WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- Among all Army values, 'selfless service' was the one Col. Michael L. Place named as the reason he and his two brothers, Thomas and Ronald, joined the military and became medical doctors.
Both as a Soldier and as a doctor, Michael believes, "you're there to serve and care for others."
"There's no job better than taking care of America's sons and daughters," he said. "These are special kinds of people dedicating their lives to defending our country."
THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORS
If it weren't for his mentors, Michael doubts he could have gone as far as he has in the Army. Over the years, he said, he has benefited from the patience of senior leaders who have allowed him to make mistakes and figure out things on his own.
He currently commands Madigan Army Medical Center, out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
"People have been taking care of me for a long time," he said, ticking off a list of mentors, some current generals and some retired, who were his seniors as a young company and field-grade officer. He asked that the names not be published, citing privacy concerns.
Not every officer makes full colonel, he pointed out with humility. "I consider myself fortunate to have done all the things I've done in my career," he said. "It's been wonderful."
SERVICE OVERSEAS
Michael has deployed a fair number of times, his first time being to the Caribbean.
As a young captain, he was just out of a family medicine residency when he was called upon to become the Ranger regimental surgeon at Fort Benning, Georgia.
"I was wet behind the ears, never before having served in an operational unit," he said.
Almost immediately after checking in at Fort Benning, his unit was called up for combat in Haiti. He boarded the aircraft carrier USS America and set sail south with a complement of Sailors and Marines.
Fortunately, Operation Uphold Democracy, as it was called, turned from a combat mission into a peace-keeping mission. But the experience left him with a deep appreciation for his sea service brethren, he noted.
"It was wonderful meeting the chiefs, running and doing PT on deck with them and learning the ropes" he remembered.
On the return voyage, they sailed past Cuba and Michael was called upon to treat some Americans who had contracted dengue fever while in Haiti. He boarded a Navy helicopter that flew from the carrier to Guantanamo Bay almost "at wave-top level," he remembered.
During that tour and the combat tours that followed in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Michael picked up more and more mentors along the way.
As a combat support hospital commander in Afghanistan, he was awed by the surgeons and other medical professionals going about their tasks.
"We didn't save all of them, but most survived and left our facility alive," he said, estimating that more than 98 percent who came in alive left alive.
Q&A -- MICHAEL PLACE
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: A tiny town in South Dakota called Huron. It's just a few miles from the actual "Little House on the Prairie," upon which the TV series was based. As you might expect, it's cold for much of the year, but we had a wonderful childhood in small-town America, where farmers outnumber city folk.
Q: Where did you go to college?
A: Johns Hopkins, on an ROTC scholarship. After going to school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the (Department of Defense's) medical school, I decided to go into family medicine because I like babies, pediatric patients, geriatrics -- a little bit of everything. And, I wanted to get to know my patients.
Q: You and your brothers have so much in common. Do you chat with them often?
A: Surprisingly, no. One brother is on the east coast, the other is in Kansas, and I'm on the west coast. Each of us travels a lot and has a lot of duties and responsibilities to tend to. We always get together when we're attending the same conference, though. We occasionally chat or get together on holidays. When that happens, most people roll their eyes because we talk about medicine and the Army nearly continuously. We all love it!
Q: Can you talk about the medial professionals and the mission at Madigan Army Medical Center?
A: They're doing a tremendous job day and night, every day of the year. They were recently recognized as the best hospital in the Army and rewarded with being selected to pilot the DOD's MHS GENESIS program. That's a new electronic health record. We're transferring medical records from the old system developed by the Army in the 1980s to a new commercial, off-the-shelf system used by civilian hospitals. The 1980s technology was great at the time, because it weaned the system of paper records, but the technology has outlived its usefulness and these newer systems can do much more, including passing information between us and our civilian colleagues. Also, Madigan is the first DOD hospital to set up a service for service member's children with autism. It will open in January. It can be a challenge finding resources, education and services for them when you transfer from installation to installation, each time getting on a waiting list. I know, because one of my sons is autistic.
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While Michael's brother, Thomas, the eldest, has since retired from the military, Ronald, the middle brother, remains in the Army. Ronald is a brigadier general, who serves now as commander of Regional Health Command.
Q&A - RONALD PLACE
Q: What is your medical specialty?
A: I'm a colorectal surgeon. Among a host of other things, we're probably best known for procedures such as colonoscopies.
Q: You grew up in rural South Dakota. What was that like? Your brother said it's cold.
A: Like many families in rural America, we didn't have a lot of spending money for things. One of the best gifts our parents gave us was to tell us to be the best we can be. They said everyone has been blessed with a gift and it's up to us to use that gift to the best of our ability.
Q: You and your brothers seem to have been gifted with medical aptitude. How were you all able to make use of that?
A: We never would have realized those gifts without help from the Army, getting us ROTC training and follow-on medical training. We owe the Army a lot for doing that and for providing officer leadership training and optimizing our potential.
Q: Were your parents in the Army or doctors?
A: No. They grew up on a farm. My dad chose a career working for the Social Security Administration for 40 years and my mom became a nurse for a short time before becoming a stay-at-home Mom. Our mom probably had the greatest influence in pointing us in the medical direction.
Q: How are your parents doing now?
A: Pretty well. Unfortunately, our ongoing service means that's we don't get to see them very often. But that's the way of life in the Army, and Soldiers everywhere understand that with service comes sacrifice.
Q: As the commander of Regional Health Command - Atlantic you probably don't get to do surgery anymore. Do you miss that?
A: I miss that every single day.
Q: Is your current job rewarding.
A: Absolutely. Serving those who serve, Soldiers, there's not a higher calling or honor. It never entered my mind that I'd one day I'd be privileged to lead over 25,000 Soldiers and civilians across 26 states, Cuba and Puerto Rico. They are the best of the best and they're entrusted with the awesome responsibility of caring for the Soldiers who put their lives on the line every day and are willing to die for to defend America.
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