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by Daniel E. Evans Jr., D.V.M. and Charles W. Sasser
FOREWORD
This book tells the story of a combat medic's tour in Vietnam. It also shows in unique detail what medics do in battle, and concurrently you witness some of the most remarkable reporting of infantry fights I have ever read.
You are there with a grunt rifle company in the rice paddies and along the canals, hearing the sickening sing of bullets zinging over and the dull thud when steel-coated slugs strike flesh and bone. You hear the call of "Medic!" and witness the heroism of young combat medics selflessly putting their stricken infantry comrades ahead of themselves. The combat scenes are so real that you can see, smell, hear, taste and feel the horror of close combat.
This is mainly the story of one medic, one rifle platoon and one rifle company that fought in Vietnam circa 1968-69. I knew most of the key players well, as I had the privilege of being their battalion commander. They were not an elite parachute unit, a daring Special Forces outfit, or a crack Ranger unit, but mainly muddy-boot draftees sucked into a bad war who stood tall and fought as well or better than centurions. None were Harvard, Princeton, or Yale graduates whose connections permitted them to sit out the war in an ivory tower. No, these boy-men were like this fine book s writer, Dan Evans, unconnected teenagers from mainly smalltown USA who did the dirty killing and dying work not unlike their dads or older brothers did at Anzio or Pork Chop Hill.
There is no job in the insanity of close combat that requires more bravery, steadfastness and coolness under fire than that of combat medic. Medics go into the very center of the hell- storm of battle - where the grunt has fallen and where the enemy waits to strike again - and perform major and minor miracles. Almost always an enemy prime target. They do their thing with seemingly total disregard for themselves: find the wounded, stop the bleeding, patch the wound, administer morphine and good cheer, then drag and pack shattered bodies of the men they love as brothers back to the safety of a paddy wall or a fold in the ground that provides little protection from direct-fire weapons.
The men you meet on these pages are the salt of the earth, who, much to my discomfort way back then, defiantly scrawled on their steel pots FTA - Fuck The Army. Yet, without a doubt, they were the finest group of fighters I was privileged to skipper in twenty-six years in the soldiering business.
"Doc" Evans spent almost ten years putting this work together. First he painstakingly chased down the majority of Company "B," 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry (The Hardcore), who served with him. He interviewed most of these line doggies and has told their tale in riveting and gripping detail. No such combat memoir has grabbed me as Doc: Platoon Medic. It ranks with the WW I classic All Quiet on the Western Front and the WW II masterpiece Those Devils in Baggy Pants.
The reader will come away from this remarkable book with a firm understanding of how the war was fought on the ground in Vietnam and also appreciate the camaraderie, brotherhood and love that warriors have for each other after they have been forged together on the crucible of the killing field. And you ll see how the medic becomes the grunts best friend, rabbi, priest, preacher, last hope, lucky rabbit s foot and sacred guardian angel.
No man in the profession of arms deserved more honor and respect than the soldier who wears the coveted Combat Medic Badge. They are true studs who are honored, cherished and loved by the fighting men they care for. Theirs is a noble, but damn dangerous profession, and this fine book tells how and why.
Dan Evans is a quiet and self-effacing man who hardly looks or acts the part of a great American hero. He didn't have to be in the trenches but volunteered time and again to leave a position of relative comfort and safety in a rear echelon hospital to wade through the mud, sleep on wet ground, be attacked by every creepy crawly known to humankind and to live the desperate life of being hunted by another human being whose intent was to inflict maximum bodily harm.
He did all this and did it well. Now by telling the story of the brave medical shepherds of Infantry Grunts he provides a lasting tribute to those who have from time immemorial selflessly tended their flock - the COMBAT MEDIC.
David Hackworth
Colonel, U.S. Infantry, Retired
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