Managing the day-to-day tasks of the Illinois health system may seem mundane compared to manning a combat aid station in Iraq, but for Damon Arnold, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, the two experiences are inextricably linked.

Arnold, who also is a colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard and heads the Guard’s medical program, relied on his military training and experience while leading the state’s response to the H1N1 swine flu virus that had officials scrambling.

He's been on missions all over the world in his 25 years in the miltary, including Iraq, Kuwait, Africa, Europe, Central America and South America. He also served in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“The things that you have experienced before will better position you to respond to a situation,” says Arnold, who became head of IDPH in October 2007. “You sort of scale your crises to your past experience and what types of preparations you’ve made to face them.”

In Arnold’s case, that experience includes triaging wounded soldiers in an Iraqi combat aid station.

“With many of the situations overseas, particularly with the Iraqi theater, there were times where we had injured soldiers coming in and I had to work with younger soldiers. Some of them were trained as medics, others had never been in a combat situation,” he says. “There is a level of calmness you must have when facing a situation.”

As chief of the state health department, Arnold had to make sure that panic didn't ensue as citizens and health professionals faced a swine flu threat unlike any they had seen before.

His department ensured that proper information was released abut the disease; that responses from county health departments were coordinated, and that medication was dispersed across the state. National Guard soldiers helped deliver that medicine. Arnold also worked closely with the health departments of Chicago and Cook County in tackling swine flu.

Medical experts, academics and others praised Illinois' approach to handling the threat.

Major General William Enyart, commander of the Illinois National Guard, says Arnold's previous battle experience helped him.

 “I think that what the process of being in combat did for Dr. Arnold, it challenged him, and by having to deal with those immediate crisis situations, you learn to sort through what’s important, what’s less important and deal with critical situations in a very mature and balanced manner,” Enyart says.

Arnold is an internist who received his medical degree, as well as a master's in public health, from the University of Illinois. He also has taken law courses at DePaul University College of Law.

According to a state health department biography, Arnold launched his career in public service by volunteering nearly 2,000 hours during high school, taking care of hospital patients.

Prior to taking over at the state health department, Arnold was medical director for bioterrorism and preparedness for Chicago's public health department.

“He’s an extraordinary person, who is very disciplined, very intelligent, a deep thinker, and is motivated to get the job done,” says Stephen Martin, chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health.

One of Arnold’s most valuable skills, Martin says, is the ability to bring people together.

Martin notes an adage Arnold often mentions: “'If two warring tigers are fighting, one will be maimed, one will die.'"

Martin says that is "a very deep reflection" about the need to work together, instead of competing in a serious situation.

And coordinating a response across the state’s 95 health departments during the swine flu outbreak was a tough task.

Arnold says disseminating a unified message was the biggest challenge in responding to swine flu, which has sickened more than 400 people across the state, including nearly 200 in Chicago.

IDPH and other health departments continue to preach healthy habits, and offer frequently updated bits of information, giving the public a rounded picture of the situation.

Now, swine flu is regarded as similar to the seasonal flu, though some fear it may come back in a deadlier form in the fall.