SALEM, Ohio (Oct. 14, 2014) -- Rifle marksmanship is like performing
surgery. There's a method used to accomplish both. The only difference
is, when surgery is performed correctly, the person at the other end
lives.
That's the world that Lt. Col. J. Cletus Paumier sees as a command surgeon in the U.S. Army Reserve -- a world full of methods.
From the way he holds his coffee cup, full to the brim with hot liquid,
while roaming the hospital hallways without spilling a drop, to the way
he inserts surgical screws into a hip joint. Even shooting a rifle has a
method, down to the last detail.
Between surgeries, his Army obligations, and shooting rifle
competitions, it's hard to tell where one role begins and another ends.
Even when cleaning his rifle, Paumier uses a surgical cystoscope to
inspect the barrel and gas ports.
The scope is worth several thousand dollars, but to him it's just a
tool, just an idea. When people blame tools for their lack of success,
they fail to unlock their true potential, he says.
"Every time I hear someone say they don't have the right equipment, I
want to take them down an abandoned road and beat them to death with
their own words," he said.
When he talks to convey a specific idea, his blue eyes blaze with such
intensity he looks like he's about perform surgery or shoot down a
target. He is so determined, some friends teasingly refer to him as a
machine.
He projects that intensity even when he's listening.
"I just listen intently, and I figure out sort of what goes on, but I'm
intense. There's no hiding that. It's always been that way," he said.
"You have to be ready to listen at all times. You can learn so much from
every sense that God gave you."
"Every answer is right here," he said, extending his hand out in front
of his face, pivoting around the room. Everything is solvable.
Everything is within reach, he said.
That's the philosophy driving everything he does, whether in uniform, at the range, or in surgical scrubs.
SURGEON - A PATH TO MEDICINE THAT BEGAN IN HIGH SCHOOL
As an orthopedic surgeon, Paumier has treated 25,000 patients in 20
years. The population of Salem, Ohio, where he lives, is 12,000, but his
hospital's service area reaches 70,000 in a 50-mile radius.
Growing up, he wanted to go in the military, not medicine. His father
was in the U.S. Coast Guard and made him do his bunk with a four-inch
seam so tight you couldn't crawl into it. Every vacation was at a Coast
Guard base.
His path toward military changed when sudden tragedy hit the family.
He came home from school one day in 11th grade, and his father was there, waiting for him. Waiting to deliver the news.
"I grew up in 10 seconds. 'Your brother has cancer.' My life was over. It was never the same," said Paumier.
That news derailed Paumier's plans completely toward medicine. His
parents took his brother to St. Jude Hospital in Tennessee, and stayed
there for several months. He was stuck running the house, taking care of
his sister, paying the bills. He got up at four in the morning to run
traps that caught foxes and ferrets by a nearby pond, before getting
himself and his sister ready for school. Then football practice into the
late hours of the evening. Only to do it all over again the next day,
for months, until his parents and brother returned.
That's the only time Paumier appeared vulnerable. He paused a few times
to compose his words while telling that story. He was too young to be
forced into that, he said.
Thankfully, his brother survived Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, but by then, Paumier's path new was already set.
He was accepted into medical school at the age of 17. He lived on five
dollars a week, and his studies went from 17 credit hours a semester to
30 by the end. He finished his undergrad at Youngstown State University,
in two years. Then, he graduated medical school at Mount Carmel Medical
Center, by 23.
There was no room for the military then. No room for anything else during his studies.
School consumed him so completely he compared the experience to Rip Van
Winkle's slumber. When he returned to society, he felt totally
disconnected from the world around him. It was like he'd been asleep
from it all. People had grown older and the world had changed without
him.
Yet, he made an impression on medical professionals everywhere he went.
Paumier received offers to join prestigious practices around the
country.
"But I wanted to be a Hill Jack," he said, using a term he prefers over "Hill Billy."
He wanted to rebuild the hospital in Salem, Ohio, the town where he'd
grown up his whole life. At the Salem Regional Medical Center, he saw
design flaws in how the operating rooms were constructed. Those flaws
resulted in increased contamination rates he knew could be prevented.
"Sterile technique is a method and that method has rules. If you break
the rules, you have contamination," he said while giving a tour of the
area.
He came up with a plan to totally redesign the operating area. Almost
everyone was against him when he proposed the plan. He let no one stop
him. He used a method called "center-out engineering," which he
invented.
"I engineered the thing -- all the parameters in the room, to the inch,
with an engineering method that I've made up -- using a tape measure.
And I taught the architects how to engineer the operating room using (my
system)," he said.
Having large surgery rooms was vital to prevent accidental contact with
sterile equipment. The Salem hospital has seven rooms now, each 30 to 50
percent larger than the average size around the country. The orthopedic
rooms, in particular, are 670 square feet. That's larger than a studio
apartment. All to reduce infection rates and improve efficiency.
He wanted patients to receive the care they deserved. He pours so much energy into them.
One particular Monday morning, Paumier treated 30 patients before
lunchtime. That same day, he came home to catch up on Army obligations,
had dinner with his family, and went back to the hospital to perform a
hip surgery. He didn't go to bed until almost midnight. Nonstop. Even
when he dictates patient notes, he talks so fast he might as well be an
auctioneer.
Yet, Paumier is never thrown into a hurry by circumstances. On any given
day, he treats everything from a mangled hand to a herniated disk. His
medical realm covers every joint and bone from the neck down. In the ER
wing, he jumps between four or five rooms as patients cycle through
constantly. The amount of information load he deals with would overwhelm
most people, he said. He's seen people snap because of what hospitals
demand.
"I don't get rushed. I stopped feeling rushed when I started taking charge of everything," he said.
He likened it to a combat stress environment. A new problem, a new trauma, every few minutes. On a repeated cycle.
"You have to adapt and overcome," he says, a typical Army mantra, but he makes it true.
He remains in control the whole time. Flipping out would equal panic.
Panic means loss of control. Loss of control means poor decision-making.
Once the pattern begins, it goes on, all the way to the bottom.
When fellow doctors or nurses complain about the struggles of work, he hands them a single straw as a joke.
"What's this for?" one nurse asked the first time he ever gave her one.
"To suck it up."
Yet, unlike actual machines, he's not emotionless. He doesn't lack
empathy. In fact, he uses emotion as a tool. He channels other people's
emotions to drive them toward positive actions, instead of negative
ones.
"If you learn how to marshal emotions, then it's an incredible thing.
What role does emotion play? What role does logic play? Emotion is the
engine that propels organisms ... Emotions drive everything you do. All
logic does is guide you. It steers that force."
SHOOTER - ACCOMPLISHING PEACE OF MIND
The emotion that drives Paumier is peace of mind.
"Peace of mind takes care of all (other) emotions," he said.
He found that peace in the surgical precision of rifle marksmanship.
It's about more than just defeating the enemy, he said. It's a
discipline that instills self-control. It's what helped Paumier focus
his life. He was already a surgeon when he started shooting matches, but
picking up a rifle transformed him in new ways.
"I did it to clean up my thinking method ... I realized I was succeeding
in all these things, but I had no idea why ... I had to look into it
and figure out how it works," he said.
He used the metaphor of a car. People work on their cars all the time,
but every person has only one mind. For the longest time he was hesitant
to work on his mind because he didn't want to break something.
"Marksmanship launched me into the center of my mind," he said.
He performed surgery on himself, in a way. Through rifle drills and
training, he cut his mind open put it back together in a logical
fashion.
He became so driven he sought out anyone who could answer his questions:
how to aim, how to stand, how to grip. A mentor, who served in Vietnam
and Korea, told him about a Marine Corps marksmanship video, and Paumier
transcribed the whole tape into written word. He practiced it thousands
of times. He would do standing rifle drills in his basement to see how
long he could stand there. He started at five minutes and worked himself
up to an hour.
"I sort of developed a new educational method for teaching marksmanship
... It's an amazing process. I've completely figured that thing out
based on how people think and function," he said.
He mastered the rifle. Or rather, he mastered his body and mind to control that rifle perfectly.
"In marksmanship, everything you do has an impact on the target," he said.
Every minor movement "here" causes a drastic change in the shot group
"there," hundreds of yards down the line. He sees it as a metaphor for
everything else in life. The smallest idea might propel a person either
into great error or great success.
"You have to learn to throw away ideas. Sometimes your ideas lead you back to things you thought were truths but were not."
When he began his marksmanship journey, he scored dead last in his first
match. He applied everything he learned into his method. He refined his
skills. Since then, he's achieved the Distinguished Rifleman Badge at
Camp Perry, accomplished in three qualifying leg matches once he made
the cut. He's earned the President's Hundred Tab twice. Plus he's won
trophies and medals both in civilian national matches and at
inter-service competitions against other military branches.
"A lot of these guys, they said it's kind of impossible to do this
stuff. I mean, every time I hear impossible, I love it because it's a
tremendous challenge that can be overcome," he said.
He build his own private range just to spend more time shooting. The
range took three years to complete. He cleared 14 acres of brush and
hawthorn trees just to get started.
"I cleared every square inch with a brush hog and a 14-inch chain saw. I remember suffering," said Paumier.
That, alone, took him three months. Then, with the help of some friends
and constant communication with Camp Perry and the headquarters of the
National Rifle Association, he built a 600-yard beauty. The range has
four lanes, four shooting mounds, three "live fire" flags and a pit
complete with professionally-framed targets that move up and down on a
counter-weight system. The whole thing exceeds NRA standards. All in his
backyard.
"I had to hire a bulldozer because I had to remove two hills. In Ohio,
there's a hill every 200 yards. So if you want a 600-yard range, you've
got to remove two hills," said Paumier, who casually refers to himself
as both the unstoppable force and the immovable object.
Not even hills could stop his determination, his vision. He's not shy
about his stubbornness. He said every Paumier in his family lineage was
stubborn in some way.
When neighbors complain about the gunfire blasts, he responds, "Never mind the noise. That's the sound of freedom."
Up the hill from the range, Paumier's house is a beautiful
4,000-square-foot home. Its design is a fusion between an eastern river
tycoon in the front, and a southern plantation style in the back. Like
the surgery wing, Paumier designed it using a measuring tape from the
inside out.
At dinner time, Paumier and his wife, Amy, and their two kids, can see
the whole landscape through the kitchen windows. They eat dinner at home
together most nights despite the mad hours Paumier grinds through.
The name of the road where they live might as well have been destined
for Paumier: Perry Grange Road. The four lanes in his back yard are
exact replica of those found at Camp Perry, where national matches take
place.
It takes 14 hours just to mow the range, but he shoots year round. Even
in the winter, in negative-ten-degree temperatures, he shoots in
complete peace.
Yet, rifle marksmanship brought Paumier more than peace of mind. It's what brought him into the Army Reserve.
SOLDIER - POURING HIS WHOLE LIFE INTO THE UNIFORM
Paumier shot his first rifle at the age of eight. He shot his first deer
at 13 (a 10-point buck). He shot at national championships in his 30s.
Yet, he joined the Army at 48. He's been wearing the uniform less than two years.
He became so renowned as a rifleman and surgeon that Army officials
noticed. He met an Army Reserve officer at a shooting match who ended up
recruiting him. Paumier was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel.
Typically, it takes 15 years or more for officers to reach that rank.
"When I decide I want to do something, I make it happen. I mean I have a
complete life's history of deciding to do things and making it happen
... You will never see such determination ever. I decided I wanted to be
distinguished. I am distinguished. I decided I wanted to be in the
Army. I'm in the Army. I decided I wanted to be a lieutenant colonel.
I'm a lieutenant colonel. They said major. But I said I wanted
lieutenant colonel ... based on my credentials," he said.
He recalls his recruiter saying, "I don't know who this guy is, or who
he knows, but in my whole life, I've never seen the Army operate this
way."
He said he loves the Army because of the discipline it requires out of Soldiers, who are capable of a huge range of missions.
"I think the Army is the best overall organization, ever. The Army is a
giant machine. It has all the functions to sustain a society. It's its
own complete mechanism. We can fight. We can govern. We can lead. We can
build. We can heal people. We can establish security. It's a complete
governmental organization."
In the Army Reserve, he drives six hours - 415 miles, one way - to
report to the 416th Theater Engineer Command, each month. As the
command's chief surgeon, he oversees the medical readiness of
approximately 13,000 troops, spread across 27 states. His goal is to
eventually improve medical stats throughout the entire Army.
Additionally, he took charge of the Army Reserve's Mobile Training Team.
The team is part of the Army Reserve Marksmanship Program, which has
approximately 60 pistol, rifle and combat experts who compete at various
championships. In turn, the training team travels the country to help
Soldiers improve their weapon skills.
"How Soldiers are instructed in marksmanship spills over the combat environment," Paumier said.
Now he's on a mission to completely revamp the Army's marksmanship
methodology. He coaches every person he ever comes into contact with:
topics range from shooting to general life lessons. He wants to
transpose his knowledge, coaching skills, and sheer determination to
improve the Army's institution as a whole.
He won't stop until he does so, he said.
If he can redesign an entire surgery wing and a three-story home using a
measuring tape, imagine what he can do with a surgical scope or a
rifle.
"If you go through your life and don't use the talents you were given, then you've wasted these talents," he said.
http://www.army.mil/article/135958/The_method_behind_the_machine__Surgeon__shooter__Soldier/
By Sgt. 1st Class Michel Sauret
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