Students experience Army opportunities

Liberty University students were able to experience hands-on medical training and see what opportunities the United States Army has to offer Tuesday, Oct. 21 with the arrival of the Army Discovery Medical truck.

Students were allowed to walk inside and see equipment, watch videos and interact with a SIM Man, a medical dummy that talks and interacts with medical students, allowing for better training for those in the medical field.

George Mallory, a recruiter for the U.S. Army Recruiting Center in Richmond, Virginia, said coming to Liberty gave the Army a chance to build relationships with the new medical center.

“The biggest draw is to showcase Army medicine to the students at Liberty University, but also to get involved with the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine,” Mallory said. “We want to have a good relationship with their undergraduate program and with a lot of the schools in the Commonwealth.”

Mallory said the response from the students was very positive.

“I was on the undergraduate side of the campus,” Mallory said. “And here I was, a person in a uniform sitting in a lunch room and students were coming up to me and asking me what I was doing, and I got to answer questions about the opportunities we have to offer.”

Even for those not interested in the medical field, Mallory said there are plenty of opportunities, such as veterinary corps, nursing and dentistry.

“We use this as chance to inform the community about what opportunities there are, because a lot people don’t know every single detail about what’s available in medicine,” Mallory said.
Mallory said he has been involved in recruiting with the Richmond branch for the last 12 to 18 months.

“I help and do strategic planning to come to the campuses and things like your biology club or health clubs where we can bring guest speakers,” Mallory said. “And then I help plan things like bringing the medical truck to your university.”

Some of the biggest highlights from the truck included advancements in prosthetics and research in how to treat concussions better.

“You get to go inside and have hands-on experience where you can touch and feel the prosthetics (and) you see how they weigh and how they work,” Mallory said. “The SIM Man shows the vitals and then interacts with our doctors. And, of course, we have the recruiters there to talk about their experience and how you can get involved.”

Health Care Recruiter Hasahnn Reynolds said he got involved with the Army when a friend asked him to join years ago.

“I originally wanted to go into the Navy, but I fell in love with doing this,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and it’s given me so many amazing opportunities.”

Reynolds said that recruiting has been very rewarding.

“This gives me the opportunity to find the best qualified people to be the next leaders,” Reynolds said. “The Army is a very small place. You’ll eventually come across the same people. It’s great to see someone that started as a rookie and climb the ranks. You get the chance to impact someone’s future.”

WALSH is a feature writer.