10/27/2025

Member Spotlight: Dr. Jerry Hagler

Dr. Jerry Hagler, MD

IEDs and IVs: My Unconventional Path to Emergency Medicine 

I never expected my path in medicine to look quite like this. I started as a combat medic—young, hungry, and trying to absorb everything I could. Over the years, I became a civilian paramedic, working long shifts in prehospital care while still drilling with my Army Reserve unit. Whether I was managing an airway in the back of an ambulance or leading a trauma lane during a field exercise, I was–and am–constantly balancing two worlds. But those two worlds had more in common than I realized: the unpredictability, the need for calm under pressure, and the ability to lead in the chaos.

One of the defining chapters of my military service was a year-long deployment as the senior medic for a route clearance unit. Our job was to find IEDs before they found anyone else. We’d roll out in armored vehicles day and night, scanning the roads for the kind of danger you can’t always see. I was responsible not only for the trauma readiness of my team, but also for ensuring the medics under me were confident, skilled, and mission-focused. There were days when nothing happened—and days when everything did. That deployment solidified for me what it means to be the calm in the storm, and how critical it is to train like lives depend on it—because they do.

Now, years later, I’m board-certified in pediatrics and halfway through an emergency medicine residency. I’ve stayed enlisted throughout—now a Master Sergeant (E-8) and nearly able to retire—and I’ve never regretted not commissioning. It wasn’t about avoiding leadership; it was about leaning into the kind I value most: staying directly connected to Soldiers. I’ve found my passion in teaching within the military—mentoring young medics, running trauma scenarios, building NCOs who are confident not only in the field but in life. There’s a unique bond that comes with staying in the fight alongside your people, and I haven’t wanted to give that up.

Being a paramedic taught me how to manage chaos with limited resources. The military taught me how to lead from the front. And medicine has taught me how to adapt, how to listen, and how to advocate for my patients and my team. Each step in my journey has added a layer—none more important than the others—but together, they’ve given me a deep appreciation for systems, service, and human connection.

Through all of this, my greatest strength is at home. I have an amazing wife who keeps our world running and encourages me through every call, every shift, every long training weekend. We’re raising three beautiful young children—ages five, two, and one—and they are my “why” in every sense. Juggling this life isn’t always easy, but it’s meaningful. Whether I’m putting on a stethoscope or a set of stripes, I know who I’m doing it for.