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Almost 2 months after coming back from Iraq I am finally taking leave with my family. My brother got married and we timed my leave with the wedding. With almost 3 months of vacation time saved up I have to use up a lot before October 1st when we lose any additional leave over 75 days. After the wedding my dad, brother, and brother-in-law, and I went on a back packing trip in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We followed cairns along the way...read more
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In the Summer of 2005, I took off my helmet and body armor in the middle of a small Iraqi village and surveyed my patients lining up to be cared for by my medical team. Right then I realized that I am the luckiest person alive. I was part of a profession that reaches out to anyone, across politics, culture, history and time; which gets down on their knees to help the humble and the proud alike. Removing the armor and weapons that separated me from my patients was a natural gesture. With hand...read more
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Staff rides are a way for Soldiers to learn lessons from battles from history. The goal is to look at what happened, and come up with lessons learned that you can apply in your current job. Recently our dental unit from Walter Reed, and the dental unit out of Ft. Meade went on a joint staff ride to Gettysburg. Our guide was Mr. George Wunderlich executive director at at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Although not from our...read more
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Our clinic recently acquired a new piece of dental equipment called a cerec machine. It is a piece of equipment that will allow us to make crowns during the same appointment for a patient instead of them having to wait several weeks for the lab to make the crowns. It is CAD/CAM technology (Computer aided design/ computer aided manufacturing). The CAD portion uses blue LED technology to digitally capture images of the teeth and that information is sent to the CAM...read more
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I would just like to thank Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler for getting rid of the beret. See the following article for more information. Some people couldn't get the link to open. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/06/army-combat-uniform-patrol-cap-replaces-beret-061311w/ I don't mind the beret when worn with the more formal uniforms - I think it looks much better than the old "teepee hats", but when worn with the ACUs I feel the patrol...read more
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When I began my Army career 10 years ago, I had no way of knowing the adventures and challenges that awaited me. I started out as an enlisted soldier, a Private First Class, and attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. From there, my training brought me to Fort Sam Houston, TX, where I completed both the Healthcare Specialist (combat medic) and Licensed Practical Nurse courses. Always being one to search out new challenges, I applied and was accepted to participate in the...read more
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Full time patient care has begun again for me. A lot of people still ask me about the deployment, and my answer is usually, "I did the same thing there that I do here - just in a different location." The only caveat to that is that I don't do any dental cleanings now that I'm back at Ft. Belvoir :) Here are some cases from the past week. Notice the dark area around the root Another case showing some complications that can occur following a...read more
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As an army reservist I have opportunities to serve in diverse environments with great American soldiers all over the world. While on active duty as a family practice physician from 1993-1997 I served in the US and never went overseas. After separating from the military in 1997 I focused on raising my children and building my practice but I missed the camaraderie and service to country the military offered. In 2009 I returned to the army as a reservist and have had many...read more
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It's funny that sometimes you have to travel half way around the world to run into people you know. While at COB Speicher I was able to see one of my childhood neighbors Kelly that I hadn't seen in about 15 yrs. Since I had seen him last he had joined the National Guard unit I used to be a part of. I also had the chance to see my cousin during my last week in Iraq. He was commanding a unit in Balad - we hadn't seen each other in a few years....read more
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