This month, WorkingNation highlights stories about veterans and work with a series of articles, videos, podcasts, and a new digital magazine, Inquire Within.

For Col. Ralph Layman, an Army surgeon, joining the Army Reserves served multiple purposes. It helped pay for his medical degree. It appealed to his sense of adventure. And it satisfied his desire to serve his country on the frontlines, both at home and abroad.

In his civilian life in Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Layman is director of trauma services at HCA Henrico Doctors Hospital, as well as a transplant surgeon. He’s been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan six times, most recently in March.

He explains that his time in the service played a role in getting hired at his first medical job. He shares his story with me in this Work in Progress podcast for Inquire Within: Veterans and Work.

On a personal note, this podcast is special to me. Ralph is my nephew. I am proud to let him tell his story here on the reasons he chose to join the military, and how it has helped in his civilian career.

Inquire Within: Col. Ralph Layman, MD, U.S. Army surgeon

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts