After Chaminade, I went to UCSD. I started down the pre-med pathway and stayed there in a very dedicated (or boring, depending on your point of view) fashion. During my second year, I must have watched one too many recruiting commercials, because I decided to join the Army Reserves. They suckered me in with a special program where I could do all of my active duty training during the summers (and thus not miss school), and I convinced Charlie (it's now just Charles) Burke to join at the same time. We both went to Army Basic Training at Fort Sill (Oklahoma) in the summer of 1989. Not exactly fun, but still I look back on it as a great experience, and it set the stage for the future...
The only other life events from that period worth mentioning are that I started to lose my hair and I met my future wife Jen. I graduated from UCSD with a degree in Biology in 1992. I decided I liked the military enough to stay with it, and was accepted to medical school at the Uniformed Services University (USU) School of Medicine. For those who've never heard of it (probably most), USU is a med school that is run by the Department of Defense and is located next to the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. In going to med school, I switched services from the Army to the Air Force. Jen moved with me to Maryland, and we were married in 1994. Just before I graduated from medical school, my son Christopher was born.
Me and Chris in 1998
After graduating, I got an automatic promotion from Second Lieutenant to Captain and we moved to San Antonio, where the Air Force has its large teaching hospital, Wilford Hall Medical Center. I spent the next three years completing a residency in Internal Medicine, and then another three years in a Hematology and Oncology fellowship. My daughter Lauren was born in 1998.
Lauren in 1999
Finally finished with my medical training, I was invited (read ordered) to be a staff Hematologist/Oncologist at Keesler Air Force Medical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. While it's true that many parts of Mississippi are just a bit backward and hick (if only I could see that 30 foot Confederate Flag again), Biloxi is down on the Gulf Coast and was actually a very nice place to spend three years. While there I was deployed for the first time. You might wonder why the Air Force would need to deploy a cancer specialist, but the only important thing to them is that I am a board certified Internist. Anyway, I got to spend a few months supporting our war on terror and drugs assigned to a tiny Colombian Army base near the Venezuelan border.
Deployed to Saravena, Colombia 2004
While we were living in Mississippi, my third (and yes, my last) child Meghan was born.
Chris, Lauren and Meghan at Biloxi beach 12/04We came back to San Antonio in 2005, and were very lucky to leave Mississippi about 2 months before Hurricane Katrina, as the Biloxi area was hit extremely hard (Cars in the parking lot on base were under 5 feet of water, and the hospital had to be closed for a year due to damage). I had just settled into a comfortable life of work and kids' soccer games (every weekend) when the Air Force once again invited me to explore the world...
Flying into Baghdad May 2006
Serving in Iraq was at times boring, scary, hard work, funny, and sad. I took care of everything from Iraqi women and children with common illnesses, US troops blown up by mortars, prisoners shot by US troops, and civilian contractors with complex medical diseases. I even diagnosed one young Airman with lymphoma. It was certainly an experience I'll always remember (and may be repeating).
Anyways, these days I'm back to mostly treating cancer patients and teaching residents. My wife and I both play league tennis for fun, and I try to remember that I used to fight with my sister all the time when refereeing the battles between my kids. That's it.
Doug Nelson
dougonc@yahoo.com
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