As a recent British immigrant the author was exempt from the compulsory two-year call-up for National Service that all white South African males faced when they turned 18. Despite this he volunteered for National Service in July 1984 and then volunteered to serve in the South African Medical Service. Following basic training he was posted to SAMS' Combat Medical Operation Company (Ops Company) for six months of advanced specialist training. In the lecture room and later in civilian hospitals he learned the arts of stabilising patients, stopping bleeding, maintaining airways, suturing wounds, administering drips and performing minor lifesaving medical procedures. On 1 March 1985 he was sent to SWA/Namibia, where he saw service in Angola until the SADF withdrew its troops a month later. From there he was posted to 53-Battalion's company base at Etale. It was garrisoned by Owambo troops of the SWATF's 101-Battalion and white National Servicemen. He writes about border patrols conducted on foot and in Buffel mine protected fighting vehicles, seeking out SWAPO's armed guerrillas who had infiltrated from Angola and the constant anticipation of ambush by an elusive foe.He tells of the stabilisation and casevac of casualties by helicopter.In truth white National Service units achieved little success in the border war against an underrated enemy. As one senior officer put it: 'In my view SWAPO, despite inferior weaponry, was ahead of us in most respects. We took a boy who had just matriculated, gave him a gun, two or three months of basic training - and threw him into the middle of a country that he didn't know, people he didn't understand and an enemy he had never seen. No wonder he didn't do very well. Nevertheless, the young conscripts bore a terrible load, for which they received little gratitude.' So this is not the story of elite and glamorous fighting units like the Reconnaissance Commandos, Koevoet, 32-Battalion, or the Parachute Battalions and the successes they achieved, but of young, white, conscripted National Serviceman, often straight from school, who were thrown headfirst into a guerrilla war in a country outside of South Africa and far from home. Many National Servicemen, including 37 Ops Medics, died fighting in the Border War. Fifteen were awarded the Honoris Crux (two of the silver grade) for bravery - four posthumously.

The Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook is an essential resource for military medical personnel and civilians working in austere environments. This comprehensive guide covers a wide range of topics, from tactical combat casualty care to medical planning and preventive medicine. With its practical, step-by-step instructions and detailed illustrations, this handbook is a must-have for anyone responsible for providing medical care in challenging and high-stress situations.

The Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook is a comprehensive reference designed for combat and special forces medics in the field, it is also a must-have reference for any military or emergency response medical personnel, particularly in hostile environments. Developed as a primary medical information resource and field guide for the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). As a grid-down medical reference for the doomsday prepper it can't be beaten. Defines the standard of health care delivery under adverse and general field conditions. Organized according to symptoms, organ systems, specialty areas, operational environments and procedures. Emphasizes acute care in all its forms (including gynecology, general medicine, dentistry, poisonings, infestations, parasitic infections, acute infections, hyper- and hypothermia, high altitude, aerospace, dive medicine, and sanitation.). DO NO HARM, DO KNOW HARM The following medical texts should be in the preps of every serious off-grid survivor: Ranger Medic Handbook Special Operations Medical Handbook STP 31-18D34-SM-TG A MOS 18D Special Forces Medical Sergeant PART A: Skill Levels 3 and 4 STP 31-18D34-SM-TG B MOS 18D Special Forces Medical Sergeant PART B: Skill Levels 3 and 4

720 pages. Twenty years have passed since the forerunner of this book, the last edition of The U.S. Army Special Forces Medical Handbook, was published. The world has changed dramatically in those twenty years, with new weapons, threats and diseases emerging. Advancing technology and an explosive proliferation of medical information on the Internet have revolutionized medical practice. However, the mission of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) medic has not changed: unaided, the medic provides care with limited resources in austere, hostile, stressful, and isolated environments, without the capability to evacuate the patient for up to seventy-two hours. The scope and standards of the SOF medical mission are radically different from those found in a fixed-facility, fully equipped and staffed hospital in a peaceful setting in the United States. Few in the civilian (or even military) medical profession ever are challenged with the conditions in which SOF medics practice medicine daily. The SOF medic still has the ultimate medical mission. Despite the proliferation of medical information, no single reference source has emerged addressing the varied and complicated needs of the SOF medic. As a result, conflicting information and even misinformation have created confusion over the most basic medical questions, possibly endangering the lives of those we are committed to helping. The SOF medical community had to remedy this dangerous situation by creating a new SOF Medical Handbook, one that provides guidance to medics in our special environment, answering the hard diagnostic and treatment questions as best as possible. These answers are based on the best possible knowledge and tailored to the austere mission - in plain, straightforward language, without excuses, conditions or academic musings.

The gripping memoir of Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart recipient SEAL Lieutenant Mark L. Donald, Battle Ready. As A SEAL and combat medic, Mark served his country with valorous distinction for almost twenty-five years and survived some of the most dangerous combat actions imaginable. From the rigors of BUD/S training to the horrors of the battlefield, Battle Ready dramatically immerses the reader in the unique life of the elite warrior-medic who advances into combat with life-saving equipment in one hand and life-taking weapons in the other. It is also an uplifting human story that reveals how a young Hispanic American bootstrapped himself out of a life that promised a dead-end future by enlisting in the military. That new life begins with the Marines and includes his heroic achievements on the battlefield and the operating table, and finally, of his inspirational triumph over the demons caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that threatened to destroy him and his family.