Book Review: Doc!

Hugh Sullivan served in the Navy for 39 years. Enlisting in 1961, he spent the first 16 of those years as a hospital corpsman. He would serve two tours in Vietnam, deploy to Operation Desert Storm, and rack up an impressive number of campaign and service ribbons and medals before retiring in 2000 as a Captain. 

It's safe to say he probably has some really good stories to tell. It's fortunate for the rest of us that he's written a memoir about the lifetime of service he gave his country. "Doc! The Adventures of a Navy Hospital Corpsman" is that memoir. 

"Doc," as many Marines and Corpsmen know, is a term of affection the Marines have for some of their battlefield medics. Grunts and Corpsmen alike will really enjoy Capt. Sullivan's reflections on his tours in Vietnam and his early deployments in Asia. But the book isn't just a memoir; there's something for military personnel and military medical troops in the book. 

As the story continues into the later years of Sullivan's career, he begins to find frustrations with the egoism and political machinations that dominate the higher brass of the U.S. Navy. Along the journey, the author offers ways personnel of any rank can still be successful amid similar political infighting and other career difficulties. 

Sullivan's book is a very readable, first-person account of what it was like to serve in the U.S. Navy during the latter half of the 20th century. He doesn't pull punches when describing himself or his experiences, so it makes this book a valuable read for anyone interested in the Vietnam or Desert Storm eras. Anyone who served as a corpsman will definitely love "Doc."

"Doc! The Adventures of a Navy Hospital Corpsman" is available on Amazon Kindle for $4.99 and paperback for $18.95.