Dr. Steve Gaal was drafted by the US Air Force as an orthopedics doctor in 1962. In 1964, he arrived at Clark Airbase in the Philippines, and a few years later served 2 tours at a MASH Hospital at the Marble Mountain Air Facility. At the MASH Hospital, Gaal remembers treating not only wounded American soldiers, but wounded Viet Kong. Gaal strongly believed that if he kept his focus solely on his medical work, he could avoid, what he says is, the truth of the war: "the government was valuing money over boys' lives." He later says in the interview, "War is no fun, but it brings fringe benefits, including great medical advances." While he disagrees with the US government's intentions of the Vietnam War, he attributes his 40-year-career as an orthopedic doctor to his time in Vietnam.