By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

Talking with Col. Paulette Schank is a little like going to the doctor. There are no tongue depressors or blood pressure readings, but the immediately pleasant, St. Mary's-employed anesthetist has a warm bedside manner that, evidently, trickles over into her daily conversations. But make no mistake - not only is Schank naturally accommodating, she's also a strong, natural-born soldier, claiming to have felt "a responsibility to serve" her country since she was a kid. Now, at 54, this dedicated Langhorne resident has lent her medical expertise to both of America's most recent major conflicts, and the experiences seem to have only galvanized her spirit.

Born to father Paul and mother Margaret in South Carolina, Schank says she "grew up all over," spending her youth in places as exotic as Japan and as familiar as Philadelphia. Schank was raised in a military family. Her dad - who's still kicking at 83 - had a long career in the Navy, and brought the family to this area when it came to a close. Schank attended St. Hubert's Catholic Girls High School in Philadelphia and, at her senior prom, become engaged to her sweetheart, Bob, who she's now called her husband for over 30 years.

Shortly after the engagement (in the early 1970s), Bob, also a soldier, reported to Vietnam while Schank went off to practical nursing school at St. Mary's Hospital's original location in Northeast Philadelphia - the first of many institutions that would contribute to a stockpile of medical knowledge. Though eager to break into her field, what Schank discusses at greatest length about those days was how much she missed her fiancé.

"I wrote (Bob) every day when he was over there," she says with a sentimental grin. "I'd send him questions from the Newlywed game. We had planned to get married when he got home."

And marry they did, just as Schank was finishing her program at St. Mary's. Soon enough the couple became the proud parents of two children, Bob Jr. and Joy. Following the births of her babies, Schank went back to school, commuting from the Northeast to Bucks County Community College to become a Registered Nurse. Upon graduation, she spent a brief stint at home before continuing her higher education at La Salle University. By 1985, she had her Bachelor's in nursing.

Though Schank pointedly acknowledges that she cherishes the time she spent raising her children, she admits that that "responsibility" of service was burning inside all along. In 1989, when her kids had all but grown up, she finally heeded the call and joined the military. She was 34 - an uncommonly mature age for a first-time soldier. She gravitated toward the Air Force, the only branch of the armed forces - and, she notes, one of the only employers in the field - to offer training in flight nursing, which is precisely what it sounds like: medical care in the air. Schank joined the 72nd Air Medical Evacuation Squadron (AES) and attended flight school. Less than a year later, she was able to put her lessons to use.

"My very first mission out of flight school was going to war," she says. "I had just finished and we got activated. My first mission was in Desert Storm, and I couldn't have been better trained."

Schank was part of a unit that would fly wounded soldiers out of the Middle East to a base in Germany and then back to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The victims would be sent out in whatever direction led to the best possible care, and Schank and company would return overseas, starting the rescue cycle all over again. (The same practice is still used by the Air Force today.)

When she wasn't busy saving lives in the sky or across the globe, Schank was still hard at work, honing her skills on the ground at home. In 1995, she earned her Master's in nursing and critical care from Temple University and, two years later, she completed her anesthesia education, an accomplishment that would lead to a few years of employment within the Frankford Hospitals system.

The new millenium brought new career developments to Schank both on American soil and abroad. In 2000, she began working as an anesthetist at St. Mary's Medical Center in Langhorne, a position that she still holds today and that, given her first taste of the world of medicine, brings her extensive training full circle. Schank is also the official flight commander of the O.R. in a combat hospital in Balad, Iraq, overseeing a large staff and keeping her cool amidst what she calls "the carnage and ugliness of war." An active soldier, Schank has served two tours of duty through that ugliness since 2006, the latest of which ended not two months ago. She's been featured prominently in a 60 Minutes documentary entitled, "A Fighting Chance," in which two of her patients were followed from point of injury back to the U.S. Outside the military, she's been on humanitarian missions in Peru and Honduras. She's a mentor to younger soldiers, is actively involved with local veterans organizations and is a devoted grandmother to Joy's son, Dean. She is, quite frankly, a hero, in every sense of the word. And what is she tackling now? Piano lessons.

"I've actually been at it for about six years," Schank says, gazing back at the gleaming grand piano in her living room that Bob bought her as a birthday present. "My teacher has me on that 'Entertainer' song and it's just killing me." Don't bet on it.