Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 08:02:50 -0600 Subject: Never to old to serve? From: Kate Hale <halecl@uwec.edu> Message-ID: <BDE2FD2A.11F2%halecl@uwec.edu>
<http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20041211/localnews/1731211.html>
Retired Army Colonel, 70, Sent to Afghanistan
By R. NORMAN MOODY
Gannett News Service
Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him
to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already
retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years
ago.
"My first reaction was disbelief," Caulfield said. "It never occurred to
me that they would call a 70-year-old."
In fact, he was so sure it was an error that he ignored the postcards and
telephone messages asking if he would be willing to volunteer for active
duty to "backfill" somewhere on the East Coast, Europe or Hawaii. That
would be OK, he thought. It would release active duty oral surgeons from
those areas to go to combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But then the orders came for him to go to Afghanistan.
Today, Caulfield, a colonel from Satellite Beach, Fla., is an example of
how the continuing demands of keeping ground troops in Afghanistan and
Iraq are forcing the military to go to extraordinary measures to keep its
ranks filled. He's attending to patients - U.S. troops, Afghan soldiers
and civilians - at the Army's 325th Field Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan.
He is one of about 100 over the age of 60 known to be serving. The
Department of Defense couldn't provide exact figures.