10 Reasons to Love Our Country

Image 2 of 10

Best Call to Duty
Why would a 52-year-old husband and father of three trade a private cardiology practice in Dallas for an Army medic tent in the Middle East? Jerry Grodin's family and friends were puzzled. But for Grodin, it was always in the cards. He'd wanted to enlist since he was a boy, inspired by his grandfather, a Jewish immigrant from Poland who took in soldiers during World War II, and his father, who fought in that war. "I grew up believing that there is no purer citizen than the citizen soldier," Grodin says. "You have to do something bigger than yourself."

Medical school had kept him out of Vietnam, as had his young children during the Gulf War. Then came 9/11. "I thought, If I don't do this now, I'm never going to do it," says Grodin. In Iraq, over three tours of duty, he treated mass casualties as bombs exploded nearby—saving limbs, hearts, and lives in 36-hour stints.

"If my grandfather knew how I had served my country, he would be filled with pride and love," Grodin says. "Back home since January, he knows his father and grandfather were right. "The people I served with, made me a better person."