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On July 28, two days shy of his 73rd birthday, John Burson reported to Fort Benning, Ga., for a two-week refresher course before he ships out to Iraq in mid-August to join the 31st Combat Support Hospital.
In the fall of 2005, the Army called for medical reservists to temporarily relieve active duty doctors, and despite his wife's objections, the retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel volunteered.
Now he's going back.
"I got an e-mail several months ago asking me to sign on for another hitch," Burson said. "I felt I had to go."
Burson, ChE 55, MS Met 63, PhD Met 64, is an ear, nose and throat physician in Villa Rica, Ga., where he founded Chattahoochee Healthcare.
During his first Iraq tour, Burson cared for wounded soldiers and civilians at a combat support hospital near Baghdad that once served as Saddam Hussein's private clinic.
He was on duty the night ABC News anchorman Bob Woodruff and an ABC photographer were wounded by an improvised explosive device, but because of the severity of their wounds, they were flown by helicopter to a more technically advanced hospital after first being treated in Baghdad.
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