and humanistic touch to his writing to keep himself and others sane, while also providing comfort, shelter and world-class care to the vulnerable who often hung onto life by a thread. Many lives were saved as a result.
One of the most troubling aspects of this book however was aid and comfort to the enemy. A Doctor's creed is to do no harm, but when that life is an insurgent who just finished planting a bomb, which is the primary cause of American casualties in Iraq, how difficult for the layman to comprehend that our Doctors do everything they can to save their lives. Dr. Hnida handled this dilemma extraordinarily well and I certainly understand that at the end of the day we're human first and it goes against any Doctors' principle not to treat a patient if brought to their operating room. It is clearly a dichotomy. My sincere hope from this is that it leads to a realization within that individual that your enemy just saved your life. Further that our media would focus more of their resources on bringing these kinds of stories to light.
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