Ingrid Tess served her country in the US Army as a combat nurse from 1966 to 1968, reaching the rank of captain while stationed at surgical hospitals in Quang Tri and Pleiku during the Vietnam War. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, she volunteered to go to Vietnam after she graduated from high school. “They told us in basic that there was a tremendous need for nurses there…I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she recalled.

Captain Tess would work at units under the umbrella of the 18th Surgical Hospital. The unit was one of the first to use the Deployable Medical Systems Technology in combat. After a short stint of training at Fort Ord, California, she was sent to Vietnam.

“We arrived by bus…there were a bunch of people, nurses, doctors running back and forth…it was controlled

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