 Before his regular appearances on the show , Owen Hunt was a United States Army surgeon , specializing in trauma surgery . The character makes a dramatic first appearance when he performs a tracheotomy on a man with a pen , winning the admiration of resident Cristina Yang ( Sandra Oh ) . He is offered a job by former chief of surgery Richard Webber ( James Pickens , Jr . ) , but declines , explaining that he has not completed his tour in Iraq . He later becomes the new head of trauma surgery , at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital , and manages to irk both Derek Shepherd ( Patrick Dempsey ) and Mark Sloan ( Eric Dane ) , head of neurosurgery and plastic surgery , respectively , who view his treatment of some of the patients as crude . He is also rebuffed by resident Izzie Stevens ( Katherine Heigl ) when he stabs a set of pigs and then orders the residents and interns to save their lives , in order to teach them medicine on " live tissue . " Hunt eventually embarks on a relationship with Yang , but it comes to a sudden close when his PTSD gets the best of him , and he unconsciously strangles her . Soon after the breakup , he begins therapy with the hospital psychiatrist , Dr. Wyatt . Some time later , a soldier visits the hospital for treatment , and his presence influences Owen to contemplate returning to the US Army . When he shares this with Cristina , she disagrees with his decision , stating that she doesn 't want him to die , and the two eventually rekindle their relationship . Owen brings in Teddy Altman ( Kim Raver ) , his best friend and colleague from when he was in the army , as the new head of cardiothoracic surgery . When it is revealed that Hunt and Altman may be potential lovers , Hunt and Yang 's relationship is challenged , and eventually concluded by Yang . 
