From 4-F to U.S. Navy Surgeon General

In 1959, Harold M. Koenig was discharged after his first year at the U.S. Naval Academy because of progressive hearing loss and went on to college, then medical school. In 1965, the draft board notified him that upon completion of his internship in 1967 he would be drafted despite his disability—as the conflict in Vietnam escalated, many doctors with previously disqualifying medical conditions were reclassified as eligible to serve. Rather than wait to be drafted, Koenig volunteered for a Navy program that made him an ensign and paid all expenses for his final year of medical school. His memoir recounts his remarkable career path from 4-F midshipman to vice admiral and his service in the most senior positions in military medicine.

After a 32-year career in Navy medicine, Harold M. Koenig, M.D., serves on government advisory, philanthropic, not-for-profit and small business start-up boards. He lives in San Diego, California.

Harold M. Koenig, M.D.

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 215
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, appendix, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7732-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3589-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
1. Life Before the Navy 3
2. Back in the Navy 9
3. Sasebo, Japan 10
4. San Diego 16
5. Oakland 39
6. Portsmouth 49
7. Return to San Diego 53
8. Bethesda 70
9. Naval Medical Command, Washington 76
10. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington 80
11. The Pentagon 90
12. Deputy Surgeon General 119
13. Surgeon General 131
14. Life After the Navy 193
Appendix: Acronyms 197
Index 201