Soldier Life
Captain Hoangquocgia Michelle Noye and Captain Derick A. Mundey

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Army Position:
Location:
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.
Rank:
Captains

Captains Noye and Mundey, anesthesiologists at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., compare their experiences within Army medicine with those of their private sector counterparts.

CAPTAIN HOANGQUOCGIA MICHELLE NOYE AND CAPTAIN DERICK A. MUNDEY

Anesthesiologist

Capt. Hoangquocgia: I think the army medical opportunities that are provided us are very substantial one obvious reason is financial; they provide us the opportunity to pay for tuition.

Capt. Mundey: It made life a little easier going to medical school having that some money in your pocket.

Capt. Hoangquocgia: The army gives you a stipend, a monthly stipend, in addition to paying for tuition and then they also pay for your all of your medical literature and your textbooks.

Capt. Mundey: In the military it’s definitely, I can do everything a civilian anesthesiologist can do but I have the bonus of a whole wealth of other opportunities that my same colleagues who train similar year groups, non-military, don’t have. I’ve got to travel the world; I’m going be doing anesthesia in the deserts of Iraq, in the mountains of Afghanistan. So when you’re put up against a staff anesthesiologist from any other hospital my opportunities and experiences are second to none. Teamwork’s definitely easier, you have less production pressure where we can stop and take a minute to gather ourselves and bring the surgeons, bring the nurses in, bring any other ancillary service in the hospital and just make sure we’re doing the right thing.

Capt. Hoangquocgia: It’s nice that we’re able to have that relaxed environment where we can really focus on our specialty and focus on anesthesiology and providing the best care to the patient. I have a lot of pride in what I’m doing; I think being at Walter Reed and providing care to the wounded warriors is a very rewarding experience. And being able to provide care for them and having them, you know, wake up after an anesthesia experience and saying thank you for bringing me through this, you guys have been a wonderful team taking care of me that’s just, you know, every, every experience that I have with one of the wounded warriors it touches me and so it’s definitely uniquely rewarding here as opposed to any other civilian medical center that I’ve worked at.