by Eugene Edynak (Author)
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.