In honor of Veterans Day 2024, we are highlighting some of our veteran treasures – our staff! Welcome to this special edition of “Honoring FHW Veterans.”
Meet Heather Hornbacher, who is a Physician, in the FHW In-Patient Hospital Unit.
She is a winged Naval Flight surgeon. After graduating from Internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA, she was accepted to flight school and the flight surgeon program based in Pensacola, Florida – Naval Aviation Schools Command. Famously known as the home of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. There she graduated API (Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination) with USN, USMC, select USAF future aviators where she enjoyed, yes enjoyed, “dunker” training. Dunker training is where all Naval aviators are tested on getting out of an underwater upside-down aircraft. They are also taught other less thrill-inducing classes such as basic aerodynamics, aviation weather, air navigation, flight rules and regulations, and aircraft engines and systems.
For Primary Flight School she was assigned to TRAWING 5 Naval Air Station Whiting Field where she was trained on TH-57 Ranger and T6-B Texan II along with the other aviators. After completing Primary Flight School she was winged and assigned to Marine Corps Air Station New River with HMH-461 Ironhorse that flew the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion now the CH-53K King Stallion. While attached to the squadron; she was deployed or detached all but the last year of her time on active duty.
She said she had several reasons for considering the military but one was the deep appreciation for the privilege of constitutional freedoms in the USA. She volunteered with an NGO in Cambodia prior to joining the Navy and witnessed how different the world is, including the limited freedoms and rights of some countries and communities. She was drawn to the opportunity to give back and invest in the people who volunteered to fight for our constitution, in a meaningful way. What she ended up investing in were the Marines she fondly refers to as her kids.
Heather Hornbacher, or just Doc as her Marines call her, joined the U.S. Navy in 2013.
“I’m ‘doc’ and always happy to answer them should they have questions or need help with their VA applications,” she said about her former squadron members. “They are my kids.”
Heather was born in Iowa, and spent a total of 11 years in Colorado at different times in her life, including living in Pagosa Springs for 7 years. When it came time to go back to medical school residency, she entered St. Mary’s Family Medicine Residency program in Grand Junction to be able to practice as a hospitalist and ER doctor in rural Colorado.
“Colorado just feels like home,” she said.
And, the outdoor adventure opportunities are endless in Western Colorado. Her brother and parents have since followed her out to Colorado so those years of missed holiday family gatherings and such are a focus nowadays for her.
We are so proud Heather found her way to Family Health West and thank you for your service!
