Nine months and three days after September 11, 2001, I raised my right hand and swore to defend this nation against all enemies—foreign and domestic. Two things happened that day. I joined the United States Army to become a medic, and my medical career began. Upon swearing in, I falsely assumed that our most fierce enemy would be the extremist groups inhabiting the deserts of Southwest Asia. Little did I know, the enemy that we needed to face was already living in our neighborhoods in the form of non-communicable diseases, divorce, poverty, and poor knowledge.

These unsuspecting enemies have been killing us in droves and preventing us from fulfilling our highest potential for centuries. Still, many people are comfortable living in the same neighborhoods with them, going to church with them, and inviting them over for dinner after school and work. But haven't they robbed us enough?