WHISKEY DUST AND BLOOD

The Desert Medics of '90 | Short Novella Story | Military | True Encounters | NAFU Files Series |

“We weren’t heroes. We were medics. We ran toward shit everyone else ran away from.”

Whiskey, Dust, and Blood is the unflinching, darkly funny, and brutally real story of Specialist Lee Shaw, a U.S. Army combat medic thrust into the chaos of Operation Desert Storm. From the scorching tarmac of Dhahran to the near-deadly blast of a SCUD missile over his foxhole, Shaw recounts the war as only a medic can—patching up the wounded while trying not to become one himself.

Deployed with the 8th Evacuation Hospital and frequently attached to the 101st Airborne, Shaw shares the raw truth behind the camouflage: the blackouts fueled by stolen whiskey, the unbearable heat, the chaos of live fire accidents, and the moral gut-punches of combat triage. Through it all, his bond with a fellow soldier named Harley Davidson (yes, that’s his real name) keeps him grounded in the absurdity and humanity of war.

Told in Shaw’s own voice—gritty, sarcastic, and fiercely loyal—this memoir pulls no punches. It's not about medals. It’s about the men and women who wore the uniform, bled in the sand, and came home changed forever.