Books for people interested in military medicine?

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Shawno19

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Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has read or knows of any books for people interested in military medicine, or if anyone has read anything on military life in general that they found useful pertaining to life as a military physician.

I found this topic in a search and bought one of the books recommended, but after spending 30 minutes searching this site and amazon, I've yet to find any books written with people looking into military medicine in mind.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=658364&highlight=book,+books

I bought "On Call in Hell" because it looked like a interesting book on life deployed in a war zone, but what I'm looking for is something that lays out everything you want/need to know before signing up.

If a book like that doesn't exist the mods here should really get together and write one, seems like there would be enough interest in it.. That way people like me don't have to spend 100s of hours reading through every thread and pissing everyone off with our dumb questions. I would definitely cough up $20 for it.

Thanks.
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Kingfisher said:
LOL, I was wondering why no one has mentioned House of God yet?

I don't know of any specific books about military life specifically. I don't read for fun anymore. That has been beaten out of me. :diebanana:
Click to expand...

House of God works for medicine in general.

Most people read House of God during their pre-med or first couple of years of medical school and think, haha, no way.

Mention it to them mid-way through their internship year and their reaction is invariably "ohmygod yes it's all true!"
 
I've read On Call in Hell, and I've deployed with the Marines, granted not the same part of the Marines as the author. I don't mean to take away from the story, and the author's accomplishments, but I don't think its a good "what is this military medicine stuff all about?" book to read. Not that I have a better one to suggest though. His background is that of a former Marine Corps line officer who goes into medicine. A bit of rare bird in military medicine, rare to have a line officer transitioning to medicine, probably more enlisted I would guess, and even more rare for that officer to be a Marine.

My $0.02
 
Kingfisher said:
I don't know of any specific books about military life specifically. I don't read for fun anymore. That has been beaten out of me. :diebanana:
Click to expand...
Ain't it the truth. I always give a blank stare when someone asks if I read for pleasure. I don't any more. It just feels like work now. I skim novel pages looking for testable info or bolded points.
 
DocArmy said:
Ain't it the truth. I always give a blank stare when someone asks if I read for pleasure. I don't any more. It just feels like work now. I skim novel pages looking for testable info or bolded points.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, one of the first things I started doing more of when I finished fellowship was reading for fun. Got myself a Kindle. So nice. It will come back.
 
Gastrapathy said:
What happened to medicalcorpse? He just dropped off the planet.
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no idea. i'm sure with some googling skillz people can come up with something. i'm guessing there's more to the story to leave at 19 years. i mean, if you *really* wanted to stick it to the man, why let him off the hook for your retirement? take the retirement and fund a medicalcorpse.com megasite or PAC or convention or something. . .

--your friendly neighborhood working on getting his pound of flesh back caveman
 
Gastrapathy said:
What happened to medicalcorpse? He just dropped off the planet.
Click to expand...


Not sure. I found him a while after he'd been off the forums, and he did not seem overjoyed that I had found him. It must have been hell on him and his family. The website is still up, so I doubt the van folks did much. Also, I'm not 100% sure he would have been able to retire at 19, but its not really important to the whole crap he went through. He is likely monetarily way better off anyways.
 
Homunculus said:
no idea. i'm sure with some googling skillz people can come up with something. i'm guessing there's more to the story to leave at 19 years. i mean, if you *really* wanted to stick it to the man, why let him off the hook for your retirement? take the retirement and fund a medicalcorpse.com megasite or PAC or convention or something. . .

--your friendly neighborhood working on getting his pound of flesh back caveman
Click to expand...

19 years included USUHS, so he was still 5 years from retirement. Lots of folks get out at 13-15 years.

If the AF forced him to desist, you'd think his website would have been taken down too.
 
To the OP:
Based on what I've read in these forums, some military docs come in without realistic expectations about the military side of the house. Find out as much as you can about military life, and you will have a head start.

Also realize that the many unfortunate experiences posted in this forum, while true, don't always present the complete picture of military medicine. The happy people stay quiet and the unhappy people vent loudly...that's just human nature. Good luck!
 
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