Military doctors serving in Afghanistan usually spend their entire tour in the relatively safe confines of the main base. FOB Doc is the story of one Canadian doctor who spent nearly his entire tour in combat. Captain Ray Wiss was stationed at Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban and the most intense zone combat in Afghanistan. He shares the 'terror and boredom' of the front-line soldier's life in this candid personal diary. One day, he might be participating in combat operations, treating severe and bloody injuries and coping with the deaths of fellow soldiers, both Afghans and NATO allies; another day, he might be writing about the challenges of going to the latrine in sub-zero weather. FOB Doc is heartbreaking and hilarious, often on the same page.

Captain Ray Wiss is an emergency medicine specialist from Sudbury, Ontario, and a member of the Canadian Forces Reserves. From November 2007 to February 2008, and again from May to September 2009, he served with Task Force Afghanistan. Very unusually for a physician, he spent both tours in the combat area, at forward operating bases (FOBs) in Kandahar province.

Ray Wiss' profile page

"I encourage you to read this book, to think about what it is to be Canadian in the context of this story and to encourage your family and friends to read it."

Rick Hillier

"FOB Doc is worth reading, but a decade hence, after the withdrawal and after second sight have done their work, the ex-soldiers' novels will be more interesting still."

Globe & Mail

"One author and his remarkable book warrant particular note, namely, Captain Ray Wiss's FOB Doc: A Doctor on the Front Lines in Afghanistan. Good memoirs are engaging on a personal level, provide detail that would only usually be available to the participants in the events, and force the reader to examine participants' preconceptions of the situation at hand. Wiss's book is all of this and so much more. Covering the author's experiences as a military doctor, from November 2007 through the spring of 2008, it presents a story that has received little attention to this point -- that of our military medical professionals working on the front lines.Its greatest strengths rest in its rather unique perspective, and in the strength of character of its author...This is a book that should be widely read and appreciated."

Journal of the Department of National Defence