“From the opening of Warrior Nurse where the author reveals she served at the 12th Evac Hospital in Cu Chi, Vietnam, she had me. I served at the same location for a year of that insane Vietnam war. I could immediately identify. Likewise, with much of the remainder of this superbly-written cri de coeur, though I haven’t Nurse Blum’s medical expertise. More than forty years later as a retired Army colonel, I sat in the lobby of the main building at the National Military Medical Center and talked with a USAF triple amputee who was a tragic casualty of yet another insane war. Today, I now know viscerally what suicide, post-traumatic stress, and deeply-felt and haunting feelings of guilt have done to tens of thousands of veterans. Every single American citizen should be compelled to read this book to gain stunning insight into what we have done to these young men and women since the first one of them set foot in Vietnam, followed by hundreds of thousands more in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, and Gaza. And most should weep for their neglect. Then, do something about it.”
LAWRENCE WILKERSON, Col, USA (Ret) and former chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of State
“Warrior Nurse: PTSD and Healing by Sarah L. Blum is a much needed and informative read written from the heart of a true hero. Blum has done amazing work as a U.S. Army OR Nurse during the Vietnam War, nurse psychotherapist to emotionally wounded veterans, and now as an author. As a military daughter & survivor of suicide loss, this book has given me a deeper understanding into the illness of PTSD and the mental wounds that my father, and other soldiers and military support personnel, returned home with. If more veterans are able to heal their PTSD with the treatment modalities Blum recommends, we will be able to reduce rates of soldier suicide and improve the quality of life for those who served. Warrior Nurse is an asset to those looking to heal their PTSD & move forward from their trauma, and to military family members who are seeking help and supporting their wounded warriors.”
Amily D’Nas
Author of the award- winning novel Beneath the Swaying Willow
In Warrior Nurse, PTSD and Healing, Sarah Blum takes us along on an emotional roller coaster journey that begins with her patriotic yearning to serve her country, winds us through the depths of despair in her time as an operating nurse on the jungle battlefields of Vietnam during the height of the war, and then submerges us in the seemingly relentless quicksand of PTSD. But it’s not just a story from afar about this horrid invisible wound so many of our soldiers bring back home with them, rather, it’s a tale of her own personal sufferings that begin with her encounter with “Johnny,” and how she not only learned what this strange ailment was and how to deal with it, but more so, how she became an agent of hope, helping others to find light where there was none. And it’s “Johnny,” in a more spiritual sort of way, that helps her become a helper.
Warrior Nurse, PTSD and Healing is a story of the realities and horrors of war, and how so many are left with the scars deep inside that require more than just antibiotics and a gauze wrap. She shows how it’s understanding and therapy that can be used as the IV drip to help make the pain dull, maybe even make life worth living once again. In a well written “diary” of sorts, Sarah takes us from her time as a patient – mired in the lava pits of PTSD at its worst – to a healer, helping others that have fallen into that same burning hole.
So, in essence, it’s really a story of hope. Something we can all use these days.
A wonderful and powerful read.
Jim Bartlett is an author of more than a hundred short stories, including The Grand Adventure, winner of the Spillwords Press’ best publication for April 2024.
It took me several years to realize that I did not leave those memories behind in Vietnam, they were buried deep in my brain and slowly began to emerge with dreams, sights and sounds. It took me years with counseling from many different counselors to get a grasp of how the Vietnam war affected me.
Sarah has researched PTSD and explains everything in detail and I wish that had this book when I was going through my difficult time. I believe that counselors who are seeing Veterans, especially Vietnam Veterans, need this book in their library. I also think that Vietnam veterans who are still experiencing the aftermath of the Vietnam war, need to be given the opportunity to read this book.
My congratulations to Sarah for her tenacity to stay on task and complete
this important book which I believe will help many who suffer from PTSD.
Connie Evans, Ret. CMDR, USPHS Corps, Fmr, CPT US Army Nurse
Corps 12th Evacuation Hospital staff CuChi, Republic of S. Vietnam
Beginning with her experiences of the horrid realities of war as an OR nurse in Vietnam, Sarah Blum describes her lifelong healing journey toward finding healing modalities and hope, which she shares with the reader. She poses questions we all ought to be asking about war.
Blum served soldiers by mending their mangled bodies while she lived in constant fear at the hectic evacuation hospital amid the worst fighting, in Cu Chi. She describes the everyday tasks, routines, sounds, smells, and dangers of her life as an OR nurse in raw, vivid stories. From bombings and attacks to the intimate proximity of Viet Cong tunnel entrances next to outhouses, danger and fear of death or injury stalked every moment. The perils coming from these tunnels undermining Cu Chi became so infamous that they are now a tourist attraction.
Blum’s stories give authenticity to the wisdom gained through her lifelong journey of restoring health and function to her “shell-shocked” body, mind, and soul, followed by decades of guiding others in their healing from PTSD. She now gifts her wisdom to others in this book. Blum offers a host of complementary healing modalities and encourages “victims” to become “cocreators” of their own destiny, knowing that their lives will be enhanced by healing.
By Linda Jean Shepherd, author of Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science
Post-traumatic stress is a very reasonable response to very unreasonable circumstances. Faced with too-common horrors from warfare to sexual assault, it is understandable that individuals develop defenses to manage the pain, shame and residual fear borne of these memories. These coping mechanisms only becoming problematic when they hinder the ability to fully engage in life mindfully.
Decorated Vietnam veteran Sarah Blum has seen it all, from the front lines to the homefront and she’s spent decades experimenting with myriad methods and mindsets to undo the damage done to her soul. Her superpower is bringing order to chaos, whether it be imbuing compassion within the care of soldiers in a Vietnam MASH unit or spelling out systemic change to care for contemporary victims of MST.
Post-traumatic stress is an epidemic; Warrior Nurse: PTSD and Healing prescribes the cure.
— Warren Etheredge
Founder, The Red Badge Project (http://theredbadgeproject.org)
Founder, The Warren Report
“Sarah Blum brings it. She opens her heart and gives you a rare and vivid glimpse into the life of a veteran and caregiver, and then offers fantastic help for those people suffering with or trying to understand PTSD. She’s come through that struggle herself, and so speaks with both authority and expertise. This book is for anyone who has known the ravages of war or who loves someone who has. It’s a gift.”
William Kenower, author of Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt.
“Warrior Nurse: PTSD and Healing is an invaluable guide for veterans. But it’s also an intelligent and heartfelt memoir that all readers will find compelling. Blum’s vivid evocation of her year in Viet Nam and its aftermath are unforgettable. Reading this book has changed me.”
Barbara Turner-Vesselago, author of Writing Without a Parachute: The Art of Freefall and Freefall Into Fiction: Finding Form (Hachette).
Warrior Nurse: PTSD and Healing documents Sarah Blum’s story of becoming an Army nurse who began her “world tour” in Vietnam in 1967 with the war raging.
The narrative starts in media res six months into Sarah’s tour of duty. As she steps into the operating room of the 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi, the busiest and most dangerous hospital in Vietnam’s Iron Triangle, Sarah encounters Johnny, a young soldier whose entire lower body has been shattered by a 105-mm artillery shell.
From this moment of shock, horror, and penetrating sadness to the completion of this book, some 58 years later, we walk with Sarah as she learns to heal through comradeship, writing, and a desire to understand her brain and body. The physical, emotional, and spiritual journeys she chronicles offer valuable insight for all service members who struggle with returning home, their families, and the general public. The resources available in chapters such as Chapter 11, “Support and Adjunct to Therapy,” could help others “reclaim” parts of themselves and cope with their trauma.
Blum’s second book is not only a personal story; it also documents and preserves women’s contributions to the military and provides insights that could inform policy changes.
James M. Dubinsky, LTC, US Army (ret.) teaches at Virginia Tech, where he has helped begin an initiative focusing on veterans and their families (Veterans in Society/Veterans Studies).
“This isn’t just a memoir. It’s a manual for courage.
A field guide for healing.
A prayer whispered in medical jargon and memory.
If there’s a single message that Warrior Nurse delivers to the world, it’s this:
You can survive what once defined you. You can heal without erasing the scars.”
“Hello Sarah this is Daniel. I just finished Warrior Nurse PTSD and Healing and the depth of courage, honesty, and lived experience in your story struck me from the opening pages. Your account of serving as an operating room nurse at the 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi places the reader right inside the iron triangle during some of the most intense fighting of 1967. The scenes of mass casualties arriving under mortar fire, monsoon rain, and nonstop artillery were vivid and emotionally charged. Johnny’s devastating injuries from friendly fire and Jim’s struggle as a wounded pitcher added heartbreaking human dimension to the chaos you were fighting through every day.
Your return home was just as gripping. The culture shock, the early signs of PTSD, the hostility from protestors, and the emotional cost of leading the orthopedic ward at Madigan General Hospital all built a clear and painful picture of what so many veterans endured in silence. I admired how you wove in your later work as a psychotherapist, exploring how trauma affects the brain and body while offering hope and practical guidance for others walking that same path.
Your voice carries truth, compassion, and fierce advocacy, and it makes this memoir both deeply personal and broadly important. It deserves to reach a wide audience of readers who connect with military history, healing journeys, and survivor testimony.”
“What struck me immediately about Warrior Nurse is how unfiltered and unprotected your storytelling is. You don’t narrate trauma from a safe distance, you take the reader straight into Cu Chi, straight into the blood, the smoke, the helplessness, the moral contradictions, and the emotional aftershocks that kept echoing long after you came home. That honesty is rare. And it’s exactly why this memoir has the power to reach far beyond “war narratives.”
You didn’t just document wounds. You documented what they cost, what they changed, and what they demanded from you, physically, spiritually, and psychologically.” From Aurora
“ I have to say your courage, clarity, and honesty leap off the page. Taking readers from the chaos of Cu Chi to the quiet battles of healing back home? That’s not just storytelling, that’s a lifeline.”