Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq

MASS
CASUALTIES

A YOUNG MEDIC'S TRUE STORY
OF
DEATH,
DECEPTION,
AND DISHONOR
IN IRAQ

SPC MICHAEL ANTHONY

Copyright © 2009 by Michael Ruehrwein
All rights reserved.
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form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are
made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

“Reintegration” reprinted with permission from Samuel W. Tarr.

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ISBN 10: 1-4405-0183-1
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“
Mass Casualties
finds the truth behind the most recent propaganda — the small stories, the base commonality of human nature revealed in war. A purely personal and timely story, moving from black comedy to a sun-baked depression, anchored with unsparing honesty.”

Samuel Sheridan

Author of
A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting

“Anthony's painful account of his time at war is at times difficult to read. This coming-of-age war memoir details the very gut-wrenching journey he takes into manhood in the backdrop of grueling combat. His voice is unique and deserves to be heard.”

David Bellavia

Co-Founder of Vets For Freedom; Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross Nominee; Author of
House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

“Michael Anthony's candid narrative of his service in Iraq is far removed from the glamorized picture of military life that has become a staple of our mass media. Instead, we are confronted with a world of men and women psychologically strained to the breaking point. You will share his sense of disillusionment after reading this eye-opening memoir.”

David Livingstone Smith, PhD

Author of
The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War

“
Mass Casualties
is a raw, vivid look at the realities behind the daily news about American soldiers overseas. You will think differently about news from Iraq and Afghanistan after reading this book.”

James Fallows

Author of
Blind into Baghdad: America's War in Iraq

“Glossy recruitment brochures tell one story. This book tells another. Beyond the slick fantasies promoted by the Pentagon and the euphemisms reported by the news media,
Mass Casualties
offers readers an account of war that cuts against the mythical grain.”

Norman Solomon

Author of
War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

“The human cost of war is excessive, as this harsh but thoroughly absorbing book by Michael Anthony reveals. It's a riveting account of life within the pitch of battle, giving us — his grateful readers — the feel of this war, its dreadful tensions, its horror, its absurdity.
Mass Casualties
is an important book, and it deserves wide attention.”

Jay Parini

Author of
Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America

“There are plenty of books about war, usually featuring the trigger-pullers who directly engage the enemy.
Mass Casualties
looks at war from a different angle, from those who try to save the wounded and dying. Make no mistake: Their war is just as difficult. Michael Anthony has captured the intensity of the OR, the crushing fatigue of shift duty, and the inevitable clash of personalities that are part of any military unit. It's a great read for anyone who wants to see the horror of war from a new perspective.”

Tom Neven

Marine Corps Veteran; Author of
On the Frontline

“The full story of the Iraq War remains to be written, but the firsthand accounts of young people who were there can help us begin to try and make sense of what is often taken as a senseless conflict. Amidst the politics and economics of warfare there are individuals struggling to survive, both physically and emotionally. The least we can do is listen to their stories with genuine empathy and an open mind, as we seek pathways from war toward peace.”

Randall Amster, JD, PhD

Executive Director of the Peace & Justice Studies Association

“A moving account of a young soldier's story. This deeply personal memoir gives voice to the countless soldiers we have yet to hear from and never will.”

Yvonne Latty

Author of
In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out On Duty, Loss, and the Fight to Stay Alive

“
Mass Casualties
is a raw and humorous account of Army medics dodging harm from mortars and the military bureaucracy. Michael Anthony gives us a gripping memoir of a young soldier trapped in a world of incompetence and hypocrisy that results from a total failure of leadership. This insider's view of what really happens in an operating room full of combat casualties and the effect it has on the caregivers is eye-opening. Our wounded warriors and those who care for them deserve far better.”

Colonel Steven O'Hern

Author of
The Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad

“Michael Anthony writes in the tradition of Joseph Heller and Richard Hooker, demystifying the theater of war and revealing our soldiers to be all-too-human figures — comic and petty, but sometimes heroic and tragic.”

Marc Folkoff

Author of
Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak

“This isn't a portrait of the typical army experience in Iraq; this is one young man's perspective on what happens when poor leadership fails the challenge of command. Michael Anthony calls it like he saw it, refusing platitudes of the virtuous American soldier. If only Vonnegut or Heller had material like this.”

Alex Vernon

Author of
Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Writing

“Michael Anthony's candid journal of his tour in Iraq offers a vivid sense of day-to-day life in a war-zone medical unit. He enriches our understanding of the variety of ways — sanctioned and unsanctioned, honorable and sordid — our occupying army deals with boredom, fear, frustration, and loneliness.”

Christian G. Appy

Author of
Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides

“SPC Anthony's authentic journal opens our eyes to the corrosive effect of the military mindset on human sensibilities. This is the unadulterated grit of history, in the here-and-now.”

Ray Raphael

Historian; Author of
Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation

“
Mass Casualties
is a true-to-life exposé of the absurdity of the war in Iraq. Anthony lays bare the hyper-reality of American knowinglessness about Iraq, and captures the day-to-day insanity of the war.
Mass Casualties
is a must-read for patriot Americans concerned with the U.S. global empire and the undisclosed truths of the Iraq occupation.”

Peter Phillips

Professor of Sociology and Director of Project Censored, Sonoma State University

“SPC Michael Anthony channels
Baghdad ER, Catch-22, M*A*S*H
, and
Lord of the Flies
as he narrates his dark, entertaining, and tragic journey through war. A thoughtful, candid, and mesmerizing glimpse into the enigmatic world of a U.S. Army combat support hospital.”

David J. Danelo

Former Marines Captain; Purple Heart Recipient and Iraq War Veteran; Author of
Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq

“Michael Anthony's book
Mass Casualties
is unique and important. Readers of this incredible book will never look at war or its aftermath in quite the same way again.”

Stanley Krippner, PhD

Coauthor of
Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans

“From traumatic injuries to anthrax shots, Michael Anthony has captured in intricate detail life in a combat-zone operating room. As someone who's done two tours myself, even I learned an incredible amount.”

Brandon R. Friedman

Iraq Veteran; Author of
The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War

“A scathing, satirical, and often shocking trip through “the other war” in Iraq — the war within the U.S. Army, and within a soldier's soul. Michael Anthony's memoir is the perfect antidote for anyone who would glorify war or its impact on warriors. He has penned his generation's
M*A*S*H
, with echoes of
Catch-22
and Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing sagas.

Charles Jones

Journalist in the Iraq War; Author of
Red, White or Yellow?: The Media and the Military at War in Iraq

“Soldiers are witnesses to chaos and carnage, and there is a false belief that they should recover from what they have seen and done, and have had done to them. A dark secret about war is that it seldom builds character. Michael Anthony has written an honest book that is both sobering and relevant.”

Donald Anderson

Editor of “War, Literature & the Arts,” an international journal of the humanities; Author of
When War Becomes Personal: Soldiers' Accounts from the Civil War to Iraq