Paradise General : Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq

Dr. Dave Hnida's devastating and inspiring account follows a group of brilliant and committed doctors who staff a combat hospital in Iraq and achieve an astounding survival rate as they forge deep and lasting bonds based on friendship, good humor, and fidelity to the well-being of the American soldier. IN 2004, at the age of forty-eight, Dr. Dave Hnida, a family physician from Littleton, Colorado, volunteered to be deployed to Iraq and spent a tour of duty as a battalion surgeon with a combat unit. In 2007, he went back—this time as a trauma chief at one of the busiest Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) during the Surge. In an environment that was nothing less than a modern-day M*A*S*H, the doctors' main objective was simple: Get 'em in, get 'em out. The only CSH staffed by reservists— who tended to be older, more-experienced doctors disdainful of authority—the 399th soon became a medevac destination of choice because of its high survival rate, an astounding ninety-eight percent. This was fast-food medicine at its best: working in a series of tents connected to the occasional run-down building, Dr. Hnida and his fellow doctors raced to keep the wounded alive until they could be airlifted out of Iraq for more extensive repairs. Here the Hippocratic Oath superseded that of the pledge to Uncle Sam; if you got the red-carpet helicopter ride, his team took care of you, no questions asked. On one stretcher there might be a critically injured American soldier while three feet away lay the insurgent, shot in the head, who planted the IED that inflicted those wounds. But there was levity amid the chaos. On call round-the-clock with an unrelenting caseload, the doctors' prescription for sanity included jokes, pranks, and misbehavior. Dr. Hnida's deployment was filled with colorful characters and gifted surgeons, a diverse group who became trusted friends as together they dealt with the psychological toll of seeing the casualties of war firsthand. In a conflict with no easy answers and even less good news, Paradise General gives us something that we can all believe in—the story of an ordinary citizen turned volunteer soldier trying to make a difference. With honesty and candor, and an off-the-wall, self-deprecating humor that sustained him and his battle buddies through their darkest hours, Dr. Hnida delivers a devastating and inspiring account of his CSH tour and an unparalleled look at medical care during an unscripted war.

at An Age When Most Men Retire From The Military, Hnida Became Its Newest Recruit. After The Columbine Tragedy Devastated His Colorado Community, He Needed To Make A Difference. So This General Practitioner, Whose Practice Was Mostly Pediatric, Found Himself In The Sandy Trenches Of Iraq.

what He Learned Was This: To Bond Quickly With His Fellow Doctors, And To Use His Wit To Make It Through Each Day With A Forced Banter. He Joked About The Bad Food, The Military Lingo, And The Sweltering Heat. He Developed Little Daily Rituals To Bring Him Luck. He Didn't Try To Make Sense Of The War, But He Did Begin To Comprehend — At Least In Part — Why His Father Drank So Much After His World War Ii Combat Experience.

most Of All, Hnida Worked His Tail Off Treating Very Young Men. Most Of Them He Saved. Some He Kept Alive So They Could Return Home To Say Their Final Goodbyes. With Every Decision A Critical One, He Hoped And Prayed He Was Doing Everything Right, And Worked On Those Soldiers As If They Were His Own Children.

just Three Months Long, Hnida's Stint Was Nothing Compared To The Twelve- And Eighteen-month Tours Other Soldiers Are Pulling. His Memories Are Enduring, His New Outlook On Life Remains, And The Embrace Of His Family When He Returned Home Never Felt So Sweet.

unforgettable...
—christopher Mcdougall, Author Of born To Run

kirkus Reviews

a Well-intended But Clumsily Written View Of Life On The Iraq Front From A Physician's Point Of View. Hnida, A Family Doctor In Littleton, Colo., Had His Foundations Shaken By Three Big Events: The Mass Killings At Columbine High School, The Rape Of A Daughter And The Attacks Of 9/11. As His Memoir Opens, In A Classic Case Of Be Careful Of What You Wish For, He Finds Himself At Age 48 In A Ditch Somewhere In Iraq Being Upbraided By A Much Younger Fellow For His General Cluelessness And Lack Of Nimbleness: You're Going To Get Us All Killed Unless You Get The Fuck Down And Eat Some Sand, Sir. Assigned To A Combat Surgery Team, Hnida, Who Portrays Himself Throughout As Something Of A Sad Sack, Acquaints Readers With The Many Unpleasant Ways Of Dying That The War Has To Offer, Particularly The Body-shredding Explosive Devices That Seemed To Lie Around Every Corner. Somewhere Along These Treacherous Roads, The Author Seems To Have Conceived The Notion That The Literary Model To Follow In Relating His Story Was Not Richard Selzer, The Surgeon Author Of Mortal Lessons, But Richard Hooker By Way Of The Tv Series He Inspired, M*a*s*h. As A Result, The View Is Realistic, Gritty And Full Of Black Humor, As When His Much Younger Commanding Officer Offers This Greeting: You Sure Are One Old Fucker For This Job. All Too Often, However, Hnida Surrenders To Mawkishness And, Worst Of All, Bad Puns, Seemingly In An Effort To Be The Patch Adams Of Baghdad: Hi, I'm Dr. Hnida, The Former Sister Mary Elizabeth. That's Right, I Used To Be A Nun, But I Didn't Want To Make A Habit Of It.certainly Not Literature, But A Serviceable Addition To The Growing Bookshelves On The Iraq War, Especially Useful Towould-be Military Physicians. Agent: Larry Weissman/larry Weissman Literary

IN 2004, AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT, DR. DAVE HNIDA, a family physician from Littleton, Colorado, volunteered to be deployed to Iraq and spent a tour of duty as a battalion surgeon with a combat unit. In 2007, he went back'this time as a trauma chief at one of the busiest Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) during the Surge. In an environment that was nothing less than a modern-day M*A*S*H, the doctors' main objective was simple: Get 'em in, get 'em out. The only CSH staffed by reservists' who tended to be older, more-experienced doctors disdainful of authority'the 399th soon became a medevac destination of choice because of its high survival rate, an astounding 98 percent. This was fast-food medicine at its best: working in a series of tents connected to the occasional run-down building, Dr. Hnida and his fellow doctors raced to keep the wounded alive until they could be airlifted out of Iraq for more extensive repairs. Here the Hippocratic Oath superseded that of the pledge to Uncle Sam; if you got the red-carpet helicopter ride, his team took care of you, no questions asked. On one stretcher there might be a critically injured American soldier while three feet away lay the insurgent, shot in the head, who planted the IED that inflicted those wounds. But there was levity amid the chaos. On call round-the-clock with an unrelenting caseload, the doctors' prescription for sanity included jokes, pranks, and misbehavior. Dr. Hnida's deployment was filled with colorful characters and gifted surgeons, a diverse group who became trusted friends as together they dealt with the psychological toll of seeing the casualties of war firsthand. In a conflict with no easy answers and even less good news, Paradise General gives us something that we can all believe in'the story of an ordinary citizen turned volunteer soldier trying to make a difference. With honesty and candor, and an off-the-wall, self-deprecating humor that sustained him and his battle buddies through their darkest hours, Dr. Hnida delivers a devastating and inspiring account of his CSH tour and an unparalleled look at medical care during an unscripted war I'm not a soldier, but I played one in Iraq Which end do the bullets come out? Camp Boring Paradise General Hospital First day of school Hot tamale The tug of war "A picture is worth a thousand tears" Dear kids Rebels with a cause Anatomy of a trauma Sick call Sunday Murmuring in a combat hospital, or, Dante's infirmary Death of an American soldier Family ties Suicide isn't painless Blursday The guns of August The wounded wore aftershave Tale of two brothers You shoot 'em, you own 'em Dog kennels Last tango in Tikrit Hero's welcome. The author recounts his experiences as a physician in Iraq after volunteering to work as a surgeon with a combat unit in 2004 and as trauma chief at a busy Combat Support Hospital in 2007, with anecdotes about his chaotic caseload and adaptation to a military atmosphere.