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Friday, May 21, 2004
Surgeon’s skills needed in war
By MARK I. JOHNSON | News-Journal Staff Writer
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — When Harold Fenster retired after 30 years in the U.S. Army Reserves, he thought he could spend his weekends with his wife and daughter.
But last month, Fenster got a phone call.
Next week, he will report to Fort Benning, Ga., to transform from civilian doctor to Col. Fenster M.D.
“They are looking for warm bodies,” the 59-year-old Port Orange surgeon said.
A Gulf War veteran who helped prepare for an attack from a weapon of mass destruction, Fenster is one of about 200 medical officers called up due to shortages created by the war in Iraq, an Army official said.
Medical service retirees are subject to involuntary recall until the age of 62, said Ray Gall, spokesman with the Army’s Human Resource Command in St. Louis, Mo.
They are not alone.
The secretary of defense has authorized 6,500 people be recalled from inactive reserves to fill positions, Army spokesman Maj. Steve Stover said from his Pentagon office in Washington, D.C.
Fenster was told to prepare for a 90-day deployment, but that could stretch to 365 days, he said. He also does not know where he is going. As of Tuesday, he heard he could be assigned to a forward surgical unit in Afghanistan or to a hospital in Germany.
In the meantime, the surgeon has closed his Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach offices, laid off his four employees and stepped down as chief of staff at Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach.
“The freedoms we have in this country are not free. They cost,” Fenster said. “If I am in a position where I can save one kid’s life, then it is worth it.”
Fenster’s wife, Cindy, is also left hanging. If he goes to Germany, she and their 14-year-old daughter will move with him, which means packing a household. Otherwise, she does not know what the future holds.
“I always knew he could be recalled,” she said. “As a surgeon, he is always in demand during time of war, but I had hoped when he retired (in 2002) he would be farther down the list.”
Fenster’s military career has paralleled his medical career. The Army paid for his last year of medical school, as well as providing an internship at a military hospital in Hawaii and surgical training at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
In between, he was assigned to units in Germany and Belgium.
“I spent 13 years active duty, including my time during the first (Gulf) war,” he said.
Fenster said the call-up did not surprise him. Shortly before the U.S. troops went into Afghanistan, he was asked to volunteer, but the Army found someone else to fill the slot. This time, he is prepared to go.
Fenster’s departure will leave Bert Fish Medical Center with two staff surgeons, according to Dr. Frank Toub. As when Fenster went to the Gulf in 1990, they will pick up the slack, he said. Dr. Richard Gramer, vice chief of the medical staff, will assume Fenster’s chief of staff duties until his return.