Todd Villines: Learning Valuable Lessons while Serving Overseas

One of the biggest differences between military and civilian medicine is the very real chance of being deployed to a forward military unit from a stateside appointment. Lessons from those experiences can shape a doctor's practice back in their home country.

Lt. Col. Todd C. Villines, MD, from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has left the Maryland facility twice on deployment and said each time his experiences have shown him just how important it is to have doctors in the most dangerous places to help wounded service members. What might be routine at Walter Reed, he said, is very different from what he saw while working in a tent or other less than optimal conditions.