NATCHEZ &045;&045; Jonathan Lewis is going to do a little sightseeing.

And perhaps save a few lives in a war-torn country.

Lewis, who has been working with American Medical Response in Natchez for about a year and a half, has signed on for a year’s stint as a paramedic in Iraq.

&uot;I like seeing different cultures,&uot; Lewis said. &uot;I wanted to go see some other parts of the world so I’ll go help out over there. It’s a new challenge.&uot;

Lewis will fly to Houston on April 18 where he will spend three to four weeks in training before heading to Taji, Iraq, about 15 minutes northwest of Baghdad.

He will work as a paramedic with Kellogg, Brown and Roots Services and treat everyone from Iraqi people to medical and military personnel.

Though Lewis, 43, joked that the career change after eight years with AMR may be a mid-life crisis, his co-workers and supervisors feel differently.

&uot;I think for paramedics, they are paramedics because that’s what they like to do, that’s their calling,&uot; said Bennie Boone, the business development specialist at AMR. &uot;For them in a lot of cases they fill a call where there is the greatest need.&uot;

Lewis, who came to Natchez from the Gulf Coast, has previous military experience and said he got tired of sitting behind a desk. He spent eight years in the Navy where he served in South America and Bermuda. For the last year and a half he has been the AMR operations supervisor for southwest Mississippi.

Paramedic Tim Houghton said being a paramedic is part of Lewis’ psyche. &uot;He really liked being a paramedic,&uot; Houghton said. &uot;You sit him in an office and you choke his spirit. He went from the office to the most drastic form of paramedics there are out there. He likes being right in the middle of the fire.&uot;

Lewis said he was a little apprehensive because the move to Iraq was such a big career change, but he thinks it will be a lot of fun. Lewis said he got interested in the idea from a friend, also a former AMR employee from the coast, who is a paramedic in Iraq. &uot;I talk to him about once a week,&uot; Lewis said. &uot;He gives me the ins and outs and what’s going on.&uot;

Lewis has two sons in college at the University of Southern Mississippi who have mixed feelings about his latest venture. &uot;The oldest one hasn’t said much,&uot; Lewis said. &uot;The youngest one is a little more sensitive and he really doesn’t like it.&uot;

Boone and Houghton both said Lewis will be missed. &uot;He is straight up one of the best people I’ve worked with in supervisory status,&uot; Houghton said. &uot;He has a real easygoing attitude and gained trust in the time that he was here.&uot;