Product Description

At age thirty-eight, Navy Dr. Richard Jadick was too old to be called up to the front lines-but not too old to volunteer. This is the inspiring story of one man's decision to enter into the fray-and a compelling account of courage under fire. Both wrenching and uplifting, On Call in Hell is a portrayal of brothers-in-arms that few will be able to forget. Awarded a Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor, Jadick has become a modern American legend-and a true American hero.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294907 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Blood-and-guts accounts of Fallujah are not in short supply, but Jadick—a career Marine officer and brigade surgeon who took a demotion to battalion surgeon to volunteer for service in Iraq in 2004—tells the story through the eyes of a doctor. Unlike colleagues who remained in battalion aid stations behind the lines, Jadick and his medics accompanied their unit in makeshift ambulances as it battled through the streets. This was not bravado, he writes, but a calculated strategy to reach, stabilize and rush wounded troops to hospitals more quickly. He makes his case many times over, with dramatic accounts of catastrophically injured men from his unit and others who would not have survived a journey to the aid station. This remarkable man's story is well worth telling, although his writer should have discouraged him from frequent pauses for memorial essays on every soldier who died, and to remind readers of the Marines' bravery, of the dedication of the medics, and how much he loves his wife, the Marines and America. Readers who can skim past these segments will find the book a memorable experience. (Mar. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
For many Americans, the image of a military trauma surgeon was crystallized by the character of Hawkeye Pierce, the wisecracking, authority-hating, unwilling draftee made famous by the film and television series M*A*S*H*. But this memoir is the real thing, and it isn't funny. Jadick was an experienced Marine Corps officer who eventually attended medical school on a navy scholarship. In 2004 he left a promising civilian career as a urologist, responding to the military's desperate need for trained surgeons in Iraq. Jadick found himself in the midst of the savage fight for control of the city of Falluja. He chose to operate on the front line, saving both time and lives. Jadick's story is shocking, bloody, and, at times, sickening. He pulls no punches in describing the devastating injuries he had to cope with day after day. Yet this is an inspiring story, both because of the dedicated and brilliant innovations practiced by Jadick and his colleagues and the sheer bravery of the soldiers he encountered. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Lt. Cdr. Richard Jadick is the recipient of the Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor, the only Navy doctor to have been awarded one so far in the Iraq war. He is now a urology resident at the Medical College of Georgia and is still in the Navy.

Thomas Hayden is a freelance journalist.

Customer Reviews

A book for the ages
Richard Jadick just blew me away with this book. This is much more than a book about saving lives in desperate situtations. It also about creativity, teamwork, leadership, altruism and love for your fellow man. Who should read this book? Anyone interested in military history, in the relationship between the Navy and the Marine Corps, in traumatic care in peace and war, in the realities of intense combat, in combat injuries and their treatment. It is also a must read for anyone considering joining the military or becoming a medical professional. The very best chapters start with chapter 8 and continue on to the end of the book. If you thought Hemingway could write about warfare, you should read what Commander Jadick and his co-author have put together. A modern day classic.

Rich Jadick and his corpsmen are the real deal
This is a truly outstanding book which conveys the reality of combat medicine and the dedication of the physicians and corpsmen who accompany the US Marine Corps on the front lines. This should be required reading for every American. The Publishers Weekly review unfortunately missed the entire point of this book with their comment regarding the emphasis placed on each Marine who lost his life in the battle of Fallujah. This book wasn't written to make money, create fame or make best-sellers lists; it was specifically written to bring attention to and laud each of those Marines and US Navy corpsmen who serve a cause greater than themselves and who gave their lives for their country, their Corps, their fellow Marines and for our Freedom. Semper Fi.

Clancy-esk
This was an outstanding narrative. If I did not know it was an autobiography I would have thought it was Tom Clancy's newest series because it read as a well written novel. I truly felt I was there with Cdr. Jadick, from his childhood growing up with the loss of his brother to college hanging from a sheet outside a window to packing guaze in an open thigh wound in the back of Hummer in Iraq. He so vividly describes his experiences that you feel his excitement when things go well and his loss when they don't. It's truly a remarkable work of literature.

I don't get a chance to read for pleasure very often, but this was definately worth the time.