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Patrick Thibeault
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My Journey as a Combat Medic: From Desert Storm to Operation Enduring Freedom Kindle Edition

by Patrick Thibeault (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 95 ratings
See all formats and editions
Patrick Thibeault has served in the US Army in various capacities since the 1990s, originally training as a Airborne soldier before specialising as a combat medic.

My Journey as a Combat Medic covers his original training and deployment before providing a look at the roles he's since played in the US Army's forces, including his recent deployment to Afghanistan.

It is a no-holds bar look at the modern medic in the US Army, allowing us a glimpse at the training as a soldier and as a specialist, as well as deployment and front line duties and the impact of service on civilian life, including an honest look at PTSD, from the author's own personal experience.

Rather than a technical manual, My Journey as a Combat Medic is a detailed first hand account, concluding with a letter to new medics, providing a career's worth of advice and knowledge as they begin their journeys.
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  1. Print length
    229 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Osprey Publishing
  5. Publication date
    July 20, 2012
  6. File size
    8016 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patrick Thibeault was raised as an Army brat. He lived in Germany, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and his father was stationed in Seoul, South Korea, where he attended Seoul American High School and graduated in 1989. Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted in the Army and became a paratrooper medic. Patrick deployed to Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990. He deployed twice to Ecuador during his time with the Kentucky Army National Guard. He eventually graduated with a bachelor' degree in nursing in 2003 from Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and completed his master' degree as a family nurse practitioner from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2008. His awards and decorations include the Combat Medical Badge, 2nd award from both Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom. The Meritorious Service Medical from Afghanistan, the Air Medal from Desert Storm. Patrick also has earned the Expert Field Medical Badge, Paratrooper badge, and the enlisted crewmember aviation wings.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01DPPPS9Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Osprey Publishing; 1st edition (July 20, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 20, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8016 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 229 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 95 ratings

About the author

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Patrick Thibeault

Patrick Thibeault

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Patrick Thibeault served as a combat medic during Operation Desert Storm with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. He was a paratrooper and flight medic in the unit. He deployed to numerous locations across the globe with unit

Later served in the Army National Guard deploying to Afghanistan.

Patrick retired from military service and now works as a nurse practitioner.

He wrote "My Journey as a Combat Medic" , a memoir based on his experiences as a combat medic. Patrick also published "Combat Medic Poetry". Both books are avaiable on Amazon.com Please check out Patricks Websites: www.medicstory.com and www.combatmedicpoetry.com

Thibeault earned two Combat Medical Badges, aviation crew wings, paratrooper jump wings. He currently lives in Indiana

He enjoys Star Trek, working out, playing with cats and dog and spending time with his beautiful wife. His dream is for My Journey as a Combat Medic to made into a movie !

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
95 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

R. Diver
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for military and non military
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2011
Verified Purchase
This is a GREAT book for both military and non military people. Patrick does a wonderful job "telling his life story as a combat medic". After reading the book, I feel I have better insight to what our Military Personnel have to do on a day to day basis. The knowledge, the training, the dedication that someone have to have to be able to perform this job is amazing. When Patrick would tell some of the stories about growing up as an Amy brat, I felt like I was there with him.
This would be a good book for any army medic or anyone who has an army medic in the family. Patrick goes beyond telling the life of an Army medic and gives information that might come in handy to military personnel who specializes as an army medic. Patrick does a good job of referring to guidebooks as well as ways a combat medic can further his/her career. Patrick also talked about his life after the military, and I am sure there are many people out there that would like to know more about PTSD. If so, this book has some good info.
I hope Patrick plans to write more books, this was easy to read and VERY enjoyable. I look forward to more!
4 people found this helpful
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S. Ward
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Written, Compassionate Account of Wartime Experiences
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
While I've never had a special interest in the military, I appreciate the chance to read and review well crafted memoirs by soldiers who have served in war. For me, a book like this is an important piece of living history. It's also a chance to vicariously experience a soldier's life in a way that is neither romanticized nor reconfigured to deliver a heavy "war is hell" message. It's simply an honest story of wartime experiences, conveying the horrors of war along with myriad acts of courage and compassion and other achievements.

Raised as an "army brat," Patrick Thibeault enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school and became a paratrooper and combat medic. In 1990, he was deployed to Operation Desert Shield, and he served in Iraq through Desert Storm. Later he served as a soldier and medic in Afghanistan. My Journey as a Combat Medic: From Desert Storm to Operation Enduring Freedom is his memoir about his experiences. Please see my interview with the author, which conveys the spirit of this book better than I could.

Thibeault writes in a vivid, engaging style that will appeal to a variety of readers including those, like me, who have no military experience. From taking his first jump as a paratrooper, to the ups and downs of military training, to providing medical care to soldiers, civilians, and prisoners of war, he brings his experiences to life. Reading this book, I could feel the heat of the desert and the weight of body armor and smell the aroma of spent ammunition, burnt flesh, and helicopter exhaust.

I appreciate this author's honesty, compassion, humility, and dry sense of humor. The stories he shares are raw and real, in many ways, but tempered with humor.

This author offers glimpses of Afghanistan's culture and his experiences living and working closely with the Afghani people. He also shares many of the frustrations of wartime service, which most of us have gleaned only from the media, including having inadequate equipment and supplies.

One of the most interesting parts of this book, for me, was the author's discussion of post-traumatic stress disorder. He writes openly of his own struggle with PTSD -- including rage, flashbacks, and nightmares -- and discusses the challenges this poses and which strategies have been helpful for him. I appreciate the author's having the courage to explore this part of his journey.

I highly recommend this book, which works on many levels. It is an interesting memoir and an important first-person account of modern history. It also illuminates -- in a way that is honest and unsentimental without being negative -- the experiences of men and women in military service who, along with their families, have borne sacrifices for the rest of us.
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Andy in Washington
3.0 out of 5 stars The difference between a memoir and a history
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer. When I see "My Journey...", I expect a look at a series of events through one person's eyes. I expect to feel their day-to-day struggles, their emotions, their triumphs and failures, and get a glimpse of how they have changes as a results of their experience. That was not my experience with this book.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* Patrick Thibeault's experiences are somewhat mind-boggling. He captures the life of a US Army medic, both in relatively peaceful stateside environments and in combat tours in some of the least hospitable places on the planet. He gives fairly honest looks at the good and bad things that a medic is exposed to, and he doesn't sugarcoat (nor sensationalize) the horrors.

* Thibeault writes reasonably well, at least in regards to mechanics. The text flows easily, and there is very little medical or military jargon cluttering up the story. He errs on the side of simplicity and avoids the more complex aspects of his environment.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* I just never connected with the author or the story. The book always feels more like I am reading some sort of official report rather than a personal memoir. The stories told in the book are relatively unconnected, and there is very little continuity of experience. For example, one of the more interesting aspects of Thibeault's military career, at least to me, would be how his attitude and motivation change as he approaches his third combat deployment.

* The format of the book doesn't help matters. Rather than a chronological order, the book is loosely organized by topic. That might make sense if this was a manual on how to be an army medic, but it falls flat as a memoir. Many of the times, it is not even obvious to the reader what the setting of the individual tale is.

=== Summary ===

* This book is more like a series of vignettes of the career of an Army medic rather than a memoir of any particular one. Some of the stories are simply breathtaking, while others are mundane bordering on boring. It was an easy-to-read book, and overall I am glad I read it. But there was just so much that could have been cut from the book, and so much that could have been added.
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