In 2004, Mark Gilbaugh, MedHawk’s owner, inadvertently entered the swimming pool part business when he built a Fire Suppression System in Iraq. He led a Forward Support Med-Evac team stationed in Baqubah, Iraq. This location had no method of firefighting, and any aircraft incident would probably result in the total loss of aircraft and crew. Mark improvised a water storage tank by building walls out of Hesco baskets and forming a liner from a water blivit in the dump. Once he started filling the 15,000-gallon storage tank, the crew immediately stripped down to begin swimming.

Within the first week, the water quality started to decline, and he traded some services for the pool chlorine used by the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification team. Then Mark and his friend, Aaron, attached a 2” pump and built a filter using a 55-gallon drum. Without knowing it, Mark had engineered his first pool. 

Today, MedHawk Pools is committed to helping veterans struggling with PTSD and combatting the “22 suicides a day” problem while delivering the highest quality outdoor living areas in North Dallas.

You may be wondering where the MedHawk name came from. Each unit in the Army had a call sign. Mark’s unit was MedHawk, and his personal call sign was MedHawk-24.