Written by: Captain Matthew Ballew, D.O., '20
Apart from the normal day-to-day patient care, we both stood out as leaders while deployed. Jane, as EMS director, was instrumental in coordinating emergency response preparation for the presidential visit and was coined by the base commander for her work. I was assigned Deputy SGH (Surgeon General, Hospital), was recognized
by the AFCENT Surgeon General for protocols I
implemented to improve clinic efficiency in my
first few weeks in Qatar.
During our deployment, Jane and I had the chance to catch up and have found our paths have been way more similar than we could have imagined.
We both grew up in Ellicott City, Maryland, attending rival high schools separated by only
8 miles. We graduated high school in 2010, and attended University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing different majors, with our eyes set on medical school. After graduating in 2014, I went
on to work in a lab in Baltimore for 2 years while Jane went on to work in Urgent Care and as a
Scribe for 3 years.
For my first duty station, I was assigned to the Family Health clinic at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Jane completed her clinicals in Newark, New Jersey, then her Emergency Medicine residency at Inspira in New Jersey. She was assigned to the ER at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for her first duty
We had so many chances to overlap over the years, but bonding over UNE COM is what we talked about most while deployed to Qatar. We have since left and returned to our originating bases. Though it’s unlikely our paths will cross again after deployment, we both hope to keep in touch. And who knows, it is a small Air Force.