When John Smith, MD, reflects on his military career and the moments and experiences that brought him to July 10, 2025 – the day he was promoted to colonel in the U.S. Air Force – his time as a resident physician in Kalamazoo is never far from his thoughts.
“With the autonomy we had as residents, we were making decisions of consequence with short timelines and those types of skills are everything,” said Col. Smith, 41, who completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine in 2013 at the MSU Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (MSU/KCMS), the predecessor to WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).
“Whether I’m working in the ER or providing leadership as a commanding officer, it’s about taking stock of where I’m at, assessing what’s important, deciding which course of action is best and making that happen,” he added. “Kalamazoo is where I got the chance to hone those skills.”
For Col. Smith, the desire to serve his country took root as a child and grew as he got older. His grandfather served in the U.S. Army and the Army Air Corps and his uncle served in the Air Force. Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, the sight of A-10 Warthogs flying overhead was a frequent and welcomed occurrence. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred during his senior year of high school and not long after that he set the goal of becoming a military doctor and serving in Afghanistan. As an undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), he served in the AFROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force when he graduated in 2006.
By the time he came to Kalamazoo in 2010 after earning his MD degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Col. Smith held the rank of captain and was the recipient of a scholarship from the F. Edward Hébert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.
“I’ve always wanted to serve my country,” Col. Smith said. “It really is a privilege to live here and have the opportunities that are afforded to us just by being born here.”
Col. Smith said his training as a resident physician in Kalamazoo set him up for success as a physician in the U.S. Air Force. He appreciated the mentorship of David Overton, MD, who served as program director for the medical school’s Emergency Medicine residency program until 2015, and Bill Fales, MD, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He said his time as a resident afforded him numerous opportunities to provide trauma care to patients in high-pressure situations.
“It was just a great match,” Col. Smith recalled.
Just a few months after completing his residency training in Kalamazoo in the summer of 2013, Col. Smith got the chance to fulfill the goal he set for himself as a high schooler and was deployed to Afghanistan.
“It was an experience and the medicine had to be there,” he said. “With the training I got in Kalamazoo, it was.”
When he returned from his deployment in Afghanistan, Col. Smith was stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis where he served as a flight surgeon for the 27th Fighter Squadron, the oldest active fighter squadron in the Air Force, with over 100 years of service to the nation. In 2016, he was promoted to the rank of Major and later deployed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he took part in flight missions into Iraq and Syria as part of the U.S. military campaign against ISIS.
“I got the chance to support and be a part of that elite team and they are able to do things no one else in the world can do and that’s a special thing to witness,” Col. Smith said. “You’re not the point of the spear but you’re supporting those efforts and that is the neatest part because you see that impact firsthand and you are seeing the effects of your medicine firsthand.”
By 2018, Col. Smith was assigned to the White House Medical Unit, which is made up of active-duty physicians, physician assistants, registered nurses, medics, and support staff from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard. The unit provides medical care to the President, Vice President, and their families, as well as White House staff and visitors.
Col. Smith got the opportunity to serve until 2021, a span that included the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a portion of the first Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration. During his time of service in the White House, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2020.
“I was very proud to be a part of that unit,” Col. Smith said. “It is a team made up of everyone that’s best at their game and it’s a very special thing knowing the responsibility that we’re charged with. It’s very humbling when you’re there at the White House. There’s history there and you’re working where history has taken place and it’s really special to see what you’re supporting.”
After his stint in the White House Medical Unit, Col. Smith spent two years as a commander at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst where he led a squadron of more than 200 people charged with overseeing active-duty medical care and operational medicine. In 2024, Col. Smith stepped away from his command post and moved to Maxwell Air Force Base where he spent a year pursuing and earning his master’s degree in military strategic studies.
More recently, Col. Smith has been stationed in Falls Church, Virginia, where he is helping oversee operational medicine and medical care policies for the Air Force at the Defense Health Headquarters.
Earlier this year, when he learned that he would be promoted to colonel, Col. Smith reached out to Drs. Overton and Fales with an invite to attend his promotion ceremony via livestream.
Col. Smith said the ceremony on July 10 was an important moment for him, not only because it marked his official promotion to Colonel but it also gave him the chance to thank the many people, including Drs. Overton and Fales, who have played a role in his success as a physician and his rapid rise through the ranks as an Air Force officer.
“My rise through the ranks was probably faster than some and it really was because of the mentors I’ve had who brought me along, pushed me at every step, and were willing to reach out a hand and provide help when I needed it,” Col. Smith said. “That has really pushed me to being more deliberate in understanding that my behavior or intentions could change the needle for someone else.”
“With Dr. Fales and the EMS program in Kalamazoo and Dr. Overton being the program director, they had a lot to do with how my education as a physician-in-training went,” Col. Smith said. “Dr. Fales used to check up on me when I was in Afghanistan and I wanted to include them in my promotion ceremony because of everything they have done for me and to let them know I’m still holding strong here.”