Jerry Krizan - BAC SI: A Green Beret Medics War in Vietnam

J ERRY KRIZAN AND I first met when we both volunteered to undertake US Army Special Forces medical training in February of 1967. The medics training course was the longest of the Special Forces disciplines and lasted for 37 weeks.

Our training started with all volunteers for Special Forces, including those pursuing an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in Communications, Weapons, Engineering, Organization and Intelligence, or Medical, undergoing four weeks of field exercises and general instruction. This covered such areas as map reading, land navigation, patrolling, setting up ambushes, reconnaissance, and other military skills. It was after these four weeks of training that we were issued our Green Berets. We were not permitted to mount our Special Forces crests on a group flash background on the beret however, as that distinction was reserved only for those who had completed training and were assigned to a Special Forces Group. The Special Forces crest with no flash background insured that everyone knew we were still trainees assigned to Training Group.

Medics training began with an eight-week course in anatomy and medical terminology conducted at Fort Bragg and taught by medical non-commissioned officers (NCOs) from Special Forces. As would be the method of instruction for all of our remaining medical course work, the material covered each week was tested with an exam every Friday. Anyone who could not maintain a 70% grade average was cut from medics training.

After anatomy and medical terminology, we went to Brooke Army Hospital at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas for the ten-week Special Forces medical training conducted by Army doctors. This course covered the essentials of medical diagnosis and treatment. After completing it we were fully qualified Army medics.

The next phase of training was seven weeks of On the Job Training [OJT] at one of the Armys medical centers located throughout the United States. Jerry and I were both assigned to the Ireland Army Hospital at Fort Knox, Kentucky along with six of our classmates.

After OJT, our entire medics class was reunited at Fort Bragg for six weeks of instruction on the diagnosis and treatment of tropical diseases. This was followed by Dog Lab, a course in surgery using dogs as patients. Our final exam was to appear before a review board made up of six Army doctors and one NCO who could ask questions about anything covered at any stage of our training.

Another three weeks of classes on Special Forces operations and procedures culminated with a week of field maneuvers at Camp McCall that ended with a 30-mile hike to be completed in 24 hours. After graduation, we were each assigned to one of the Special Forces Groups.

I am especially glad that Jerry is putting his experiences in Vietnam together for this book. I did not serve on an A-Team in Vietnam, the basic operating unit of Special Forces during the Vietnam War, and have often wondered what being at an A-Team camp was like. Jerrys accounts relate not only the duties of the medics at the A-Team camps but also the high volume of combat to which they were exposed.

His book is a valuable addition to the history of Army Special Forces and the A-Team camps in Vietnam.

Joe Parnar, Gardner, Massachusetts; author of SOG MEDIC: Stories From Vietnam and Over the Fence, Paladin Press 2007.