{"id":132348,"date":"2024-11-08T19:30:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T23:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=132348"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:25:49","slug":"alumni-our-military-service-made-us-better-physicians-leaders-2","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/medicine\/articles\/2024\/alumni-our-military-service-made-us-better-physicians-leaders-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni: Our Military Service Made Us Better Physicians, Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Retired Two-Star Admiral Christine Hunter, MD\u201980, on board her first posting, the USS Hunley. Photo courtesy of Hunter<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlumni: Our Military Service Made Us Better Physicians, Leaders\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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November 8, 2024<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Following her graduation with honors from Boston University\u2019s six-year combined BA\/MD program Christine Hunter,<\/a> MD\u201980, reported to the USS Hunley<\/a>, a submarine tender watching over nuclear-armed submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh out of a post-medical school internship, Hunter found herself the only doctor taking care of 1,200 sailors and officers on the 600-foot-long ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though self-confident, at 4\u201910\u201d and just 24 years old, Hunter knew she was not the typical command figure. She was among the first cohort of female officers to serve aboard Navy vessels and would oversee a medical department of 20 enlisted men, ranging from 19-year-olds with just six months of training to experienced corpsmen-the Navy equivalent of medics-who were deployed far from home with limited access to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got my orders, I called my recruiter and said, \u2018What in the world am I supposed to do?\u2019\u201d recalls Hunter, who lacked a military background. The recruiter urged her to simply show up and do her best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, the military has a longstanding policy of pairing inexperience with experience, regardless of rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was all on-the-job training, and God bless the corpsmen and my fellow officers because they trained me in all the things I needed to know to be successful,\u201d Hunter says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was all on-the-job training, and God bless the corpsmen and my fellow officers because they trained me in all the things I needed to know to be successful.<\/div>