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Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
"We live in extraordinary times under extraordinary circumstances. Our soldiers are risking their lives daily. The Army has asked doctors who can wear a uniform to step forward at this great time of need. I have seen the need, and I am stepping forward." - Dr. Robert Hale
You look at the pictures from his year with the Army Reserves in Afghanistan, digging bullets and shrapnel out of shattered young faces before reconstructing them, and you know why Dr. Robert Hale will never be the same again.
Why he hasn't been able to leave the images of those faces behind after returning last September to his comfortable life in Woodland Hills, where he has a successful oral surgery practice and is president of the 1,300-member San Fernando Valley Dental Society.
Why he's giving it all up at age 48 - leaving behind his wife and their two sons - to join the U.S. Army.
The pictures tell the story. Heartbreaking, graphic photos of wounded young soldiers and Afghan children.
When you've lived with them, cried with them, worked in a MASH unit to reconstruct their faces, how do you come back to a life of pulling wisdom teeth and implanting dental work?
You don't.
At least, this remarkable doctor can't.
Being in the Army Reserves, where he was decorated with two bronze stars, wasn't enough.
Next month, Hale will report for duty as a lieutenant colonel at Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Tex. He will teach other oral surgeons what to expect,...