内容简介：
The sights, smells, and sounds experienced by 45 courageous nurses who served in the U.S. Military during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are vividly described in this eloquent volume. These nurses describe their clinical and personal challenges in field hospitals and battlefields, with combatants, civilians, and prisoners of war. The interviews provide answers to such questions as "Why did they go?" "What were their lives like when they were deployed?" "How did they respond to the horrific injuries they often encountered?" "What advice would they give to nurses who seek military deployment?" The book tracks their transformation from novice to battle-savvy nurses in mobile surgical field hospitals and fast-forward teams, detainee care centers, base and city hospitals, and areomedical evacuation and casualty staging units. The text also describes vividly the stresses and moral dilemmas inherent in caring for enemy insurgents and detainees as well as the difficulties nurses faced with separation from their children and families. Interviewees describe how the war changed them personally, expanded their clinical skills, and how coming home was a surprisingly difficult adjustment. Additionally, since the majority of nurses are women, the book offers a women's health perspective on working and living in a war zone.Key Features: Provides vivid, real-life narratives of what military nurses experienceDetails the experiences of 45 nurses in two brutal, chaotic, ongoing theaters of warDemonstrates the dedication, expertise, and spirit of today's military nursesDescribes moving encounters with patientsIncludes advice for nurses who wish to enter this nursing arena including "lessons learned"