When many his age have trouble moving from the bed to the kitchen ....
With four military retirements behind him, Army Col. (Dr.) William Bernhard says President John F. Kennedy's plea to the nation nearly 50 years ago inspires him to keep going.That, my friends, is a great American.
"JFK once said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,'" Bernhard said. "And I've always tried to do that."
The 79-year-old physician reported here March 20 before leaving for Hohenfels, Germany.
Although most people his age are slowing their pace, the experienced mountain climber said he keeps coming back for the troops.
"This is a voluntary retiree recall, and I do it for all the men and women out there [who are serving]," he said.
As a flight surgeon, Bernhard is responsible for caring for soldiers on flight status. He will conduct annual physicals and care for pilots and others when they are sick or injured.
Retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes, a former 192nd Infantry Brigade sergeant major who met Bernhard in 2005 during a deployment to Iraq, said others should draw inspiration from the doctor.
"He's … still serving, and most of us [retirees] are under 50 and out of the Army," Rhodes said. "I would say we still have a lot more to give, and we can use him as an example. He's a role model for all of us who have retired."
BZ Colonel, and Fullbore.
10 comments:
It's 0848 EDT, and no one has rogered up yet. FULLBORE, Colonel!
Guys like this are really inspirations. The Marine version of BZ is to yell something unintelligible, and then yell "Motivate me!". One of those goes out to the good Colonel.
I had the pleasure of working with a Navy Doctor during my time on the Drill Field at Parris Island who had come back in the Navy in 1990 to serve. Older gentleman, wore CDR insignia. Saw him for the first time in his Whites. Four ribbons. One was Pacific Theater Ribbon, another the WWII Victory Medal. Had come back in at age 68, but had been a Navy Corpsman in 1945, and his first experiences were aboard the hospital ships off Iwo Jima, operating on the casualties around the clock for more than a week. He and the Colonel here are cut from the same bolt. Here's to 'em.
Awesomeness doesn't begin to cover it! BZ!
Glad to see everyone rogered up. Now I don't have to pimp slap some people to get back on course ;)
Was working. Won't let it happen again! =-O
Thank you, Sir!
(was/am working as well)
Absolutely epic.
How ironic that this story breaks simultaneous to the latest "birther", LTC Terrence Lakin, USA, Army Doc, who is refusing to deploy to Afghanistan because POTUS is illegitimate and therefore all military orders issued during his tenure as CINC are "illegal".
Its good that the Colonel is able to go and serve. However he has uniques skills that Army needs and wants. There are probably a lot of retirees that would like to join him and free up the younger folks to do what THEY joined the military to do. However I'll bet the demand is not there. Heck- a lot of Navy retirees could free up Sailors to do real Navy work like going to sea-instead of having to go on useless IA's.
A man giving by doing what he loves.....
Very obviously its good path to a long and fruitful life.
We should all be so lucky.
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