INSIDE COMBAT RESCUE and Inside the Life of a Mrs. Lieutenant

Vietnam-era novel MRS. LIEUTENANT is FREE on Kindle on March 6 and 7 (4.6 out of 5 stars on 50 reviews). Download now: viewBook.at/B0019V2HFK

I watched an amazing episode of National Geographic Television's documentary TV series INSIDE COMBAT RESCUE. Elite Air Force pararescuemen fly off into harm's way at a moment's notice to rescue Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

While watching the episode, I found myself comparing the action to battlefield rescue during the Vietnam War. As my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT describes, the American public watched nightly news footage of wounded and dying men on stretchers being rushed to rescue helicopters under attack.

Then the grim task of triage set in. While perhaps with vastly improved battlefield medicine these wrenching decisions are not needed as much today, here is what one character in MRS. LIEUTENANT says about triage during the Vietnam War:

The medical personnel in Vietnam practice triage — giving priority to those who have the best chance for survival. When an evacuation helicopter sets down at a field hospital, the medics run with their litters. A doctor or a nurse or even an orderly has seconds to make these decisions.

(This does not mean the most critically injured are treated first but instead those who have the best chance of survival.)

In the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT, the evacuation scenes from Vietnam writ large are part of the life of a Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970 right after the Kent State shootings. Four very different women in the novel struggle to cope with their new roles.

And in the episode of INSIDE COMBAT RESCUE, what came through most clearly was the total chaos that rescue helicopters have to fly into, and how incredible are the paramedic life-saving techniques performed in a bouncing helicopter.

The series is airing on Monday nights here in Southern California. Check your local listings for when you can watch these tremendous acts of heroism.

© 2013 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at viewAuthor.at/PhyllisZimblerMiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com