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This is a very readable and informing memoir by a past Marine and eventual Navy SEAL Corpsman, better known as "Doc" to all those broken in combat he mended.
The majority of the book tells of his service in Vietnam during the mid to late 1960's, with the west coast branch of SEALS. Most SEALS were only stationed in country for 6 months at a time, for as the author states, the constant intensity could dull their senses, and that could cost them their lives. The North Vietnamese put bounties on all these "green faced men" hoping to kill a SEAL whenever possible. The bounty was both a tribute of their respect for the SEALS but also a sign of their deep-seated fear of the SEALS.
I was leaving the Navy to come back for college at about the time Greg McPartlin was entering the Navy. So some of the topics he talks about are very familiar to me, but a reader does not need to be "prior service" to read and enjoy this book.
In a review written for The Military Book Club recently, I stated that this book is one of very few excellent books it's been my good fortune to encounter. His story and that of his fellow SEALS will give the reader an insider's view of the "above and beyond" nature of service all these men gave, and each of these individuals are true heroes in the best sense of the word. Though undoubtedly each would not find that a compliment with which they are comfortable. They, for example, would turn down a Purple Heart award, unless they were terribly wounded. No rear echelon types here; however that may be, all of these men are some of the finest to ever wear the uniform of the United States.
Only two items would have made this a stronger book: a good map of Vietnam showing the area Mr. McPartlin describes; and a few pictures of all the men in his group. But that not withstanding, this is a very readable and memorable book written by a combatant as seen through the eyes of a medic. A truly unique writing from one who not only took lives, but saved lives.
Semper Fi.
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All his life, Greg McPartlin wanted to be a Marine corpsman, a medic skilled at saving lives. Three months of "bagging-and-tagging" bodies during Vietnam's Tet Offensive took the luster off being a Marine-but not off McPartlin's desire to serve his country. After assisting in the sea-recovery of Apollo 11-the first ship to bring men to the moon-the twenty-year-old McPartlin was redeployed to Vietnam as an elite Navy SEAL. Barred as a medic by the Geneva Convention from the make-or-break training considered vital to service as a Navy SEAL, McPartlin had to show he had what it took. In a war where soldiers partied with their buddies in Saigon one day and crawled through an enemy-infested jungle hell the next, McPartlin proved that he was not only an outstanding medic but a real Navy SEAL-the toughest of the tough. Combat Corpsman is McPartlin's account of his year in what had been a Viet Cong stronghold until the SEALs took control. It's the first inside story of a Navy SEAL medic, a man who wanted to heal-not to kill-but did both to save lives.
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