Armed with Lollipops

Officer, The, Apr 2009 by Earl, M E

ROA Author

Armed with Lollipops

Pediatrician Soldier: The Man the Kids Call Or. Charlie' Goes to War by Charles Garbarino (iUniverse)

The photo on the book jacket - three girls dressed as Soldier, doctor, and cheerleader - shows the three perspec- tives that ROA member COL Charles Garbarino, ARNG, brings to his book Pediatrician Soldier. The narrative is a series of snapshots: e-mails and diary entries from two Operation Iraqi Freedom deployments, written by a patriotic yet irreverent 5 5 -year-old National Guardsman from Brooklyn who has seen much during his 30 years as a pediatrician.

COL Garbarino brings a unique perspective: he's simultaneously awed by the patriotism and valor of those deployed with him yet keenly observant of human frailties magnified by war. He often scratches his head at the petty bureaucracies that deployed along with the Soldiers. In a vignette we military can sympathize with, when COL Gab arino wears a bandana that is not proper camouflage material while exercising, he is accused of being "against regulations."

Dr. Charlie describes fellow medics setting up a mobile clinic and trying, in one afternoon, to put a dent in a lifetime of primitive health care for a remote village. The medics "carry a weapon in one hand and a stethoscope in the other." And when treating an ailing Soldier, there is often no obvious cure. "I am a pediatrician. I deal with kids but what I learned is that all Soldiers are just big kids. Treatment: double the dose, bring additional lollipops, and hold their hands more."

This is a description of war at a very raw, very individual level. Because Dr. Charlie writes from the gut, it can make the combat experience real for even those who are physically and emotionally thousands of miles away from Iraq.

- Lt Col M.E. Earl, USMCR (Ret.), Associate Editor