Lt. Cmdr. Krissoff
Posted on 11/25/2010 2:18:55 PM PST by radioone
In this season of gratitude, Bill Krissoff has a different notion of thankfulness than most of us.
He feels "very lucky" to have been able to drop his orthopedic practice in Truckee, Calif. (a ski town in the Sierra Nevada), enlist in the Navy, and deploy to a war zone to repair the broken bodies of Marines -- all at an age when most other people are making retirement plans.
Bill and Christine Krissoff had a right to think their family had already sacrificed enough for the country. Both their sons Nathan and Austin "were heavily influenced by 9/11," Krissoff recounts, and enlisted in the Marine Corps. The oldest, Nathan, a graduate of Williams College who was an accomplished piano player, a talented athlete and a natural leader, was killed in combat in Iraq in December 2006.
The idea came to Krissoff that he, too, wanted to serve the Marines, as a surgeon. Usually, as Krissoff says, "fathers inspire sons; in our case, I think sons inspired dad."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Not to pick nits, but Physicians/Surgeons don’t enlist.
He will be commissioned as an officer.
Please pray for all these wonderful Marines this holiday season.
You picked the words out of my mouth.
Not only will he be commissioned, he’ll probably have a fairly high rank right off the bat. I joined the Army as a Captain because of my PhD; going through basic training at the same time as I did was an MD who was commissioned as a Major because he’d run a private practice for about 7 years prior to joining the Army.
And kudos, or should I say, bravo zulu to the doctor for deciding to join the Navy.
Although with Obamacare coming up the pike, military medicine will no doubt look like a more attractive career choice for many medical personnel.
I saw that too. It’s a shame that we don’t have a higher percentage of citizens who served in the military. You see evidence of that all the time.
Having not served myself, I had often asked ‘where do we get these people’, also.
My answer came a few years ago when I noticed something in the faces and eyes of each and every picture I saw of an American service man and woman: it is the distinct look of “love”.
There is no other explanation that I can think of. I no longer ask where these people come from. I thank God they are here and that their love will never die.
The family said in a statement the lieutenant routinely took part in patrols throughout al-Abar, often told them of the heroism of his Marines and was proud to be part of creating a more stable Iraq.
"His Marines were his first priority," the family said. "He consistently and courageously led them from the front. His commitment to his family, the Corps and his country never wavered. He was a tremendously loyal son, brother and American who made the ultimate sacrifice for the defense of his country.
Krissoff joined the Marine Corps in June 2004. He was a counterintelligence officer assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion based in Okinawa, Japan.
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