OIF airborne combat medic tells all in memoir

The Bayonet (Ft. Benning, GA), Spc. Eliamar Trapp, Assistant editor

"I was sent to Iraq on the Fourth of July," she said. "I thought it was ironic I was going to war on that very day. I decided I would keep a journal."

Her journal would help her turn her experiences into a book - Blood, Tears and IV's: Memoirs of a U.S. Army Medic in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In the book, Elissa recounts the good and the bad that comes out of war from a combat medics' perspective.

She tells the stories about the help her unit provided to Iraqis and even insurgents, but, more importantly, to her fellow Soldiers.

"In some ways this book is closure for me," Elissa said. "It's been almost two years and every once in a while I still have nightmares ... but I have memories that will last me a lifetime. Some good and some bad, but hey, you can't have everything perfect."

After her unit returned from Iraq in February 2004, Elissa said many of the Soldiers in her unit were command referred to see a psychologist to deal with post traumatic stress disorder.

Her doctor recommended she turn her journal into a book as "self therapy."

"I sat down one weekend and just started writing," Elissa said. "Once I began, I couldn't stop. Everything just came to me and I finished it that weekend."

She hadn't thought much about publishing the book until she met Chuck Dean, a 173rd veteran who served in Okinawa. He was visiting the Soldiers of the 173rd and giving a seminar on PTSD. Dean also wrote several books about his time in the military.

He edited the book for Elissa six chapters at a time and helped get it published. Blood, Tears and IV's: Memoirs of a U.S. Army Medic in Operation Iraqi Freedom will be released July 7 and is already available for pre-order online.

"This is just another way of proving to myself that I could do something," Elissa said. "If I got anything from this, it is the bonds I've made with the people who have helped me with it and those who I deployed with. I know I'll be e-mailing them until I'm fifty."

UPDATE (1750): Another medic tells his story... well, he tells some stories, that's for sure.