U.S. Naval Commander Christopher Lewis Speaks about Experiences in Iraq

The Westminster community welcomed Christopher Lewis ’86, a United States Naval Commander and physician, who visited Westminster Jan. 12 to share his experiences serving in Iraq. In an audiovisual presentation in Werner Centennial Center, he gave a detailed account of his deployment to Iraq from summer 2004 to winter 2005, as a part of the First Medical Battalion.

    Chris was assigned to serve as an emergency physician on a base in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. He spent seven months in its stark medical facilities, cramped living quarters, miserable 130-degree heat and sandy terrain. His medical unit provided life-sustaining resuscitation care and surgery to those injured in the war before moving them to more definitive care. Most of the injuries he treated related to improvised explosive devices (IED).

Chris described how medical evacuation helicopters would leave the base to pick up those injured in the field then return within 20 to 30 minutes. “If there are any medical heroes, it is the corps men out there,” he said.

He also praised those he treated saying, “To a man, they were never concerned with themselves, but with the guys with them.  The poise they displayed was awe inspiring.”

    After receiving life-sustaining care at the base, Chris said the injured were moved, usually within 30 minutes, or if they needed surgery, within one to two hours, to a higher level of care in Baghdad, then to Germany and back to the U.S.  He praised the remarkable treatment available today to treat combat injuries.

    On his last day in Iraq, Chris explained how his base was attacked by rocket fire.  His trip home to Camp Pendleton, Calif., included stops in Kuwait; Shannon, Ireland; Bangor, Maine; and March Air Force Base.

    Chris decided to join the Navy after receiving a brochure in the mail. He said he was more comfortable with this kind of debt paying for medical school than the traditional kind of debt.  He received a scholarship from the Health Professions Scholarship Program for medical school and entered the Navy to fulfill his three-year obligation in 1994, right after completing medical school. He has since signed on to serve until 2010.

Currently, Chris works as a pulmonary critical care specialist at the Naval Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., taking care of active duty military and retirees.

    While a student at Westminster, Chris was an honors student in science and mathematics and recognized at graduation for his achievement in science. He lived in Memorial Hall, played First Football for three years and won the Squibb Bowl in football in his Sixth-Form year.  In basketball, he began on the Thirds Team and as a Sixth Former was on the First Team. He also threw the discus and javelin for the track team and in his Sixth-Form year switched to Second Lacrosse, where he was elected captain.

    Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Colgate University and attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine. At the Naval Medical Center San Diego he completed an internship and residency in internal medicine, and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care.  He has served as a staff pulmonologist at the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa and the Naval Medical Center San Diego before his current assignment at the Naval Hospital in Pensacola.

    Chris said he welcomed the opportunity to return to Westminster to speak before the campus community.  He attended his class reunion last May, after being away from the campus for 20 years.