{"id":7667,"date":"2019-11-11T02:25:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T08:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:35:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T02:35:15","slug":"military-veteran-embraces-his-mission-as-surgical-nurse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/military-veteran-embraces-his-mission-as-surgical-nurse\/","title":{"rendered":"Military veteran embraces his Mission as surgical nurse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>His promotion to commander came as a bit of a surprise. Doug Bowers never figured on a lifetime of military service. Nor was a nursing career in his original life plan. But \u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"alignright cta\">\n<p>Find your next Mission<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/careers.osfhealthcare.org\/\"> &gt; Search open jobs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He smiled and put his hands together, interlocking the fingers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve gone hand in hand,\u201d Doug said.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Doug is a registered nurse and manager of clinical surgery at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/saint-francis\/\">OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center<\/a> in Peoria. He also is a lieutenant colonel for the Peoria-based 182nd air wing of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.182aw.ang.af.mil\/\">Air National Guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And this month, as we celebrate Veterans Day, Doug assumes duties as commander of his Air Guard unit\u2019s medical group.<\/p>\n<h2>Preparation breeds opportunity<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cYou always want to aspire to become a commander,\u201d Doug said. \u201cBut if someone had asked me even five years ago if I thought I would make commander, I would have said, \u2018No, I probably won\u2019t see that position.\u2019 Traditionally, that has been looked at as a physician\u2019s role, not for a nurse. I\u2019m thankful for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That opportunity arose from decades of preparation, even if it wasn\u2019t his goal from the start.<\/p>\n<p>What Doug wanted as he grew from a teenager to young adulthood was to serve people and his community. He just wasn\u2019t sure exactly how to accomplish that.<\/p>\n<h2>Medicine and military<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7654 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Doug Bowers at Military Ball\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd1-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd1.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>His first inclination was toward law enforcement, and he pursued that course of study at Illinois Central College. Doug\u2019s father had served in the U.S. Army, so he also believed it was his duty to enlist in the military.<\/p>\n<p>When he talked to the National Guard recruiter, Doug was told there were no openings for security forces. Before disappointment could set in, though, the recruiter told him the Guard needed medics.<\/p>\n<p>Basic training in San Antonio was followed by tech school in Wichita Falls, Texas, and clinical rotations in Montgomery, Alabama. Then he was sent back to Peoria; a changed man, so to speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ended up enjoying the medical side. Then I found out that if I was a nurse, I could become a commissioned officer,\u201d Doug said.<\/p>\n<p>Because he had signed on for six years with the Air Guard, Doug was entitled to education benefits. He applied them to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/sfmccon\/\">Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing<\/a>, became an RN and started working in the operating room at OSF Saint Francis. He never left.<\/p>\n<p>About a year after beginning his full-time nursing career, Doug was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Guard. That was five years into his initial commitment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI enjoyed it, and as an officer, I thought, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll stick around a little longer,\u2019\u201d Doug said. He smiled. \u201cI thought I\u2019d go for 10 years. Well, after 10, you might as well go for 20 and possible full benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In February 2020, Doug will mark 28 years of military service.<\/p>\n<h2>A very good partnership<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7777 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd3-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"surgical nurse preparing a mask\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd3-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd3-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/veterans-day-sd3.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>With the Air Guard, Doug has been activated for flood duty in Southern Illinois, and he has gone on humanitarian missions to Honduras, Paraguay, Germany and other posts as part of annual training. He has not yet been called into a combat zone.<\/p>\n<p>With OSF Saint Francis, he has watched with some degree of awe as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/saint-francis\/services\/surgery\/\">surgical procedures<\/a> have transitioned to the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/saint-francis\/services\/surgery\/robotic-surgery\/\">robotics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d Doug said. \u201cIt\u2019s impressive work we get to do. As a team, we literally are saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amazing also would be a pretty good word to describe Doug\u2019s dual career life. Military service, nursing and his leadership in both fields really have gone hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMilitary training helped me further my career at OSF, and at the same time, things I\u2019ve done at OSF helped further my career in the military,\u201d Doug said. \u201cLeadership roles in the military transferred to OSF as I went from charge nurse to supervisor and now manager. And my experience at OSF, gaining people skills, helped with my promotion to commander.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOSF takes care of its veterans. It\u2019s been a very good partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you are a veteran of military service, find your next Mission at <a href=\"https:\/\/careers.osfhealthcare.org\/\">osfcareers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mission-driven military veterans can find roles in which to use and develop their skills in the Mission-driven culture of OSF HealthCare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":8043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[336,372,913,154,356],"coauthors":[912],"class_list":["post-7667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","tag-nursing","tag-osf-saint-francis","tag-saint-francis-medical-center-college-of-nursing","tag-surgery","tag-veteran"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 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