Blood, Tears, and IV's: a memoir of a combat medic in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Blood, Tears, and IV's, a memoir of a combat medic, explores the challenging and emotional experiences of one twenty-four-year-old combat medic serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based out of Vicenza, Italy. Sergeant Elissa Lonsdale, the author, was sent to Iraq on the Fourth of July, 2003. She knew the situation she was going into would be a difficult one. Based on her journal she kept while she was in Iraq, this book details her most memorable situations. Some are positive, and others were difficult to put into words. With a major part of the Army still deployed and continuing to deploy, Sergeant Lonsdale wanted to share her memories, as they will stick with her always. "You realize when you get back that there is no way to erase bad memories, only ways to try and make sense of them." Sergeant Lonsdale participated in the treatment of combat casualties, including soldiers, civilians and Iraqis. She recounts in this book her many strange date-related events, such as when her convoy was ambushed on her birthday; she lost a fellow medic to a stroke; another soldier and friend was electrocuted doing his job on Christmas Eve; many missions to villages surrounded by Iraqi children; rendering care to the sick and wounded; and the bond she formed with the medics she was deployed with. Sergeant Lonsdale is still serving on active duty in the Army and currently holds a position in an emergency room as a shift leader.