Military career helped prepare orthodontist for life
By JOE HARLESS CLEARWATER
Not too many dentists find their way in a military academy. But that’s the route William Layman took before entering dental school.
An active and concerned citizen, Layman did not follow the traditional route of school-marriage-family with his life.
He didn’t even jump straight into orthodontics after high school. He started by jumping out of planes with the 82nd Airborne Division.
While his family did not have a history of military service, Layman’s grandfather had lived in Charleston, S.C. Layman said they would frequently drive by The Citadel during his visits. He remembers driving by and finding something enticing about the grounds.
“Something told me to go there,” Layman said. “Something about it looked difficult, and that’s what I was looking for at that time.”
After graduating from The Citadel in 1995, Layman enlisted with the Army. While he wanted to go to school and study dentistry he also wanted to do a few things, such as live on his own, before going back to school. “I had always wanted to do dentistry. It just made sense to go into the army at the time,” Layman said.
“Some people hike the Appalachian Trail, some people go rock-climbing. I went and jumped out of planes.” Over the next two years he served as a field artillery officer with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg. While he never went into combat, his work introduced him to a variety of people and places.
“I remember looking at 18 year olds and thinking, as much trouble they caused us, there was something powerful about seeing a kid walk out the door of a plane in flight.”
Stationed in the Mojave Desert in August 1996, Layman was hit with the coldest weather he had ever experienced.
After being in 124-degree weather all day, a 75-degree evening felt like 20 degrees on a freshly sunburned body. Fort Bragg also introduced Layman to Delta Force members and soldiers who had been active in Grenada.
“You show up and see these boys and men that have done the real deal,” Layman remembered. “It was comforting but intimidating as hell. You just couldn’t learn fast enough.”
One man Layman remembers best was Col. Michael Steele, then a major and battalions operations officer. Layman worked with Steele almost two years after Steele had played a large role in a military operation in Mogadishu, the events of which were made famous in “Black Hawk Down,” although Layman did not know it until after he’d left the army and started dental school.
“I called a friend after I saw the movie and I asked ‘is this the same guy,’ and my friend was surprised that I didn’t know that.”
In the film Steele, portrayed by actor Jason Isaacs, is an extremely tough soldier whose fairness and concern for the men under his command underlines his rough personality. Layman holds the real man in a similar light.
“He was very hard but very intelligent. He was a very unique individual,” Layman said. “He would pull you aside and give you a lot of good lessons, usually in a headlock.”
After the majority of his commission had been served, Layman left to study dentistry. He had dentists in the family but had no desire to be another one. He spent a year studying dentistry before focusing on orthodontics, beating out more that 5,000 applicants in the process.
After graduating, he set up a practice in Clearwater and now splits time between two offices in Pinellas County. A member of the Downtown Clearwater Rotary Club and a recent graduate of the Leadership Pinellas program, Layman has also been trying to get the word out on his sub-specialty practice on sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is defined as a disorder wherein a person experiences pauses in breathing while asleep. These pauses can occur frequently, and a person experiencing sleep apnea may not be aware of it.
“Obstructed sleep apnea basically means the patient is not breathing. Some people can stop breathing 65 times an hour,” Layman explains. “Patients can where a mask that provides a continuous positive air pressure to keep the airway open so that breath can move between the lungs and mouth and the naval cavity,” said Layman before going to St. Anthony’s Hospital to work in their sleep center.
He officially resigned his commission with the army in March 2007 after a three-month stint in Arizona, a trip Layman said he was hesitant to take due to some radical changes in his family. In addition to raising his 3-year-old son, his goddaughter came under his protection after her mother lost a five-year battle with breast cancer.
“It’s been a big adjustment,” Layman said. “I should have been gone a lot longer and I’ve been very fortunate.”
Raising the kids has become the main focus for Layman and his wife, but he still finds time to compete in triathlons, raise awareness about sleep apnea and get to St. Anthony’s whenever he can. And while some of his experiences have been frightening, particularly his last tour due to family matters, Layman does not regret his choices.
“I’ve met some amazing people,” he said. “I’m glad I did all of it.”
Article published on Thursday, June 21, 2007 Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |