By Jessie Lynne Kerr
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
Copyright 2007 Florida Times-Union
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
It’s been 36 years since he got a low draft number, but 54-year-old Robert Kiely, grandfather of three, is finally going to war.
The emergency medicine physician, who has served as medical director of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department for 25 years and as the SWAT team medic for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve on Wednesday. He’ll be assigned to the 3rd Medical Command in Atlanta for training until he is deployed to Iraq this summer, where he’ll be training field physicians.
“I found an opportunity to serve my country,” Kiely said after his commissioning ceremony. “I think I can make a difference and save some lives.”
Kiely said he registered as required with the draft for military service in 1970 when he turned 18 and got a relatively low number of 31 in the draft lottery. But he got a college deferment and then went on to medical school and was never called before the draft ended in 1973.
“I guess this is payback time for me,” he joked, admitting that he was moved by a feeling of patriotism to sign up now.
As medical director for the Fire and Rescue Department, Kiely has been instrumental in developing emergency medical service protocols for the department, which have been copied across the world. Jacksonville’s fire department developed one of the first EMS programs in the nation.
“Dr. Kiely’s contributions to EMS have been truly epic,” said department spokesman Tom Francis.
After medical school, Kiely came to Jacksonville as chief resident in emergency medicine at what is now Shands Jacksonville hospital. He also has directed the emergency rooms at Memorial, Jacksonville General, Riverside and St. Vincent’s hospitals here. For 26 years he also operated acute care centers in Lakewood and in Arlington that were recently sold to Baptist Urgent Care.
He took the oath from a friend of 13 years, Navy reserve Capt. John Preski, a P-3 Orion flight officer.
“We’ve talked about this for four months,” Preski said. Although he has not been called to active duty in the Middle East, Preski said some of the people in his command have, so he was able to give Kiely some insight.
“He has made a well-thought-out decision,” Preski said. “He felt he had to serve his country. I think he will succeed very well.”
Staff Sgt. Ian Francis of the Army Health Care Recruiting Office, who had Kiely sign a bunch of commissioning documents, said there is a critical shortage of specialists in emergency medicine to train field physicians, especially in war time.
Although his deployment to Iraq will be for about four months, Kiely said he signed up to serve for a minimum of three years.
His initial Army training should not be too difficult, he said, because he has had weapons training as the Sheriff’s Office SWAT team medic. “Most of the SWAT team members are ex-military,” he said.
Fire and Rescue Chief of Services Larry Peterson said the department will seek another emergency physician to stand in while Kiely is away.
“He has performed a great service to us and the rescue service.” Peterson said. Kiely was a part of the department’s Urban Search and Rescue team that deployed to Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina. “We are proud to have him go to help keep our soldiers safe.”