Cmdr. James F. Armstrong, BSN, RN, CCRN, is no stranger to action or drama. As a Marine, Armstrong saw combat in Vietnam and trained new recruits as a drill instructor. Later, he joined the Navy Reserve and served in a field hospital in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield and Storm in 1990 and, in 2005, flew medical evacuation missions from Kuwait into Southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As a nurse, Armstrong worked in emergency, critical care, research, trauma and, for the past 20 years, flight nursing with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center's PennStar Flight Program, Philadelphia.

His typical day consists of "routine checks of equipment and aircraft followed by intense flying and patient care - not in that order," he said. "It's the best job you can have."

Nurses Are 'Nice Girls'

Surprisingly, the adventurer was drawn to nursing in the 1970s by way of a relatively safe and common activity: girl hunting.

"The Marine Corps' noncommissioned officers guidebook said nursing schools were good places to date nice, decent young women," said Armstrong. "I started dating a nursing student, and the more I found out about nursing, the more I liked it."

After graduating with his BSN from La Salle University in 1985, Armstrong opted to join the Navy Reserve and the Navy Nurse Corps, which provides healthcare to both the Navy and the Marines. He is currently the department head for critical care at Naval Operational Support Hospital in Portsmouth, VA.

Several Deployments

In 2005, he served a 12-month deployment at Camps Arifjan and Buehring in Kuwait.

"As a Navy nurse, you train constantly for this type of deployment," he said. "But you can never prepare yourself mentally for the day the order comes in, and it is quite a shock to your family, job and friends. You just pack your sea bag and go."

While there, patient conditions varied. Some presented with routine, sports-related sprains and strains and others with incredible combat- and accident-related injuries.

The experience changed Armstrong.

"The harshness of the environment, the less-than Motel 6 accomodations are not bad. You just never get over wounded and hurting young men and women. They are the best we have, and they hold up under the worst of pain and injury," said Armstrong.

"We speak of them as the 'Me Generation.' Well, they always asked about their buddies and their units, never much about themselves. How can you see that and not have it change you?"

- Jolynn Tumolo