Page 153 - JSOM Summer 2022

An Ongoing Series

A Man Who Put His Freedom to Use

A Story About Freedom and MSG (Ret) John Dominguez,
Special Operations Combat Medic, That Took Place in Ethiopia in 2005

John Croushorn, MD

Introduction
We capture events and lessons learned in Special Operations we do is create the capability to fire a gun and put a bandage
to pass along techniques and approaches to difficult situa- on, we are no further along than the basic soldiering techniques
tions. From the medical perspective, this is most often related taught to every military force. You may be able to do them
to interacting with injuries instead of interacting with people. faster and more efficiently, which are both important. Equally
The idea of acting with humanity is one of Special Operations’ as important is the situational awareness to notice both the
strongest talents, but it is not inherent in the training we pro- threat and the need. In the need is the opportunity. In doing
vide. It must be learned. It must be demonstrated. And when so we not only communicate genuine care and concern, but
it is demonstrated it is powerful to all that see it. We must enable a deeper appreciation for who we are as Americans. We
continue to capture these lessons and pass them along. It is an show others that our country is not a conquering country but a
inherent part of our strength. liberating one. And liberty starts and ends with the individual.
The sovereign Individual is transcendent to their circumstance. The following story demonstrates one example of this. Make
To be free, to rule yourself, starts with the basics. We take the no mistake, it is one of thousands. These stories must be told.
basics for granted because they were granted to us at birth. If When we go into a foreign country to aid indigenous people in
you live in a third world country and your struggles are for their fight against tyranny it is important that we provide them
food, water, and basic healthcare, how can you see yourself basic skills. Of even more importance is the ability to care for
as sovereign, independent and free? If tyrants lord over you them as individuals.
and impose their will on yours how will you perceive freedom
when you interact with it? When we go into foreign lands, we John Dominguez is an example of an experienced Special Op-
carry with us not only the reputation of our countrymen but erator that not only thinks beyond the skill set he was given
the physical embodiment of that freedom itself. It is strange to but is able to identify the needs around him and opportunities
many. It is curious, intoxicating, and contagious. The experi- to impact others at the individual level. It must be asked then,
ence of seeing freedom put to use is different with each person. how did he develop that skillset? I spoke to John at length
This is a story of one man’s exercise of his routine duty as a about what drove him into Special Operations and what made
free man and as a Soldier in the United States Army. him want to become a medic. He was impacted by personal
examples of leadership and those that thought beyond their
When someone spends thousands of hours performing a job sphere of installed capabilities from the schoolhouse. He
they become an expert at that task and the related tasks of that watched leaders in front of him and he read of those that were
job. They can perform these actions almost autonomously. able to see beyond circumstance and act.
They do not have to consider the steps. And when that level
of proficiency is reached, they then have the mental capacity John recounted reading about a 22nd Special Air Service (SAS)
to consider other things – the intangibles of the craft. These medic and how the region and culture worked and how you
intangibles include recognizing situations, personalities, and change a culture. He took from it that assimilation involves
hindrances to a rational situation. They recognize solutions resistance, and it was important to understand what a cul-
where others only see problems. ture respected what they did not respect and why. It is the
humanity in the equation. It is not an easily quantifiable item.
The heuristic challenge in Special Operations is training the nu- Humanity takes understanding and understanding pushes you
anced approach to problem solving in a nonlinear way. Think- beyond the reaches of your upbringing and training. We are
ing not “outside the box,” but instinctively choosing the less all brought up with certain tenets of life. Those that serve and
obvious avenue of approaches, as if the box did not exist. If all those that value good over evil want to see those tendencies in
Correspondence to croushorn@gmail.com
Dr John Croushorn is an emergency medicine physician who served as the Command Flight Surgeon for an Army Combat Aviation Unit in Iraq
in 2004 (TF 185 AVN). He is an author of Battlefield and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from Afghanistan and Iraq.

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