About this ebook
An ex-SAS surgeon’s gripping memoir of trying to save lives in disaster areas and war zones around the globe.
In this fast-paced narrative, ex-SAS surgeon Richard Villar provides a very personal insight into the difficulties, dangers, and occasional virtual impossibility of providing medical aid to disaster areas and war zones.
He shares his remarkable experiences in the aftermath of three major earthquakes Kashmir (2005), Java (2006), and Haiti (2010) as well as in the 2011 Libyan civil war, in a no-holds-barred introduction to a world most will never experience. He describes what happens on the ground before a full aid program swings into action. Arriving in a stricken area with the infrastructure destroyed, his small, dedicated team can take nothing for granted; water, power, shelter, and the rule of law are likely to be nonexistent and disease and shortages of food and water ever present. They meet challenges that the rest of us can only imagine and are under intense pressure to help, comfort, and sustain overwhelming numbers of traumatized men, women, and children whose worlds have been turned upside down.
Winged Scalpel is not only a riveting read but highly instructional and informative. From his own point of view, the author’s experiences prove that you can take a man out of the SAS, but you cannot take the SAS out of the man.
In this fast-paced narrative, ex-SAS surgeon Richard Villar provides a very personal insight into the difficulties, dangers, and occasional virtual impossibility of providing medical aid to disaster areas and war zones.
He shares his remarkable experiences in the aftermath of three major earthquakes Kashmir (2005), Java (2006), and Haiti (2010) as well as in the 2011 Libyan civil war, in a no-holds-barred introduction to a world most will never experience. He describes what happens on the ground before a full aid program swings into action. Arriving in a stricken area with the infrastructure destroyed, his small, dedicated team can take nothing for granted; water, power, shelter, and the rule of law are likely to be nonexistent and disease and shortages of food and water ever present. They meet challenges that the rest of us can only imagine and are under intense pressure to help, comfort, and sustain overwhelming numbers of traumatized men, women, and children whose worlds have been turned upside down.
Winged Scalpel is not only a riveting read but highly instructional and informative. From his own point of view, the author’s experiences prove that you can take a man out of the SAS, but you cannot take the SAS out of the man.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
4 reviews
A Google user
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June 7, 2018
I couldn't put this book down..a real eye opener. It made me feel so
ignorant of what is going on in the world.
1 person found this review helpful
Dien Nguyen
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January 7, 2023
Great, informative and mesmerizing book to read. Wish there's more like this. It's eyes opening for me.
About the author
Richard Villar is an ex-SAS Surgeon.
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