It’s a strange world, isn’t it? While the rest of us were going about our daily existences back home in Australia, working, raising children, paying the mortgage, men like Dan Pronk were facing life and death in Afghanistan and Dan was as well responsible, as a doctor, for caring for and at times keeping alive wounded soldiers, civilians and enemy fighters alike. Dan was also a trained, highly skilled SAS operative in the thick of the action, risking his life while saving others.
Back home Dan was utterly blessed with a beautiful wife and children, loving parents and an inspirational older brother. He had the kind of life which he needed when he inevitably suffered post traumatic stress. He is a brilliant wordsmith and I’m going to have to include here some quotations from his raw, honest, profoundly moving story:
“…somewhere inside of me a psychological bucket was brimming full and threatening to overflow if I poured too much trauma into it,”
When he came back to civilian life:
“What metaphoric armour had been stripped from me when I took my literal armour off for the last time?…”
“When all is said and done, I will not die wondering, and my place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
There are explicit descriptions of some of the injuries Dan treated in battle and it is important that he put them into his unflinching accounts. They are written with love and respect for his comrades.
Dan is a rare person who can say he has lived his life to the fullest. I thank him for his service and wish him the long and happy life he deserves.
This is a 5 out of 5 stars autobiography.
Published by Macmillan
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