KCNC-Channel 4’s Dr. Dave Hnida took two tours of duty in Iraq — and lived to write about it. His book, “Paradise General: Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq” is out and getting yakked about as a true-life “M*A*S*H” tale of doctors, wars and field hospitals. He’s talking about it 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tattered Cover LoDo.
He first volunteered to go over when he was 48 — in 2004 as a battalion surgeon and again in 2007 as a trauma chief at a Combat Support Hospital.
He has stories. And he has pictures — not like the ones on the evening news.
“I never even thought of being in the military,” he says. “I just knew there was a war going on and they needed doctors.”
The “M*A*S*H” comparisons are real — in some ways. “It was like being in middle school again,” Hnida says. “We would play pranks on each other just to survive. We’d put a snake in someone’s bed, or hot sauce in someone’s underwear, or steal someone’s clothes when they were in the shower. Stupid things. But we were there for a few months and you work 2 4/7. On ‘M*A*S*H’ they would make and drink martinis. We did not drink martinis.”
The hospital even looked like the “M*A*S*H” set, with a blanket for a front door.
“The worst part was when a kid came in and he would look just like your own son,” Hnida says. “And then you just have to hit a switch and get working.”
Masks and models
People are still talking about the very sexy fashion show Saks presented at Saturday night’s Mask Project Gala. Think lingerie and bare- chested firefighters.
The main attraction, however, was the hand-painted masks from celebs, politicians, bold names — all sold to raise money for the Denver Hospice.
Denver businessman Steve Chotin’s mask, through his Chotin Foundation and friends, went for $92,000 — eclipsing anything else on the auction block.
Some other big earners: Michelle Obama, $5,510; Stephen Stills, $1,500; Gov. Bill Ritter, $1,310; Kenyon Martin, $860; Pam Grier, $558; Toby Keith, $550.
Anchor nups
KMGH-Channel 7’s morning anchor Christine Chang is set to marry Jeremy Slavec, a software consultant for JD Edwards.
Chang, who was known as a Denver heartbreaker, met the dude at Lola — and he wooed her with the offer of a tennis match, a game she loves. They played, and Chang says, “I kicked his butt on the courts.”
It’s tough out there. You know what they say about the game. Tennis: Where love means nothing.
But he was a good sport and about a year later they were playing again and he asked her to come to the net, where he got down on one knee and before he could say, “Deuce?” she said, “Yes.”
They’re making it all official in August at Spruce Mountain Ranch in Larkspur.
City spirit
The Kent Denver R&B Ensemble gets a shout-out from DownBeat Magazine this month. The mag names it the Best High School Pop/Rock/Blues Group in the country. . . . The Third Annual Colorado Chocolate festival drips into the Merchandise Mart on Friday and Saturday. . . . Sez who: “The ghosts you chase you never catch.” John Malkovich
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost . Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
