Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

Heidi Squier Kraft

Oct 2007 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

When Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft's twin son and daughter were fifteen months old, she was deployed to Iraq. A clinical psychologist in the US Navy, Kraft's job was to uncover the wounds of war that a surgeon would never see. She put away thoughts of her children back home, acclimated to the sound of incoming rockets, and learned how to listen to the most traumatic stories a war zone has to offer.

One of the toughest lessons of her deployment was perfectly articulated by the TV show M*A*S*H: "There are two rules of war. Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors can't change rule number one." Some Marines, Kraft realized, and even some of their doctors, would be damaged by war in ways she could not repair. And sometimes, people were repaired in ways she never expected.

Rule Number Two is a powerful firsthand account of providing comfort admidst the chaos of war, and of what it takes to endure.

Ratings and reviews

Dr. Kraft tells a story that is often left out of the storied history of the Marines, the compasion and caring for eachother that truly cements the brotherhood within the Corps. She looks into the Esprit de Corps and pulls from it a battle tale about what it does to our emotional and physiological states. I read this book for the first time when I was an young Cpl in the Marine Corps, the truth in this book is it tells stories about individuals who were true leaders, thier selfless behavior and sacrifice. Cpl Dunham's aspect told a side of a story all Marines know, yet it is never the less pwerful in its dilivery. I handed this book off to all the NCO's in my platoon and each one who took the time to read the book came back and said that it was one of, if not the best books about our brotherhood they had ever read.

About the author

Heidi Squier Kraft received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in 1996. After several years as a flight psychologist with the US Navy, she gave birth to twins in 2002. In February 2004, she deployed to Iraq for seven months. She left active duty in March 2005 after nine years in the Navy, and is now Deputy Program Coordinator, US Navy Combat Stress Control. She lives in San Diego with her husband and kids.