As someone who personally knows what the job involves, I am happy to support Lynne Blankenbeker of Concord for Congress.
She is a captain in the Navy Reserves who was an operating room and trauma flight nurse in support of Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. At the conclusion of Desert Storm, Lynne became an inactive reservist while raising her daughter and working as a nurse.
Following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Lynne deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. She is currently the commanding officer of the Navy Reserve Medical Unit assigned to the Navy Medical Center.
Along the way, in 2007, she picked up a law degree and we wrote a New Hampshire Bar Journal article together when she interned with me a decade ago.
In 2009, she won a special election for the N.H. House, beating the former mayor of Concord in a heavily Democratic district.
Lynne won re-election in 2010, but was unable to run again in 2012 due to being recalled to active duty in 2011 to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Her most recent recall to active duty was as a key health care policy adviser at the Pentagon and Defense Health Headquarters ensuring that our medical teams are properly trained to deliver the best possible care to our wounded service members.
The number of service veterans in the U.S. House is at an all-time low, so her background in medicine and Defense Department health issues will be an asset to our state and nation.
I urge you to vote for her for the 2nd Congressional District in the Republican primary on Sept. 11.
CHUCK DOUGLAS
Bow
(The writer is a former U.S. representative for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District.)