EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS COMMENTARY FROM REPRESENTATIVE ROSEMARY LESSER IS PART OF UTAH POLITICAL UNDERGROUND’S OPINION SERIES REFLECTING ON 9/11’s 20th ANNIVERSARY.
As the daughter of an Air Force navigator and Air Force nurse, my childhood was spent on military bases around the world. On a daily basis, I watched parents in uniform going to and from work, all committed to a single purpose: to serve their country. Informed by the presence of the military in my early life, it was an easy decision to continue on that path and serve in the Air Force after college.
During my medical training at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the curriculum was focused on preparation for the medical response to mass casualty scenarios. As I watched the horrific events of 9/11 unfold, it was quickly apparent that the attack was no longer an imagined scenario, but a real-world catastrophe. First responders quickly committed to saving others while facing the risk of death themselves. Many of them had previous training as medics in the armed services, and they proved its worth on that day. At the Pentagon, the Air Force Surgeon General personally rescued people from the blazing structure and quickly set up triage operations.
Fast forward twenty years. Over three million members of the military have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, often multiple times. Some might question what was gained by our country’s involvement in these conflicts. From a medical care perspective, the past 20 years have produced advances in combat medical care that are now common throughout our country’s emergency rooms and trauma centers, keeping millions of Americans alive, productive, and healthy. Air transport helicopters, often piloted by military veterans, move critically ill patients to tertiary care facilities. We have greatly advanced our understanding and practices for treating physical injuries and the accompanying mental health trauma.
Since the events of 9/11, military veterans have formed the core of first responders in the civilian community, whether as firefighters, police, physicians, nurses, medical technicians, or other emergency responders. As a member of the community of military medical veterans I honor the service that they continue to provide, and I am confident that they will rise to the challenges in the future for which they have been trained.
