Lorie Brown went to Nursing school through ROTC where she then had to give back 4 years of service. She came out of college/nursing school as a Second Lieutenant. During Lorie Brown's time the nurse uniforms were white dresses with socket shoes. She still had regular hospital duties with three 12 hour shifts or four 8 hour shifts. But, Lorie worked in a huge hospital with all the different wards. She worked in a normal hospital and had military training to attend. Whether it was physical training or field training exercises to focus on specific skill for combat medicine. Lorie still had military obligations as a nurse to care for the soldiers at the hospital, whether it was from a gunshot wound to falling down the stairs. But as a Military nurse, they have to be prepared to go to war and have the skill sets to operate in tents, set up supplies, and be able to conduct wartime field nursing. Lorie comments that it was a "balanced training" of both civilian and military skills. Lorie wanted to serve because she wanted to serve a deserving population. She wanted to demonstrate her thankfulness through her service to soldiers as a nurse. The farther you rank up in the military the further away you get from nursing. Lorie was told to get her Masters to specialize to be able to rank up, so she attended University of South Florida to be a Nurse Practitioner all paid for by the military. This education allowed her to rise to the rank of a Colonel! The Medical Services in the military have the money and the authority for when you have to raise ranks. 

Lorie recounts her time at the Pentagon where she was during 9/11! Lorie was the Chief Nurse at the Clinic and was not deployed because her husband was Active-Duty Infantry. On the morning of 9/11, it was a normal day at the clinic.  The Pentagon has over 25,000 people in there so they are always preparing for emergency situations. Lori recounts how there was one every day from heart attacks, shootings, seizures, etc. So when the plane crashed into the Pentagon there was mass chaos but everyone knew the protocols. In the Pentagon Lorie watched on TV the other planes crash. So, when the plane crashed on the other side of the building from the clinic, people were carrying patients to the clinic to be treated. The clinic was able to operate on emergency power and provide triage care and doctors operating with supplies in clinic. The people and patients were eventually evacuated from the fire with the help of radios to communicate. Although there was chaos, it was well managed medically. All who could be found were evacuated over the span of hours, and Lorie stayed behind to help move the injured. The clinic was open for 30 days until shut down and the Pentagon was on fire for 3 days. Lorie recounts an IT man who tried to lift a brick that was stuck on someone, people who she thinks are the true heroes of that day: the ones who left their job post to help others and risk their own lives. 

Lorie maintained her nursing certification by volunteering with the Red Cross. So this was why she went back on active duty for 6 months during the pandemic and because they needed help. Lorie was in charge of provider care of the COVID clinic outside the hospital. She treated the "healthy COVID" (people who did not need to go to the hospital). Although her rank as a Colonel, she was able to sit at a desk and help but Lorie wanted to actually put her nursing to use and help. Lorie created a committee to make a trailer for the outside clinic in order to maintain infection control, implement ramps for wheelchairs, make trailer accessible, less traffic, and Lorie headed the planning for this project. 

Benefits for being a nurse in the military is retirement pension and healthcare with the military. Lorie loved to serve and she had the opportunity to do both of what she loved. Her mission was personal and it created lifetime friends that became a new family to her. In the 70s and 80s female nurses were not on equal footing with men. The military gave a way for the women to file complaints without being fired and it made for a more equal playing field for women in military medicine. Also not just doctors could run a hospital, the military opened it up to any profession in the hospital with the leadership and skill set has the opportunity to be the head of a hospital.