Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital | 
 enlarge | Author: Heidi Squier Kraft
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $23.99
Buy New: $12.95
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 36298
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 0316067903
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.704437
EAN: 9780316067904
Publication Date: October 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New.
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Product Description
When Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft's twin son and daughter were fifteen months old, she was deployed to Iraq. A clinical psychologist in the US Navy, Kraft's job was to uncover the wounds of war that a surgeon would never see. She put away thoughts of her children back home, acclimated to the sound of incoming rockets, and learned how to listen to the most traumatic stories a war zone has to offer.
One of the toughest lessons of her deployment was perfectly articulated by the TV show M*A*S*H: "There are two rules of war. Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors can't change rule number one." Some Marines, Kraft realized, and even some of their doctors, would be damaged by war in ways she could not repair. And sometimes, people were repaired in ways she never expected. RULE NUMBER TWO is a powerful firsthand account of providing comfort admidst the chaos of war, and of what it takes to endure.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Excellent read brings the war close to home October 25, 2007
E. Wallace (California, USA)
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and within the first chapter found that I had a hard time putting it down. Kraft gives a real-life perspective of the experiences and impressions of a modern day war. She provides a realistic view on the emotions and every day details that haven't been captured by the media. And after reading this, I feel closer to the war in Iraq and the individuals who give their time, hearts and minds to fighting.
Who cares for the caregivers? October 19, 2007
John D. Olson
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
Dr. Kraft has written a fresh, emotionally bruising record of what it is to be a care giver not just to those who obviously need it, but to those whose experiences lash them from the inside. This is the book for anyone who ever wanted a concise version of the direct and indirect mental cost of combat.
The wrenching depictions of comrades in arms openly weeping for those who used to sit and laugh beside them, of leaders expressing love and care for those for whom they are responsible, of the small things and large which provide relief and anchors for those caught up in chaos all leave a reader wondering how it is anyone can truly survive combat unscathed. Intervention after intervention trod upon each's heels; from the schizophrenic Marine who argues with his combat knife, to the weathered veteran who wants hypnosis so he can stop his two-pack a day smoking habit, to talking down a Marine with a rifle muzzle to her head, weeping as she apologizes for what she is about to do, even when the interventionalists themselves find themselves on the receiving end of an ad hoc group session held by a commander of a neighboring unit who happens to be a practicing psychiatrist, even addressing the stress of being one of the new "untouchables" - graves registration Marines. "We did the best we could" is the strong underlying theme throughout this memoir. This is a powerful rendering of what we ask others to do, and suffer, in our name.
Rule Number Three December 10, 2007
InterLinkOperator (USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Rule number three: Rule number one and two compel us to provide our armed forces with the compassionate combat stress care of doctors like Lieutenant Commander Heidi Squier Kraft.
Rule number one and two refer to a particular episode of M*A*S*H. Use the search inside feature for more about this. I met Alan Alda once. Having followed his career, I noticed he gives medical commencements. His advice after a near death surgical crisis is, "Treat me like a human being".
That is exactly what Dr Kraft describes in her memoir as a Navy flight psychologist, marine pilot's wife, submariners daughter, colleague friend and confidant. She is one of the Marines "Alpha" female care givers at the Combat Hospital in Anbar Province, Iraq.
I recall reading the news story of Marine Corporal Dunham's heroism and susequent Medal of Honor. It is comforting to know he was treated with such dignity and compassion by Dr. Kraft and her team at Alpha Surgical.
This book is a compelling read and allays some of my fears about how our military addresses combat stress. You will meet members of our military requiring the assistance of Heidi Kraft. Many looking for someone to talk with, at Alpha Surgical Hospital, so they can rejoin their units. Some would not make it.
I was also pleased to see 10% of Dr. Kraft's royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. As if she hasn't already given enough.
Ma'am, thank you!
Medical assistance for our military in Iraq December 20, 2007
Cy B. Hilterman (Cherry Tree, PA United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Dr. Kraft is now a retired Lieutenant Commander clinical psychologist in the United States Navy. She was called to Iraq several months after her twins were born, making her tour of duty an extra hard one. I can only try to visualize just how hard this tour was with her husband being a naval pilot and leaving those twins, while she was away serving our military.
As most of us think we know how bad things are in Iraq, or were when Dr. Kraft was on duty, we have a hard time understanding how much our military officers and non-commissioned men and women are and were in need of her profession. She never knew when she would be called out of the shabby barracks to assist someone; never knew when shells would rain down on her and her fellow soldiers; never knew what she would see in the way of physical wounds such as missing limbs, eye, or other body parts; had no way of knowing if the patient would pull through or be a vegetable; but she always knew that her help as a psychologist and sometimes as a medical doctor or nurse would come into such dramatic use.
During her tour of duty she contacted her family as much as possible but the use of any communications gear was in such short demand and it was shared by so many. Dr. Kraft had many a sleepless night, some due to noise from exploding shells or mortars, but many due to the hot conditions she had to endure in Iraq with temperatures regularly getting to 132 , making sleep extremely difficult. Sometimes she and some of her fellow staff would be called to a different location where problems existed. They had to talk soldiers down to earth when they wanted to commit suicide for a reason they felt they couldn't live with. Their own fellow medical professionals helped each other when things got too tough.
When a soldier is lost on the battlefield or in the hospital setting, it is so physically and mentally difficult for the entire staff to stay concentrated on their objectivity. Dr. Kraft draws you into the scene wherever it may be and you will find yourself shaking your head as you wonder how the staff could survive through such terrible actions. Yes, you will probably shed a few tears reading through some of the very sentimental times both from the battlefield and from personal lives as they endured the unknown.
When you finish Rule Number Two you will have been through an experience you will never forget and you will have even more respect for our men and women in our armed forces and what they endure. Thank you Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft for your excellent story and the way you told it to all of us.
Well Written, Vivid and Accurate November 28, 2007
Matt K. (Los Angeles)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dr. Kraft's Rule Number Two is a well written account of her experiences as an active duty Navy psychologist deployed with the Marine Corps in Iraq. Dr. Kraft pulls no punches as she describes, in vivid detail, how she manages her own experiences of working in a combat hospital while simultaneously providing services to her patients.
I would strongly recommend this book to trauma therapists who are interested in better understanding their patient's experiences in a combat zone, and others who are interested in gaining the unique and genuine perspective of a deployed psychologist.
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