Citizen-Surgeon

A Memoir

By: Paul Bryan Roach

Narrated by: Paul Bryan Roach, Emmett Schrader

Citizen-Surgeon takes listeners into the otherwise inaccessible, remote, and intense world of life and surgery within a combat zone. In the backdrop of the US-led war in Afghanistan, amid a defining US Marine Corps’ offensive to conquer the Marjah region of Helmand Province, [then] US Navy Commander Paul Roach and his company-mates assemble and congeal as a medical unit in Southern California, transport from the United States to their tents in Dasht-e-Margo (the “Desert of Death”) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, and professionally execute their role as one of the few medical and surgical companies supporting this major offensive.

In the course of the book’s events, the author undergoes a transformation from being a physician in a military uniform into a military officer that happens to be a physician. The crucible effecting this change is the military offensive and his role within it. Shocking and intense, an array of critical injuries and their treatments are described in rich language that anyone, medical or nonmedical alike, can absorb. Death also pervades the atmosphere; intrusive, unyielding, and painful, its battlefield familiarity and personal impact is resisted, suffered, and ultimately, accepted.

Citizen-Surgeon is an intimate portrayal; a chronicle; a celebration of friendship, love, success, and failure; contemporary war; and military medicine. It is an account of a slice of reality that few people are privileged to know. It reflects deeply upon the nature of personal choice and how that choice puts us where we are in life, even if we did not fully see in advance how the choice would change us. Citizen-Surgeon also explores a variant of post-traumatic stress particular to medical assets, and it reveals one man’s chess match against it. It is a must-listen for those with a specific interest in contemporary military medicine, and for those with broader, essentially human interests in individual growth, adventure, and self-actualization.

©2016 Paul Bryan Roach (P)2021 Rogues Gallery, LLC

Thank you!

A very good friend of mine told me about this book. I had to listen to it! I work with OIF/OEF veterans and the author gave me insight I have never had before regarding the war and combat medical care. It brought back memories of watching M.A.S.H as a teenager, but better! It would be wonderful if this was a “must read” for all VA employees!!

Highly recommended!

I’ve read a lot more about prior conflicts than I have about our wars in the Mid-East, but something about this one drew me in and I’m damned glad that it did. The story is compelling, the author/narrator hit the right combination of detail and emotion and pain. It was all in all a fantastic read that I am recommending to everyone.

I can relate

I can relate to what the author went through while he was in the military. Like the author I to enlisted in service in 1990 and made it a career. The only difference is I was an Enlisted Marine Administrator.

Who had to deploy and leave my family behind. In support of the Infantry Battalion’s and like the Arthur HMM 265 different year and different Navy Ships. I was on the USS New Orleans (LPH-11) in 1995.

Like the author I remember my second deployment six month on a Naval Ship USS Boxer 1997 my wife was pregnant with our first child how hard it was as the ship pulled away from the pier at 32nd Street San Diego knowing that I would not see her again until my deployment was over.

Of course that was not my first deployment I was deployed to Iraq twice in support of an Infantry Battalion. It was a group of us one officer, 5 Marines , and myself the only difference was we did know some of the Marines and Sailors which made it harder but we still did our best to support them By ensuring that the service members got paid what they rated, received the mail that the love ones and friends sent and other administrative duties.

Like the author i missed my family allot but was lucky to have the support like he did and made my job allot easier.

Sometimes I am ask how it is to serve in the military and I tell them that is a great filling you get to see the world and serve your country and in my case take your family with me Okinawa, Japan. With that said when you sign that contract you have make sure that this is what you want to do. Because once you are in and you change your mind it is along process that you go through to be discharge before your contract has ended and sometimes the discharge is not a favorable one.

Now that I am retired would I do it again the answer is yes because I got to serve my country and with some awesome service members who I still keep in touch with.

Semper Fi sir and thank you very much for writing this awesome book.

Moved Me Deeply, Listened Straight Thru

Wow!! What a real, true look into the complete difference in profession between a surgeon treating civilians in a pristine, high tech OR vs a surgeon in a war environment! Total different injuries and environments. I loved this book and the Author's truth telling about the emotional fallout and internal controversy between missing the irreplaceable months which turn to years with his own family to attempt to save the lives of others in a faraway land, some of which were enemy combatants. There is no way to fathom, as a civilian living in relative ease and luxury, what this Author has seen and endured, but I'm quite sure (having been a patient myself) that the life, skill and disciplined work he poured out of his own body and soul to save others is more meaningful to his patients and their loved ones than could possibly be comprehended. This book was perfectly written and narrated and it is a gift to readers who would have no way to receive such a view otherwise. My utmost respect to this Author!

Puts sacrifice in perspective

I loved the book! Although I wasn’t in the service I have a connection being a military mom, former trauma nurse and serving our veterans in a VA. The personal accounts both of the medical cases and raw emotions associated with war and being in the service sure made me appreciate all our service men and women do for our freedoms. Paul has an easy to listen to and “real” voice making for a good audio. Highly recommend - gain some perspective on wartime surgeons beyond that of M.A.S.H.!

Great Read

What an incredible guy with a great story of his life as a military surgeon. I appreciated the way he did not talk down to those who aren’t in the medical profession, yet kept the terminology for those of us who are. It was a good balance, and difficult I’m sure. The stories were heart wrenching gave insight to what medical teams face daily on the front lines of war. This was a wonderful book.

great listen

sobering account of a army surgeon, excellent story and very emotional, war is he'll and not all it's made out to be

Tattood on our soul

What an amazing book, I couldn't stop listening. I am just about to begin my first year of medical school and I have 13 years of service in the ND National guard: 8 years as a combat medic. Thank you for sharing your story, I know it will help me more than I'll ever know. I plan to go into surgery and one day might be in your shoes.

Incredible Story

Informative-detailed - heartfelt.
Gave me a whole new outlook on war. And the whole medical side of it that I knew nothing about. Interesting.
Learned about Afghanistan’s history and it’s people.
I really enjoyed this book- I laughed some- felt sadness and cried in places.
I highly recommend it.

Sensitive, beautifully written and narrated.

I enjoyed every moment. I felt the emotions of looking at the wounded and they were your patients not the enemy or one of our own. The emotions of handling little innocent children caught up in a cruel world.
Amazing how the Dr’s and medical staff gave willingly of their blood to save human lives. Highly recommended.