Susan Jennings didn't know what to do when she regained her senses. She was now, she assumed, a prisoner of war. She was in a POW camp, but she didn't see any of the other members of her medical unit there with her. Sue had no idea how long she had been there. The last thing she remembered was an explosion in the OR — the hospital's Operating Room — and then everything collapsed around her head. She wandered around the compound inside the barbed wire trying to get oriented. Other women seemed to be bartering their clothing, but she couldn't figure out what they were getting in return. It was terribly hot. On the other hand it was always hot in Vietnam. Eavesdropping on a transaction she found that the girl was bartering for food. Susan had never paid a great deal of attention to the very occasional lectures on prisoners' rights and obligations. After all, as a nurse she was a noncombatant. Of what earthly good could such information possibly do her? Now she was finding out. Feeling a little dizzy, she touched her scalp and discovered why. There was a lot of dried blood and what felt like a nasty laceration on the back of her scalp. The girl she had been watching completed her transaction and Susan asked her about it. The girl had taken off her bra, then put her shirt back on. She explained that there was only a tiny amount of rice given to the prisoners each day. Since she had been imprisoned for nearly three months, her bra was hanging on her now-flattened chest so it didn't make any difference to her anyway. And it more or less guaranteed a full rice ration for the next thirty days. Then Susan asked about later ... after the thirty days. The girl pointed to a couple of girls on the other side of the compound. One was naked to the waist retaining only her skirt. Others were completely naked. "What do they do?" Susan asked. "The ones with no clothes, I mean." "They have a very stark choice. They either trade their bodies or they go without. And if they go without for too long, they have no bodies to trade with," the girl replied. She pointed out an emaciated girl crouched in the far corner of the compound. "I think she's been here for over a year. She decided she wouldn't sell her body and now it's too late." Susan looked around and saw a guard watching her hungrily. With her golden-blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, she was a true beauty. Going up to the guard, she started to talk with him about rice. When she asked what her bra would be worth he replied that for her it would be a triple ration for two months. Susan accepted his offer on the spot. When he told her that she would have to take it off right there, she unbuttoned her uniform shirt, hung it over the wire and then took off her bra. At the sight of her full, firm breasts, the guard almost climbed through the fence. Before giving him her bra she asked him how and when she would get her extra food. After looking both ways the guard said she could have some right away. Taking her bra, he gave her a handful of ration bars. Susan immediately recognized them as being from Red Cross parcels that should have been given to the prisoners in the first place. Taking the ration bars, she realized that the guard had been a good-enough sort; there were eight of them. Making her way across the compound, she went up to the starving girl who had been pointed out to her. When she got closer, she saw that the girl was a human skeleton. Jennings doubted that she weighed even seventy-five pounds. The girl was hunkered down with her head resting on her knees. "Hi! I'm Sue Jennings. Who are you?" she asked. The girl looked up with a very vague, unfocussed look in her eyes. Susan realized with a shock that the girl was dangerously close to death. Then her green eyes focused and remarkably she even tried to smile. "Hi, Susan. I'm Ginny Cameron. I would shake hands, but I'm not sure I can even get up." Ginny's body was the color of mahogany from being bare in the tropic sun for so long. Putting the girl's arm over her shoulder, Susan helped her over to the side of one of the huts. Because of the time of year and Vietnam's closeness to the Equator, the sun was now almost directly overhead, but she found a little strip of shade under the hut's roof overhang. After gently easing Ginny Cameron down, Susan sat down beside her. "Ginny, you've got to eat something! You've really carried this diet thing too far already," she said with a bright smile. Ginny Cameron remarkably still retained a sense of humor. "I don't know ... Sue, is it... ? I think I can still spare another pound or two." Susan almost cried. The girl's breasts had completely disappeared and her ribs were so prominent she could count them just by looking. Even her thighs were now not much larger than the femur bone itself. Remembering what she knew about dieting and starvation, Susan remembered that the body first uses its fat and then breaks down and burns muscle tissue. Clearly this is what was ha

Susan Jennings didn't know what to do when she regained her senses. She was now, she assumed, a prisoner of war. She was in a POW camp, but she didn't see any of the other members of her medical unit there with her. Sue had no idea how long she had been there. The last thing she remembered was an explosion in the OR — the hospital's Operating Room — and then everything collapsed around her head. She wandered around the compound inside the barbed wire trying to get oriented. Other women seemed to be bartering their clothing, but she couldn't figure out what they were getting in return. It was terribly hot. On the other hand it was always hot in Vietnam. Eavesdropping on a transaction she found that the girl was bartering for food. Susan had never paid a great deal of attention to the very occasional lectures on prisoners' rights and obligations. After all, as a nurse she was a noncombatant. Of what earthly good could such information possibly do her? Now she was finding out. Feeling a little dizzy, she touched her scalp and discovered why. There was a lot of dried blood and what felt like a nasty laceration on the back of her scalp. The girl she had been watching completed her transaction and Susan asked her about it. The girl had taken off her bra, then put her shirt back on. She explained that there was only a tiny amount of rice given to the prisoners each day. Since she had been imprisoned for nearly three months, her bra was hanging on her now-flattened chest so it didn't make any difference to her anyway. And it more or less guaranteed a full rice ration for the next thirty days. Then Susan asked about later ... after the thirty days. The girl pointed to a couple of girls on the other side of the compound. One was naked to the waist retaining only her skirt. Others were completely naked. "What do they do?" Susan asked. "The ones with no clothes, I mean." "They have a very stark choice. They either trade their bodies or they go without. And if they go without for too long, they have no bodies to trade with," the girl replied. She pointed out an emaciated girl crouched in the far corner of the compound. "I think she's been here for over a year. She decided she wouldn't sell her body and now it's too late." Susan looked around and saw a guard watching her hungrily. With her golden-blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, she was a true beauty. Going up to the guard, she started to talk with him about rice. When she asked what her bra would be worth he replied that for her it would be a triple ration for two months. Susan accepted his offer on the spot. When he told her that she would have to take it off right there, she unbuttoned her uniform shirt, hung it over the wire and then took off her bra. At the sight of her full, firm breasts, the guard almost climbed through the fence. Before giving him her bra she asked him how and when she would get her extra food. After looking both ways the guard said she could have some right away. Taking her bra, he gave her a handful of ration bars. Susan immediately recognized them as being from Red Cross parcels that should have been given to the prisoners in the first place. Taking the ration bars, she realized that the guard had been a good-enough sort; there were eight of them. Making her way across the compound, she went up to the starving girl who had been pointed out to her. When she got closer, she saw that the girl was a human skeleton. Jennings doubted that she weighed even seventy-five pounds. The girl was hunkered down with her head resting on her knees. "Hi! I'm Sue Jennings. Who are you?" she asked. The girl looked up with a very vague, unfocussed look in her eyes. Susan realized with a shock that the girl was dangerously close to death. Then her green eyes focused and remarkably she even tried to smile. "Hi, Susan. I'm Ginny Cameron. I would shake hands, but I'm not sure I can even get up." Ginny's body was the color of mahogany from being bare in the tropic sun for so long. Putting the girl's arm over her shoulder, Susan helped her over to the side of one of the huts. Because of the time of year and Vietnam's closeness to the Equator, the sun was now almost directly overhead, but she found a little strip of shade under the hut's roof overhang. After gently easing Ginny Cameron down, Susan sat down beside her. "Ginny, you've got to eat something! You've really carried this diet thing too far already," she said with a bright smile. Ginny Cameron remarkably still retained a sense of humor. "I don't know ... Sue, is it... ? I think I can still spare another pound or two." Susan almost cried. The girl's breasts had completely disappeared and her ribs were so prominent she could count them just by looking. Even her thighs were now not much larger than the femur bone itself. Remembering what she knew about dieting and starvation, Susan remembered that the body first uses its fat and then breaks down and burns muscle tissue. Clearly this is what was ha