9/11 rescue surgeon leads military trauma training program at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey

The 9/11 attack on America inspired a surge of people to join the military. Now one of the nation's leading military medical training programs is in Camden, New Jersey, at Cooper University Hospital.

It's led by a surgeon who was at Ground Zero for a fateful rescue.

"There was a guy trapped way down in there," Cooper trauma surgeon John Chovanes said, "and we took turns crawling down this hole."

Chovanes was part of the crew that saved John McLoughlin, who was trapped in the World Trade Center rubble. After 22 hours, McLoughlin was the last police officer rescued.

"This was a massive attack on our country," Chovanes said. "Innocent moms and dads and little kids were killed by a terrorist attack."

He said it was a sense of duty that compelled him to drive up to New York.

"I just believe in helping people," he said. 

After 9/11, Chovanes joined the military and was in a forward surgical team in Iraq. Now, his service is continuing. He established Cooper's Section of Military, Diplomatic, and Field Surgical Affairs (MILDAF). It's where members of the military come for trauma training.

"That has put us on the national stage as a key training platform," he said.

There are simulators to practice military field operations, but the real action happens at Cooper's Level One trauma center that sees thousands of patients.

"We have a lot of mayhem," Chovanes said. "They needed a couple of high-volume places that would allow military personnel to train."

Chovanes said the trauma unit can sometimes feel like a battlefield, which gives the military personnel in training real-world trauma experience before deploying to combat zones. It's all about readiness in the aftermath of 9/11. 

"It was a horrific situation, and hopefully we can give back to that, those people and everybody else in our country and the world, and we are, we're doing it," he said.

The attack on America inspired this patriotic surgeon to find new ways to serve.