Customer Reviews

Doc: Platoon Medic

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In November of 2001 I traveled to Nashville for a reunion of David Hackworth's old 4/39 Battalion. I got to meet Doc Evans and shake his hand. He's a wonderful man and a wonderful Soldier.

His book is one of the best personal accounts of Vietnam service and Vietnam combat I've ever read. As Al Santoli wrote in his 1981 book, EVERYTHING WE HAD, if one wants to truly see this conflict as a Troop saw it, you have "to see what we saw....feel what we felt." Dan "Doc" Evans vivid and personal account does just this.

Stay Alert, Stay Alive Doc!
Semper Fi,
Bob McMahon

I was Doc Evans Battalion Surgeon. His book is very accurately written. I assisted Dan in his early efforts to write his book. I personally witnessed much of what is discussed in the book and read copies of many of his letters home. Dan is a true American hero who no doubt would have the courage to sign his name to any critique he wrote. Doc Holley

Have you ever just known something you can't explain knowing? I have. I knew this book was going to be special before I even opened it. It has a vibe that I don't expect you to believe, but it does. Maybe it is because I share a sort of kinship with Mr. Evans. He was a corpsman who served in the Vietnam War. I was a medic myself for several years and though I have never felt a bullet whiz over my head or feared for my life, I have known the shame of not saving the life I had tried so hard to save. I have stood at a sink and kept scrubbing at the blood on my hands that had long since been scrubbed away and I can remember the screams of a father begging me to not let his child die. I have seen some things in my dreams that I do not need to share, but suffice to say Mr. Evans might understand. Sometimes only someone who has seen what you have seen can understand. I guess that is how I knew this book was for me.
This is a very good book. As it turns out, it was way better than "just" a good book. To say that implies that it is merely flat and plain and words on paper, as if it is something to pick up or put down at your leisure. In fact, it is none of those things. Mr. Evans' recollections have a life of their own; they pull you in to his thoughts and feelings, take you back to a place where you can feel the mud, imagine the leeches and sense the suffering. The young soldier's story is so real you will feel it brush across your face like a cobweb in the darkest corner of the attic. You will be leery to look into the attic for all the forgotten memories, lost souls and pain packed away in boxes. You would prefer to walk away or pretend you don't care. But that won't work. It is time to unpack. And you do care, or you would not be at this website, or looking at this book. It isn't going to be John Grisham or Danielle Steele. It is about a war that still divides opinion in this country and touched the lives of generations before and after those who served in it. Even though you may know the history of the war in Vietnam, you will find yourself wanting a second chance to do the right thing and to stand up to honor those who served our country - not just for Mr. Evans and the men he served with, but for America itself.

The author weaves his story the way a spider weaves its web: first one thread and then another, somehow tying each end together, forming a piece of art that is different than any other web. His web is strangely beautiful and a little scary at the same time. He is diligent, drawing each corner of his web to a proper angle, adhering it firmly to the doorway we must cross through to learn more. We are lucky indeed to find a man so willing to bare to the world what is so deeply, personally his. Imagine being a girl-chasing, car-loving, movie-going young man one moment and a hunted soldier the next? One moment being squeamish at the sight of blood and the next trying to treat a sucking chest wound. How can you explain to someone why something horribly and ghastly is hysterically funny? Do you tell them the truth - That laughing is the only way you can cope with such devastation and loss? How do you tell people that killing a man might be easy, when one moment it seems as if it is and the next it isn't? Can ordinary people understand how it comes to be that you don't recall what you had for dinner three days ago but you have instant and total recall of one single moment in your life in the jungle of Vietnam in 1968? Can they understand how the man you call your brother is no blood relation at all?

I think Mr. Evans answers every question when he puts words to his story and little pieces of his life on every page. He is a teacher, whether he knows it or not. I believe that anyone who reads this book will feel as if Mr. Evans has given them some tiny little bit of something they never had before. It could be they will learn that the Corpsman is probably the bravest, most selfless creation ever touched by the hand of God, just like a firefighter, because no matter what, when everyone else is running away from danger, they are running or crawling toward it. Or maybe the reader will find out that the Vietnam War was neither won nor lost. That it is not really over for most of the men and women who served there. Or maybe they will change their minds about something they used to believe was true. After all, that is what a teacher is supposed to do: open hearts and minds.

I believe Mr. Evans wanted to reach out to his veteran brothers to tell them he is still here, that he understands what they have gone through, because he went through it too. Maybe he is telling them they are not alone and there can be strength in knowing there are others to support them through a kinship and brotherhood. It seems to me Doc Evans is doing what he has always been destined to do: bandaging the wounds of his brothers.

I am a military physician and was serving in Afghanistan when I read Platoon Medic. I read the whole thing, cover-to-cover in a day and a half. It's simply a great book. It is a well-written, action-packed, gut-wrenching rocket ride through the hellish world of the combat medic in Vietnam. I felt like I was there in the rice paddies, watching Doc Evans patch up his bloody, dying comrades while the bullets were flying over his head. Dan Evans tells an astonishingly honest, important and poignant personal story. This book should be required reading for all Army medics and physicians. A great and important read.

As a Squad Leader of 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, reading Dan's book years after experiencing it brough back a floor of memories. We lost some good men in our battles, but we'ed lost a hell of a lot more if it hadn't been for him and the other medic's. I was honored to proof read his story before it was published and when I did, it was hard to hold back the tear's from the memories it brough. I'am honored to know him and to be part of his story.

Great reading... great story... As with all of us who started at "Ft. Sam", everyone has a unique story... From my vantage point in the 2d bde, I have neverending comraderie with all those, as "Doc Evans", who came before and after to do their job as circumstances required. This is the real thing. (Couldn't edit the rating...meant it to be 5 Stars!!)

Doc Evans not only tells it like it was, he makes his fellow grunts, like L. J. Henderson, and their heroism come alive in your mind. After reading Dr. Evans' book you won't want of miss two other books about the 4/39th during this same period; ...

Once I picked this book up I could not and did not want to put it down until I finished it. Had it read in a day and a half and wanted more!

Put the Combat Medic's life in Vietnam in perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone intersted in Vietnam or the Medical Field!

Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. Although the book only covers part of Doc Evan tour, it ended perfectly on B co, 4/39th major battle on Mar 25th. One of the best books I've read about the life of the service member during Vietnam. If you enjoy reading about the trials of a combat soldier, pick this one up.

I found this book hard to believe as actual events of Dr. Evans. The Introduction starts with several mistakes concerning Spec 4 James T. Davis. He was not the first American serviceman killed in Vietnam; he was not a medic; M16's were not being used in 1961; and there were no ground troops in Vietnam for Davis to be a medic for in 1961.

It is not clear why Dr. Evans received the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star with "V" for Valor and 2 oak-leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with "V" for Valor and 2 oak-leaf clusters.

The book is entertaining, but doesn't ring as a true story.