Most people emerge from a coma wanting rest, recovery, or simply to return to their normal life. Dr. William Hartel, however, woke up with an unexpected dream: to join the U.S. Army. At 51 years old, after more than three decades of practicing dentistry, he decided that the second act of his life would not be behind a chair in a clinic, but on the frontlines, serving soldiers in some of the harshest conditions on earth.
"I woke up from a coma after four days, and my first thought was, 'I do not want to sit in the same round chair and die in the round chair,'" he recalled. "Then I saw a commercial for the Army, and I thought maybe this is the time. Maybe I can be more than I am now."
