Why I choose to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, by Dr Tom Gross, emergency physician

Emergency physician and veteran Dr. Tom Gross writes in the Marin (CA) Independent Journal:

People ask me why I serve in the Reserves. People ask me why I choose to serve in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

The answer is simple. I have known Kate since the moment she was born. Her dad and I had met in the service. We flew together in the same helicopters. He rescued my sorry wet butt after my helicopter crashed into the sea. I was the best man at his wedding.

Now, Kate is 17 and, like her father, has entered the armed forces. She'll be out of basic training before she is old enough to vote or to buy her dad a beer. Before long, she'll be in harm's way, placing herself somewhere between us and those who seek to do us harm.

And so, periodically, I put on a different set of clothes, desert brown. I climb into a large flying sausage and fly 18 hours to set up an emergency room in a tent, somewhere on the other side of the world.

For Dr. Gross the decision to go is not hard.  It is the return home that makes him question whether his service is valued....

Here at home, I read in the paper last week that Medicare is cutting its rates to physicians. I read also that our governor is limiting the hospitals and emergency departments' ability to bill for emergency services. Health insurance company profits are up, and 65 emergency departments in California have shut down in the last decade.

I guess the real question is not why I choose to practice emergency medicine in a war zone halfway around the world. That's easy to answer. It's for Kate and the thousands like her who only ask from me that I do my best....

The real question is why I choose to bother to practice emergency medicine in California.

Somehow I expected better treatment from the same government officials that send me to go clean up their mess, while they sleep on clean sheets, eat three hot meals a day and tell me what my expertise is worth.

Don't miss the full article.  

Dr. Tom Gross is the emergency medical services director for the Novato Fire Protection District. His column appears every Monday in the Marin Independent Journal.

(My first diary... hope I didn't quote beyond what's permissible, but Dr Gross's fine writing deserves your attention!)