Photo By Rick Emert | Capt. Alan Helmbold, right, confers with Capt. Matthew Miller, left, over a patient...... read more read more
Subscribe
By 1st Lt. Jesse Tafoya
1st Air Cavalry Brigade
TAJI, Iraq – The son of two medical professionals, Capt. Alan Helmbold's parents may have been surprised when he joined the Army National Guard as an indirect fire infantryman.
Before long, Helmbold chose a life in medical service as well. He is now assigned to the 615th Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Taji, Iraq.
Helmbold's father was an officer in the Army Medical Service Corps and his mother was a civilian trauma nurse – often working at the same hospital as her husband – when Helmbold enlisted in the Army.
Born in Atlanta in 1976 as the youngest of three children, Helmbold spent the majority of his childhood around Army medicine. At age 17, he followed in his father's footsteps by joining the U.S. Army.
"I guess [I joined] because my dad was in the Army, and my brother was in the Air Force – [military service is] a family tradition – Isaiah 6:8: 'Here I am Lord. Send me.'"
While simultaneously working on his degree, Helmbold made sergeant in just three years and took on a lead training position for his scout unit in the Georgia National Guard, he said.
After four years at North Georgia College and State University he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor of science in biology and received a direct commission as a second lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps in 1998. He went to Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on a full Army scholarship.
He finished his medical doctorate degree in 2002, earned the rank of captain and spent the next three years completing a residency in internal medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Upon completing his residency, Helmbold earned board certification in internal medicine and lipidology.
He also boosted the number of medical professionals in his family by marrying an intensive care unit nurse he met at Brooke Army Medical Center, he said. Helmbold was a flight surgeon and internal medicine specialist at Lawrence Joel Army Health and Dental Clinic at Fort McPherson, Ga., before becoming battalion surgeon for 615th Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, before the deployment. As the battalion surgeon, he is responsible for the primary care of more than 750 Soldiers, and practicing medicine in a combat zone is a bit different than serving at a military medical center in the states, he said.
"Here, it's a little more limited," he said. "You don't have the kinds of tests that you do [stateside]. You have to go back to your clinical knowledge and examination skills."
Helmbold has coordinated for the care, evaluation and evacuation of Soldiers from two other brigades within the 1st Cavalry Division base at the same FOB, and one brigade from 82nd Airborne Division also based at the FOB.
"As an internist, Doctor Helmbold is an adult medicine specialist, which comes in handy in a brigade with 3000-plus adults and in an Army that is increasingly middle aged," said Lt. Col. David Romine, brigade surgeon for the 1st ACB. "The best thing he brings to us is his wide knowledge of internal medicine."
He has been selected to complete a cardiology fellowship at Brooks Army Medical Center beginning in July. His replacement for the 615th ASB will be designated by the Professional Officer Filler System.
After the fellowship, he is not sure where his Army career will lead, he said.
"The fellowship is for three years, and then the commitment after that ends is three years, so that will be 2013," he said. "I'll just have to see how it all pans out."
But until then, he said he is proud to be serving on the front lines.
"I'm proud to be here," he said. "I'm glad I can do my part on the war on terror as a combat multiplier. It's an honor and a privilege to work in the company of heroes."
| Date Taken: | 02.16.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 02.16.2007 11:30 |
| Story ID: | 9163 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 576 |
| Downloads: | 193 |
This work, Soldier carries on tradition of medicine, military, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
