Dr. Paul Roach, MD
Navy
Paul Roach is a long-time resident of Forest Park. He was born July 26, 1967. During his senior year in college, Paul decided to go to medical school. He wanted to “walk a mile in his father’s shoes.” His father, a military physician, passed away during Paul’s freshman year in college school and he needed financial assistance to attend medical school. After being accepted into Rush Medical School, Paul received a four-year scholarship from the U.S. Navy. Prior to entering medical school, Paul was commissioned as an Ensign at Naval Station Great Lakes. In 1990, he trained at Newport, RI as Staff Corps to assist Line Officers where he learned procedures and missions of all branches of the military. During each summer of medical school, Paul spent six weeks with the Navy for further training. Following his internships at Naval, General, and County hospitals, Paul continued his Naval medical training in the C4-Combat Casualty Core Course in Fort Houston, TX where he learned to transition from civilian to military medicine through practicing medicine under simulated combat conditions. After his internship and C4 class, Paul went to Pensacola, FL he went with his unit, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, to Okinawa, Japan to became Special Operations Qualified. By 1999, Paul completed his service as a flight surgeon at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC where he completed his Naval service requirement to repay his medical education. He then went back to the Navy to do his residency at University of Maryland while living at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and owed the Navy four more years of service. He was working in Portsmouth, VA when the Afghanistan War began and was deployed to Helmand Province and later for a second tour to Kandahar where he dealt with loss of limbs and eyesight due to IED’s. Paul states that there was more emotional than technical toughness because it is like “operating on family.” Although Paul states that he could have made more money in civilian life as a surgeon, he wanted to do “intense and extraordinary things in his life.” Paul has a daughter who is a cadet at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and his family is dedicated to military service.
Wanted to “walk a mile in his father’s shoes.”
Accepted into Rush Medical School Served in Helmund Province and Kandahar in Afghanistan. DUTY AND OBLIGATION Great Lakes Naval Base Commission as an Ensign Early training every summer while in medical school Newport, RI for officer candidate school “I think you begin to make that transition from being just an individual to part of an organization.” |
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Medical Training |
Physical Training |
C4 COMBAT CASUALTY CARE TRAINING
A week at Fort Sam Houston, Texas Strengthened his enthusiasm and confidence to practice medicine during combat Confirmed that this was what he wanted to do with his life. FLIGHT SURGEON TRAINING
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“I think that for Navy, the real challenge is how to train people so that they’re not just a doctor who happens to be in a military uniform. Rather, they need to be an officer who happens to be a doctor...” |
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Pensacola, FL for helicopter flight training
Four year tour of service as a flight surgeon First half was in Okinawa with the Marine Corps Squadron, the Air Combat Element Other half of the tour was in Washington D.C Andrews Air Force Base University of Maryland as a resident for general surgery training Rank of Lieutenant Commander Staying Connected to Family |
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“Maybe I watched too many episodes of MASH with my dad when I was a kid, but really the thing in life I needed to do was to be in a tent, in a war zone, operating on our people, or their people, whatever people.” Return to Active Duty |
HELMUND PROVINCE
MARJAH OFFENSIVE
Volunteered to be in Afghanistan
Joined up with a British hospital
Joined up with a British hospital
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“Because if our Marines were going and doing the fighting...they needed somebody to back them up...I had the best training in America at that point between Maryland and University of Chicago...if our guys were going, then I was going to go too...it was really busy, and really hard, but professionally it was the best thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I'll ever do." |
KANDAHAR - 2ND
AFGHANISTAN TOUR
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Steady flow of injuries which declined over time
Emotional difficulty to operate on the soldiers Remembers the commitment and shared risk that they all had, but clearly acknowledges that greater risk of the soldiers as compared to his own Volunteers at Cook County Trauma Center Medical Advancements |
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” I think we are a dyed in the wool military family and, we didn’t sort of consciously train them to be this way, but I think that they are super proud of who they are, that they know that as a family we’ve been dedicated to the health and welfare of our country’s fighting forces, and they feel very proud of that! And, they’re tough young ladies. I think it’s a big reason why we stayed in. Not just myself, but my wife, and my kids, all developed really, really tight friendships with people and really found outstanding people. I like the Joseph Campbell quote, “Follow your bliss.” |
Return to Civilian Life
Full Interview - Transcript
| paul_roach_interview_transcript.pdf |
Interview by Augie Aleksy
Research, writing and design by Nancy Cavaretta
Research, writing and design by Nancy Cavaretta