Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital (2024)

Caveat: I rated the book 5 stars because I thought it was a poignant personal memoir of a young mom in a combat zone - not because I thought the writing was amazing or the storytelling especially great. I'd have liked to read a bit more about her professional perspective as a psychologist and the psychological toll that this particular war is taking on our warriors. I was a bit surprised by her retelling the bit about the suicidal Iraqi informer working with the SF who she only reluctantly spoke with and who later was killed - she seemed rather callous about this mans fate (a man who felt like he sold his soul to collaborate with the Americans). In any case, the reason I loved this book is because it resonated with me as a simple memoir - likely a strung together set of entries from a personal diary - not an amazing piece of literature. As a young mother's modern war memoir, this is a great book. As an insightful peek into the psychological effects this war has had / is having on a generation of marines, soldiers, and Iraqis - not so much.

While Heidi Squire Kraft's tale of her experience with the Marines in Al Anbar province (she was a Navy Psychologist and young mother of 15 month old twins when she was deployed) is at once gratuitously personal - which I usually find a bit cheesy - I quickly got over it because of the power of her narrative. She taps directly into the emotional punch of telling first hand the emotional trauma of war and of the tenacity and fragility of "her Marines." I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it! It's not a glorious war memoir about subduing the bad guys but, a genuine and heart-wrenching account of the real life results of modern combat, that she and her brother and sister Naval Medical Providers encountered at her field surgical unit each day and night as those Iconic young men of our Marine Corps returned from the horrors of their dirty job in Al Anbar province Iraq in 2004. It's also a genuine and completely real peek into the personal emotions of a young mother and American Hero who walked away from her family - her babies - to do her part in the people's dirty work we call the Iraq war. We've all been exposed to the amazing and heroic young men who've given so much during this conflict, here's a story that relates the story from the perspective of a young mother who answered the same call. Semper Fi Heidi!

Full Disclosure: I'm an Army Reserve Medical Service Corps Officer who has done a tour "over there" and understands the perspective of leaving a young family here and going over there to do a job that involes supporting the medical care of warriors in combat.

Okay. Rarely do I read other people's reviews of a book that I liked and get annoyed that they didn't like it as much as me. Mostly I just think they're probably dumb. Not really, I'm just kidding. Everybody has different tastes. But I just read some of the reviews on here that didn't like this book, and I kind of want to punch them in the nose. Like the dude down here who says the book annoyed him because some commanders were concerned and grief stricken over a soldier who had a non fatal wound, and were pacing outside the hospital door worried about him rather than out fighting a war. Like, WHAT?! Do some people really have no appreciation at all for what soldiers go through at war? OH MY HECK. (I sensored that last sentence not to have swear words, in case people I go to church with read this. But what I was thinking in my head was way more PG 13 rated.)

Anyway, I got sidetracked. This is a book written by a woman (mom of twin 14 month old babies at the time of deployment) who served in Iraq as part of a combat stress team. She was basically a shrink, helping soldiers dealing with emotional and mental distress. I loved this book. At first I thought she wasn't going to be in the thick of things, but when you're the one in charge of mental health of soldiers, all you do is work with soldiers who have been injured, who have had their buddies die in front of them, or who work in the mortuary cleaning dead soldier's bodies and inventoring their personal items to send home to their families. Can you imagine that last job? Can you even imagine your full time job (when none of these soldiers are morticians in regular life, or had ever done this sort of thing before) being to process the dead bodies of soldiers? Pulling an ultrasound picture from their pockets, knowing they were going to be a dad soon and that a young pregnant wife is getting the news that day? I cannot even fathom. But someone has to do it.

And despite the fact that this author spent her time on the base (as opposed to out in combat), she was at a combat hospital. Soldiers were coming in bleeding and blown apart, and bodies were brought in in pieces. Rockets would explode nearby. She saw a lot of blood, and held the hands of soldiers as they were dying. This was not a wimpy deployment by any means.

I read a book earlier this year about the battle in Sadr City on Black Sunday, but (despite being authored by a woman) it felt to me like it was all from a young male soldier's perspective. This was all from a young mother's perspective. My husband is on his second deployment, and he's in Iraq right now. I am just married to a soldier rather than being one, but I felt a connection to her somehow.

I thought this was an excellent, awesome book. I cried. I appreciated her and so many of the soldiers who have gone over there. Weirdly enough, while my husband missed the entire first year of our oldest baby (and missed the birth), and left a 4 and 2 year old for a year again this time, it doesn't seem as bad to me as a mom leaving her kids for only seven months (like this author did). It reminds me of another female soldier from my husband's unit who left her first born child, only six weeks old, to serve a 15 month deployment. Moms leaving their little babies just tears my heart out, but somehow having dads leave seems more manageable. Maybe I'm not being fair to dads. Maybe it's just as awful, but I feel for the moms who leave. I agree with this author's decision to get out of the military after the deployment in this book. Whereever the heck Dr. Heidi Kraft lives, she is welcome to come hang out with me if she is ever in Utah. So if you're reading the reviews of your book on here Heidi, you have a friend. And I'll agree with you that the dude who wrote the review on here about the officers being worried about the injured soldier being stupid is being dumb himself. Dang it. Nobody's ever clicked that they "like" his review. What a shock. We want a "you're dumb" button, please. I'll email goodreads about it when I have a minute.

What started as a great premise - the psychological results of war on the soldiers and how to help them - never materialized. She made it look like a couple of sessions with her and you were good to go. Hoo - Hah. Semper Fi. The writing was very superficial and self-serving. It may have been cathartic for her to write but not great for me to read. No depth. Take a pass.

this book is absolutly amazing, its so easy to get lost in whats happening in the book. i can tell yeah, i burned the midnight oil reading this book. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! i swear everytime heidi would get a letter from home it made it feel so real. ( if thats makes sense) like i felt as if the letters were actualy meant for me, thats how caught up in the book i was. to me this book hits close to home, my father served a 18 month deployment with the U.S Army. some of the stuff heidi went thru is some stuff my father went thru also. to be honest this book kinda reminded me of generation kill on the fact that its a real eye opener on what goes on over there. also this book brought tears to my eyes, an i wasnt the only one. i had my friend read the begining part and that part about the pros and cons about her time over an she had tears in her eyes at both parts. i would recomend this book to any military personal or anyone wishing to know what all really goes on over there

I'm admittedly biased. Heidi, the author, is my sister-in-law. When her twin children, her only children, were 15 months old, Heidi was deployed to Iraq. She was a clinical psychologist in the Navy there for 7 months. We received regular e-mail updates from her that made the war in Iraq very close and personal to my wife and me. I'm so proud that Heidi wrote this book. It came out a few months before my book, Inheriting the Trade, was published so we shared the publishing experience together by e-mail and phone. Her stories here of courage and trauma, death and life, are a powerful testament to human endurance and resilience.

He felt fear. He felt shame that far outweighed the fear. He went on to explain that he had been in Iraq almost two months. This injury would earn him his third Purple Heart. He told me he was afraid his luck was about to run out. (75)

As a psychologist with the Navy, Kraft's work while deployed in Iraq had a rather different tenor than it might at home. Peacetime psychology is an extended affair, weeks of wrestling with topics; wartime (military) psychology is described as more of a stopgap measure, something to ease the pressure.

Based on the ratings and reviews—even adjusted for sentimentality surrounding the subject—I had pretty high hopes for this book. Certain parts of it I thoroughly enjoyed: Kraft had a different perspective on things than, say, a Marine (who has the frighteningly physically literally military job, but is probably in many ways most prepared for war), or a doctor (who also has a visible job, and one where there are obvious indicators of success and failure).

That being said, I would have loved to see a higher proportion of the book be devoted to those stories of psychological care—more about the soldiers and less about Kraft's own homesickness and fear. Not that those latter elements aren't perfectly valid as part of her experience, but they're not a unique part of her experience. What is unique: being a psychologist within a machine that distrusts 'soft' science and emotional matters. Having a husband back home who is a Marine and who has been deployed in the past. Seeing how a lot of people react to being deployed (as opposed to thinking you're the only one having a tough time of it, etc.). It would have been nice to see more along those lines.

So...some interesting stuff here. Glad I read it (and that my university library had a copy), and anyway it was a very quick read. But...probably not likely to be one that will stick with me.

In today's world, there are so few citizens that truly represent the best of society. Our soldiers, airmen and sailors reflect our country and demonstrate, in many cases, extraordinary values. Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft is one of those fine servicewomen. But this story is really about the soldiers she served and their incredible sacrifices and fears.

As a clinical therapist, she was one of two psychologists assigned to serve 10,000 Marines. Frankly, with the number of soldiers that suffer from trauma, this number seems far too disproportional. More interestingly to me, in many ways, is that this is about a MOS that you might not realize even exists.

Dr. Kraft has written a great read that can be finished in an afternoon. But its story will last a lifetime in your memories. The stories of our armed servicemen and women simply make you proud.

This is a must read.

Must read for mil psych. I plan to re-read it a few more times. Easy to read!!!

An interesting read on life inside of a combat hospital in Iraq in 2004. Dr. Kraft provided insight into the perspective of a an officer, who never expected to be directly put in harms way, but nevertheless found herself with a pistol in her hand and Kevlar on her head. It was also fascinating to read about the effects of war on a mother, who acknowledges and leans into her identity, rather than trying to separate it from her job.

After reading Rule Number Two I revisited the idea of "triage." Mirriam Webster's Dictionary defines triage as, "the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors" (emphasis added). Although that word only shows up twice in this book, it seems like an appropriate way to think about battlefield clinical practice and as a metaphor for understanding institutional priorities.

Triage as practice and metaphor does not qualify "surviving"-- in this framework, it is more of an all-or-nothing state. Traumatic brain injuries and PTSD problematize "survival"; suddenly quality of life becomes a much more urgent question and one that is incredibly difficult emotionally, ethically, and legally to understand. Battlefield medicine is getting much better at absolute survival (e.g. lowering numbers of KIA or DOW) but has yet to catch up to the less absolute forms of survival.

I think it is worth noting that Dr. Squier Kraft's memoir tells the story of mental health in Iraq. Her story is fascinating on several levels, but ultimately her job was to figure out who needed to go home, who needed basic treatment, and who needed a chance to cry. In fact, she acknowledges that, "In a normal situation, I would have time to work with [a patient] and and help her move toward the appropriate treatment. Out here, I knew only one thing: she needed to go home"(118). In a sense, the mental health care available in Iraq amounted to triage. Had Squier Kraft's story continued to the US' VA system, we might have learned more about the full spectrum (or lack thereof) of care available to members of the USMC. As it stands, her account suggests the ways in which her practice became about maximizing "survivors"-- and for mental health, "surviving" seems to be about returning to the unit.

Finally, four mental health professionals served 10,000 Marines in western Iraq (3). No wonder their job boiled down to basic triage. If we assume that the military saw front-line mental health only as the most basic level of triage, this makes some degree of sense. In a war zone, I completely understand why you might prioritize surgeons and nurses over "shrinks." However, if the goal is to ensure a more holistic survival, the military has radically underestimated the need. On one hand, I do not fault the military for emphasizing absolute survival over the more nuanced quality-of-life interpretation of "survival." On the other, is there a similar kind of "golden hour" (or week/month) for mental health? Could better front-line mental health interventions prevent/lessen PTSD?

This book poses many more questions than it answers-- but in this case, that is a good thing. I do not think anyone knows how to make war "tolerable" and Dr. Squier Kraft's perspective is illuminating. It is not easy to read, tears filled my eyes more than once. However, it is worth picking up for anyone interested in war, mental health, or PTSD.

Clinical Psychologist Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft was a clinical psychologist at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FLA. She along with several other medical personnel were being sent to Iraq. This was in 2003 in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom during which many such teams had already been deployed and some had returned to a different world.

Her greatest initial challenge was preparing herself for her separation from her children but before a few weeks were up she was entrenched in a MASH unit that deep in the combat zone of Iraq, which was being bombarded daily and receiving mass casualties and missing her family. “In a world where rockets exploded randomly nearby, I decided I could not be a combat psychologist and a mother at the same time. I had to be one or the other. I had no choice. I put their pictures away.”

And so she and her team began their grueling ordeal of tending to the mental and emotional problems of wounded marines, shocked survivors of terrible traumas as well as being on hand for the difficulties of the medical teams themselves who were experiencing events that were new to them all. Kraft’s book is filled with stories that make you reflect.One soldier said “No one wants to hear what we do over here. Even people who love us. They think they do, but they don’t.’

Hawkeye Pierce of the TV show M*A*S*H was counseled by his Colonel about the rules of war. :
Rule number one is that young men die.
Rule number two is that doctors can’t change rule number one.

This microcosm of the war can be summed up in one phrase “ We did the best we could.”

10% of the profits of Rule Number Two go to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund provides financial assistance to: Marines injured in combat and in training and other service members injured while in direct support of Marine units and their families.

In an old M*A*S*H* episode, Hawkeye is distraught at losing a patient on the table. His Commanding Officer shares with him that, “Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors can’t change rule number one.”

Plucked from her quiet psychologist’s caseload on a stateside military base, Dr. Heidi Kraft finds that old adage remains true on the battlefields of Iraq today. She leaves behind her fifteen month old twins and husband to spend seven months at a makeshift base in the unrelenting Iraqi dessert to assist active duty Marines with mental health concerns. And that is a tall order.

From the Marines who experience the devastating results of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) first hand; to working with the men of Mortuary Affairs who saw death day in and day out; to the mobile construction group, the Seabees, who lost half their unit to incoming mortar shells; and to the young man who receives the Medal of Honor posthumously, Dr. Kraft attempts to provide comfort, answers and assistance to those in an unimaginably difficult time.

Every chapter brings a new challenge, new lessons and new stories. Every one of them makes you glad that you are the reader and not the writer. Kraft shares an insider’s view of an untenable situation. Sand fleas and extreme sleep deprivation are merely inconveniences compared to the challenges she and her team face in trying to provide psychological comfort and coping tools to all those with whom they come into contact.

Her story is absolutely compelling, and deserves 5 stars for its relevance as a memoir of the American intervention in Iraq. Since the editing, composition and organization are not as strong as it would be from a career writer, I give the book an overall 2.5 stars.

This is one of the most incredible, well written, books I have ever read. I feel like I know Heidi, that she was telling me this story while I sat with her. I feel like I cried with her, laughed with her, and I deeply understand that I will never, ever know what she went through. Reading this book gave me a glimpse into her seven months in Iraq, but I know that what I felt reading this book, vivid and jarring and heartfelt and human as it was, was experiencing her world through a filter of comfort and safety.

have so much appreciation for her sharing her story - it's one of the only books written by a female veteran I could find. And as I am entering graduate school to become a psychologist myself, I felt a special connection with her specific experiences. She is an inspiration to women everywhere, especially those who seek to care for others in their worst moments.

If I ever have the honor of meeting her in person, I hope she won't mind the hug.

Ooh-rah, ma'am.

What an amazing, personal insight into the experiences of a mental health care professional serving in the Iraq war. War stories are not my typical fare, but my sister lent it to me, saying she couldn't put it down once she started it. Me either. It's heart-wrenching, bringing me to tears more than once. It's a small peek into life in an active war zone that I can't even envision. It's a memoir written for her children to help them understand why she had to go overseas when they were mere toddlers.

And it's account after fascinating account of providing care to our most courageous Americans, the (mostly) young people who stand up for us - and suffer for us - in ways we may not be able to completely imagine.

General Anthony C. Zinni is quoted on the book's dust jacket: "Every American needs to read this." I could not agree more.

I was really interested to read this, because I was originally thinking of doing basically what Dr. Kraft did (except with a degree in social work). I think my life is going to take me in a different direction, but this book certainly reminded me where that passion came from originally. Kraft is obviously proud of the people she works with and the (mostly) young Marines who are so devoted to one another and so devastated by every loss. I appreciate her openness about deeply personal matters, such as her children and her faith.

I feel like this is a very motivated, very positive story, and there are probably some people who would characterize their experiences differently. I cannot imagine what it would be like to deal with the magnitude of trauma and loss these people experienced.

This book moves the heart and stirs the soul like no other. In a time of uncertainty and vocal bashing of the war and the soldiers who fight for our freedoms this book is a must read. Heidi Kraft gives the civilian an unprecedented and candid look into the pride and love for our country that the men and women of our armed forces have for the US. I cried and laughed throughout this book. I urge every American citizen to read this book with an open mind, so that this nation can once again be a proud nation with patriotic hearts and a love for our freedoms. Having personally met Heidi I enjoy her candor and love for our troops. Her passion is unlike any other and this book is a master piece!

I liked the way Heidi Kraft retold her experience of providing clinical care to soldiers in Iraq, as a series of short stories rather than one big story. I think it fit the style of this book better. There were times when I wished the rosy glow of nostalgia wasn't so dominant, and times when I wished she talked about less pleasant issues (like sexual assault/rape incidence) or more detailed information about the kind of care provided both during the war and after soldiers had returned home. But I realized that a big part of the book was to pay homage to the soldiers she served with and as such, it wasn't going to really delve in the ugly after effects of war.

Unfortunately there are wounds brought back from war that are harder to see. These are the hidden psychological injuries that the military faces, and Kraft sheds light on the subject beautifully. As an Army Psychologist deployed to Iraq, she talks about counseling troops after traumatic events, heroics, and even her own mental health stresses.

She also goes into great detail about her experience with Corporal Jason Dunham, who squeezed her hand to tell her that he was still alive, making this an amazing complement to another fantastic book- The Gift of Valor.

Psychological trauma is a subject I have been fascinated with for years. I was excited to read this book and hear more about the treatment of mental health in the field (rather than years later).

I felt like this book was far more about her day-to-day life: laundry lists of what she did and her own fear than actually treating others. I wanted it to be more about the treatment and less about her day to day life.

If that is what you’re looking for, you’ll love this book. If you’re looking for more in-depth look at how the psychological work actually is done, I’d look elsewhere.

This is an excellent book about a Navy psychologist who gets deployed to a combat hospital in Iraq. She shares her experiences, both the good things and the bad things. It made me remember many of the good things I did and learned and the great satisfaction I felt when I deployed to Iraq for 14 months. I think this is a must read! Very touching and poignant.

This a book that all Americans should read. I feel because wars are fought miles away, we don't fully understand the reality of war. This book gives an honest description of what it actually means to fight in a war. It gives voices and faces to those who fight for our freedom.

I check this out from the library after reading a review in Army Magazine. Dr. Kraft my be a talented psychologist, but she is not a talented writer.

An oversimplified view of crisis intervention therapy, in my opinion. Read more like disaster p*rn than memoir for me.

This memoir of a navy psychologist who deployed to Iraq in 2005 as part of a medical battalion to care for marines was both totally foreign and strangely familiar. My clinical internship supervisor recommended it to me (he was also a veteran who had served as a navy psychologist, and we worked primarily with veterans and service members in our clinic, so it felt quite relevant) and I’m sad I didn’t have time to read it while I was still on internship. (Also, I had to pause reading this when I moved to my new home until some of the war content felt less immediate and activating, so it would have been convenient to have read this while still on internship!) Some authors are writers, and others are storytellers… this book falls in the category of a someone telling the story of her deployment. It is in some ways hard to imagine and empathize, yet so consistent with other stories shared by service members that it feels familiar.

I’ve never read book-length memoirs from that era of OIF, but heard stories as a child from family members when they would return from deployments. Although they never spoke overtly of the psychological toll, it was no surprise when Dr. Kraft described her and others’ emotional wounds with both subtlety and frankness. I would definitely recommend this for people interested in better understanding the experiences of our military service members, our healers, and especially the intersection of those two.

The author Heidi Kraft showed a lot of meanings in the book but I believe the main reason is to always cherish the moments you have with the ones you love because you never know when they may be gone. This book was well written and had a lot of description. I felt like it was a little slow and long but I still was pretty interested in the book.

This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The author did an exceptional job of transporting you to the combat support hospitals in Iraq and getting a glimpse of the heroism performed by the military and the medical personnel there on a daily basis. I felt sad, terrified, educated and completely inspired. I also happen to be a new physician, a new psychiatrist, and new to the army, so it really hit home with me. If I could speak directly to the author I would thank her for her service and for writing this touching book.

Former Navy Psychologist Kraft has written a heartfelt account of her time in Iraq serving with, and aiding mostly, US Marines with psychological issues.

As a man, and a former Marine, I felt some frustration in reading this book as it provides little insight into the psychological situations combat personnel confront as a result of their experiences. Of course, the other side of this perspective is that Dr.Kraft is revealing something of that which she had to deal with everyday as a giver of aid in a combat zone, and as well as a wife, and mother, away from her family - something of which she expresses quite fully.

Truthfully speaking, I found very little about the psychological problems that combat personal develop due to the very nature of what they must confront in their life in a war zone. Nor, when something of those things were touched upon, did I find anything of substance with respect to actual treatment of the various disorders that are now acknowledged to be incurred by combatants.

However, all that said, Dr. Kraft's story is often touching as she writes about the absence of family and friends, and the pain of seeing young men hurt in such terrible and permanent ways. And, of course, the loss of young men in the flower of life.

I liked some parts of this book a great deal, other parts not so much.
Overall I think the book is missing something, but I cannot say just what that is. I wanted to like the book better than I did, but I am glad to have read it all the same.

3.5 stars.

This book was easy to read with short uncomplicated stories of different events while the author was deployed to Iraq to support the Marines as a psychologist. With this set up I was expecting some insights into the trauma of combat, how to help those who have been through it, and some other insight in general into being a military psychologist. While some of that was there, I thought a lot of it just wasn't what I was expecting from this book. It really was much, much more about the psychology of the author and how she coped with being in Iraq rather than the overall view of combat psychology. While I found that stuff interesting, it just wasn't what I wanted from the book.

It was a good overview of a medical deployment, and some of the awful things people see and experience in war, especially from the view of those dealing with the clean-up (hospital workers, mortuary affairs). I enjoyed the writing and liked the stories, but I felt that they didn't really plumb the depths of things like I wanted them to.

Overall, a good book and well worth reading, but it's definitely not a primer on psychological trauma in combat, just a memoir of one 7 month deployment and some of the most memorable events the author saw or experienced. Very good for what it was, and perhaps the trouble was with what I expected from it - or thought it would be.

To my mind this bood has a very good lesson for everyone. This book based on a real story. It is about a woman called Heidi, served a USA Navy and she was a psychologist at this military branch. She is getting deployed to the Iraq and should leave her family and parents behind. She is being so stressed about the situation and trying her best not to show it in front of her little kids. In Iraq Heidi missing her family a lot, but also she knows how important she is at the plase where she is. Heidi is playing important role in all soldiers's life. Lots of Marines and Navy soldiers asking her for help. She is writing letters home and getting responses from her family about how they are doing without her being at home. She also getting a lot of encouragement and support from her father. To share her sadness, she is finding another woman which is also mother and had to leave her family behind. They are sharing funny stories, crying together and worrying about their soldiers. Heidi has problems understanding why very young men are dying. Sometimes she can't handle death of young soldiers, but at the same time she is doing her best in staying stable and strong no matter what is going on around. In the end, she understands why there are two rules in a war and she will definitely get the exact meaning of these rules.

Dr Heidi Kraft went to Iraq as clinical psychologist ("shrink") with a Marine hospital. She left behind her two children, twins, a boy and a girl 15 months old. In a preface she writes that she has told her story so that one day her children will read it, and understand why she had to leave them.

The writing is straightforward. The chapters are short, and switch back and forth between her experiences in the field, and her news from home. She writes about the heat, the insects, the food, and fun times like Sopranos night. She writes about the people she met, and their suffering, and how she tried to listen, and help. She writes about her own emotional stress, and bad dreams, and growing numbness.

I did not know what the title meant. It is a reference to an old M*A*S*H episode. Rule Number One is that, in war, young men die. Rule Number Two is that doctors can't do anything to change Rule Number One. Everyone is damaged, including the doctors.

This is one of the "lessons learned in a combat hospital." The book is really more a telling of what it is like over there than it is a list of lessons. If lesson number one is that everybody hurts, lesson number two is probably that people need each other, and can help each other. Every gesture of kindness and solidarity, every smile given, every hand held, matters a lot in the end.