Salute to Veterans: Stevenson continues lifetime of service

Mike Stevenson's service to country led directly to his service to community.

The Cape Girardeau resident is a retired colonel who served in the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard. He is a family practice doctor of osteopathic medicine, and in his military career, he was an infantry officer and field surgeon. His deployments took him throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As a military doctor, he went where the troops needed him most.

"I wouldn't go to a hospital unit. I would go to a line combat unit," he explained. "Basically, it depended on who is in contact with the bad guys. Whoever that was, that's where I was because there were so few of us. We were kind of like chicken teeth — there just weren't that many of us to go around."

Stevenson said serving in such a role was rewarding but also came with the threat of not being able to help in some circumstances.

"You go out with good intent. However, sometimes, the situation doesn't work out to where you can," he said.

Col. Mike Stevenson and his daughter, Maria, executive director of Southeast Missouri Chapter of American Red Cross, attend a charity event for combat veterans in Memphis, Tennessee.Submitted

He served in Iraq during a period when vehicle-borne and roadside improvised explosive devices were a favored weapon of the enemy. He recounted coming upon a bomb camouflaged as a rock.

"Do the rocks in Iraq have det(onation) cords coming out of them?" he asked the vehicle driver as he observed the IED, a 155-millimeter artillery shell. "I think we might ought to back up a little bit."

Serving in a deadly combat zone and trying to save the lives of the men and women injured in service to their nation helped prepare the colonel to return to civilian medical practice.

"It made me a better doctor. Made me a better man. Made me a lot more patient. I'm more patient with patients," he commented. "For that experience, I wouldn't take any amount of money, but I wouldn't want to do it over."

Over the years, Stevenson has often worked in emergency rooms, and he said the pressure of combat has helped him keep his head while treating patients.

Col. Mike StevensonSubmitted

"I still work in the emergency room a lot, and where it kicks in there is it allows me to stay calm," he explained. "In an ER setting, as I like to say, calm is infectious. Panic is also infectious. When you are calm, you can do your job. That has helped me immensely."

Red Cross volunteer

Stevenson's daughter, Maria, also a military veteran, serves as executive director of Southeast Missouri Chapter of American Red Cross. He serves as a community volunteer for the organization.

His dedication to the organization stems from seeing firsthand one aspect of the organization's service to servicemembers.

While on a training mission in the Great Lakes area, Stevenson learned his father had suffered a medical emergency. The Red Cross located him and, with the military's help, quickly got him to his father. Later, while he was in Iraq, his mother suffered a medical emergency, and then, too, the Red Cross found him and helped get him home.

"When it comes to something like that with a troop, they will move entire mountain ranges to get that troop home," he noted.

Military service is a family tradition, as Stevenson's son is a veteran. His father served on a battleship in the South Pacific.

These days, Stevenson is still practicing medicine and volunteering with the Red Cross. When he's not doing those things, he is likely in his workshop tinkering with his latest hobby — making custom hunting knives.

"Don't ever start," he joked. "It's a horrible vice, and there's little cure for the addiction. It's a terrible thing to start, because it's a lot more fun than it should be."