Army Dentistry

As an officer I have certain responsibilities to the public. One of those is to be a representative of the US Army and the Dental Corps and not make disparaging comments about either.

The last month or so before my deployment I lost track of those responsibilities. Despite my desire to deploy, I became very upset about the impacts on my family of my looming year away.

In the mornings I put on my game face and hid my sadness and anger well but I began using this blog to air the misdirected anger I was experiencing. I was blaming the Army and the Dental Corps for putting me in this position and just wrote out my thoughts. My personal existential dilemma went online for all to see…

That was a mistake. I want this blog to serve as an accurate depiction of life in the Army Dental Corps as a general dentist and as a brigade dentist. There will be both good and bad experiences, but I now recognize that I should not just wantonly air my personal grievances in such a public forum. That defeats the real purpose of writing and tarnishes my credibility.

I have removed the previous posts that I considered inflammatory towards the Army and the Dental Corps not because I take back what I said, but because they don’t belong in this public venue. Any personal issues I have with either will remain just that…personal.

So I hope with a second chance at this blog I can get back on track with my goals of sharing my experience and of making the Army Dental Corps better. I also hope that by sharing my regular observations of life downrange that I can help prepare those in our corps facing future deployments, while also helping educate all those others supporting us from back home. I hope all of you will give this blog a second chance.