** This is the author’s opinion and does not represent the military or U.S. government. **

By L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS (Captain USAR, Retired) 
ASSH President

As a retired reservist in the US Army medical corps, I would like to share my thoughts about the value of military service to our country and the importance of the ASSH consistently recognizing our colleagues in uniform at home and abroad. The foundation of the ASSH began as a result of a need to provide care for thousands of our war injured soldiers. The legacy of Sterling Bunnell, and the ASSH founding fathers that included J. William Littler, Deryl Hart, Sumner Koch, Julian Bruner, George Phalen, among the 35 founding members. The year the ASSH was founded was the same year my father graduated Yale (1946). My father served in Korea as the Captain of a minesweeper and was awarded the Silver Star. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors in 2009. Prior to my father’s passing I served as a Visiting OTA Scholar in Landstuhl, Germany, caring for our wounded warriors. The accompanying photo was taken on a Sunday morning. Eric Pagenkopf (former Top Gun instructor and active duty Orthopaedic traumatologist) and I operated on a solider whose hand was crushed by a tank turret that was hit by an RPG. We performed fasciotomies and ORIF of all fractured metacarpals.

As a tribute to my father, my brother Jonathan and I established the annual Philip Levin Memorial Orthoplastic lecture at Walter Reed/US Naval Medical Center. Our lecturers have included Jim Urbaniak, Milan Stevanovic, Stephen Kovach, and this past Friday, Joseph Upton. Dr. Upton was also a Yale graduate and served in Viet-Nam. He was a Littler hand fellow. I hosted Dr. Littler at Duke Medical School as the distinguished medical alumnus in 1998. Our local host at Walter Reed has been Commander Scott Tintle, who was my hand fellow at Penn 2012-2013. The lectureship includes several guest lecture talks, a visit to the rehabilitation facility that cares for our recovering warriors, a tour of the Prosthetics and Orthotics facility, and a visit to Arlington. It is always moving to walk amidst the heroes of our nation on “Hallowed grounds.” As a proud member of the ASSH Military relations committee, I believe that we must continue to support military medicine proactively and generously. Let us never forget our origin and legacy.