Ruff's War: A Navy Nurse on the Frontline in Iraq
Two retired navy nurses collaborate effectively in this account of the tour of duty one of them, Commander Ruff, had in Iraq, where she was the only nurse anesthetist in the combat zone. After 25 years, Ruff had thought navy nursing held few remaining surprises. She was wrong. The constant flow of casualties taxed the resources of the hospitals and their staff, and those resources suffered more than somewhat from prevailing logistical difficulties. Nor is the best of modern field medicine always equal to the wounds inflicted by modern weapons. Sometimes operating with lights attached to their helmets and gas masks over their faces because of a warning, Ruff and her colleagues, as much as they undoubtedly wished to be elsewhere, still performed up to the highest standards of a valiant corps. She vividly recalls her honorable service, literally against the pains of war.Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved