Navy Corpman Training

[cincymarsdad]

A buddy of mine at work is ex-Navy. We were chatting about why a Navy guy would become a corpman and I wasn't sure what training they went through. Could someone here enlighten me? I have read they are the most decorated branch in the armed services and the Marines have great respect for them.

Do they do Navy bootcamp and then SOI? SOI would seem pretty strenuous if they weren't in top shape. My impression is that most folks who join the Navy are not looking for a physically demanding occupation, so being a corpman seems counter to that. I'm sure someone here knows all about this. Thanks.

[Vulture6]

Navy Corpsmen attend Navy boot camp. The big differentiator in their training is Field Medical School.

My impression is that most folks who join the Navy are not looking for a physically demanding occupation

Don't be fooled by stereotypes. While the Navy may have its share of "Jelly Donut Sailors", they are the minority. Most Sailors are professionals and physically fit. While it may seem that their jobs aren't that physically demanding, spending your time in the engine room or some of the other less glamorous spaces on ship takes a lot out of you.

But yes, Corpsmen are a different breed, and most Grunts can't stand them, until they are needed. There is a pretty high standard for Corpsmen in a rifle platoon or company, and it takes a special type of man to do it well.

[cincymarsdad]

How long is Field Medical School? Do you know much about it?


I meant no dispect to sailors, but my buddy here at work is the one who said the physical demands of the more typical Navy billet did not compare with Marine "work". I agree there would be exceptions. And I can envision Mavy work that could be stressful in other ways - like air traffic control etc.

[USMCRET6391]

Originally Posted by cincymarsdad

My impression is that most folks who join the Navy are not looking for a physically demanding occupation, so being a corpman seems counter to that. I'm sure someone here knows all about this. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Vulture6

Don't be fooled by stereotypes. While the Navy may have its share of "Jelly Donut Sailors", they are the minority. Most Sailors are professionals and physically fit. While it may seem that their jobs aren't that physically demanding, spending your time in the engine room or some of the other less glamorous spaces on ship takes a lot out of you.

Spend 12 - 16 hours a day for 20 - 30 days straight on the flight deck of an Aircraft Carrier and then talk to me about the Navy not being physically (and mentally for that matter) demanding. I did it on two different cruises and there is no more dangerous place on the planet.

[ANGRecruit]

Thats so true I was watching the military channel during carrier week. I'm sure its not just for carriers, the stress and physical demands to be able to do what a Seaman is crazy. The ammunitions that they handle have to be handled with extreme care loading and unloading. Some crew can go weeks without seeing the light of day because their job requires them to be down below. Also the flight controllers are not just a select few there are many stages and many "OK's" that must occur for one jet to take off. Physically and mentally you get tired some do more lifting than others and some do more paperwork than others but the stress is on safety.

[Field_Sailor]

Generally speaking Navy FMF Corpsman, are top of the bunch. I do not know exactly how long it is, I'll look it up for you, though. The Navy has it's fat boys but we are trying to get rid of them. We are focusing more and more on mental and physical fitness. We are not as "Fit" as we should be as a service, but we're moving to it.

[Field_Sailor]

Also, Corpsman are above the highest respected Sailors among all of the branches of the Military.

[cincymarsdad]

Let me reword my statement. I have talked with youngsters who stated they were not interested in the Marines because it was "too tough". I believe the motivation for joining the Navy generally is different from that of joining the USMC. No doubt many Navy jobs are extremely strenuous on many levels, just as some USMC jobs are relatively benign (though they still must meet annual PFT requirements). Some folks in those Navy billets may have wished they had gone into the Marine Corp after they found out how tough they were (!).

My son said emphatically that the School of Infantry was far more physically demanding than boot camp - humping 90 pounds of gear 10 klicks and then digging a fighting hole and cleaning gear and setting watch and patroling etc. I believe he said Navy Corpmen must go through SOI also - that was part of my question. My impression is that Marine boot camp would establish a higher physical stamina and strength level than Navy boot camp, thus better preparing one for the rigors of SOI.

I doubt if many folks join the Navy intending to become corpmen - though I could well be wrong in this. It appears to me to be a very tough, dangerous, challenging job that would not appeal to the "average" person interested in joining the Navy. My ex-Navy buddy agreed with me. He did a 4-year stint, part of which deployed on a nuke cruiser. He said the physical demands were quite mild. He joined for college money, to see the world, and learn something about something before getting his college degree etc.

At any rate, I find this corpmen concept interesting. I would like to learn more about the history of those units, who seem not to have gotten the attention which they evidently deserve ...

[USMCRET6391]

Originally Posted by cincymarsdad

At any rate, I find this corpmen concept interesting. I would like to learn more about the history of those units, who seem not to have gotten the attention which they evidently deserve ...

Give this a try, but I assure you Corpsmen get the attention they deserve from any Marine you talk to.

http://www.corpsman.com/noframe.html


I also pulled the following from another site

Although corpsmen go back to the very beginning of the Navy, it was over 100 years ago, in June 1898 that the Hospital Corps was officially established.
In 1814, Navy Regulations mention a "loblolly boy" who was to serve the surgeon and the surgeon's mate. The loblolly boy prepared for battle by filling containers with water to hold amputated limbs. In addition, his duties called for maintaining the braziers of charcoal to heat the tar which was used to stop the hemorrhaging from the amputations. Keeping the deck safe for the surgeon around the operating area was a duty during battle. The deck, slippery with blood, was to be treated with buckets of sand. Sounds gruesome, but cannon balls and cutlasses were not tidy weapons and amputation was the standard treatment for compound fractures.

The "surgeon's steward" replaced the loblolly boy. Recognizing the need for additional trained help, surgeons selected promising young men for training in elementary medicine. More than a clean up person, this specialist is probably the true forerunner of today's corpsman.

When Congress established the Hospital Corps, the Secretary of the Navy appointed 25 senior "apothecaries" as Pharmacists. These 25 are the charter members of the Hospital Corps.

Twenty-two Navy Corpsman have been awarded the Medal of Honor, America's Highest Decoration, for extreme heroism. Many were awarded posthumously.


In the Battle for Iwo Jima the heroism of four Navy Pharmacist's Mates was recognized with the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Francis Pierce Junior, PhM1c
2d Battalion, 24th Marines
George Edward Whalen, PhM2c
2d Battalion, 26th Marines
Jack Williams, PhM3c
3d Battalion, 28th Marines
John Harlan Willis, PhM1c
3d Battalion, 27th Marines

NAVY CORPSMEN

The Navy's Hospital Corpsmen provide medical services for Navy and Marine Corps units throughout the world. Corpsmen were with the Marines at Belleau Wood in World War I. Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi is probably the most famous military image in the world - and Corpsman PM2c John H. Bradley, later wounded in the battle, was one of the six 28th Marines straining to lift the flagpole.

In World War II, Navy Corpsmen earned seven Medals of Honor, 61 Navy Crosses, 465 Silver Stars, and 982 Bronze Stars.

Corpsmen added luster to their shining performance when they went ashore with the Marines in Korea.

Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller said it best:

"You guys are the Marine's doctors - There's none better in the business than a Navy Corpsman ..."

Corpsmen were in Vietnam too, and 690 died there, most while serving with the Fleet Marine Forces and Naval units ashore.

And another

A Marines
Tribute to Corpsmen

By: Bob Hingston and Carl King
UNITED STATES MARINES 1968-1969
Hotel Company 1st Plt. 2nd. Bn. 1st. Marines, 1st Marine Division.

The ideal squad is 13 men and a Corpsman. The Corpsman is a Navy enlisted man who has medical training and is skilled enough to get you and whatever pieces that are left of you back to a hospital. Although he's a Navy man, he has the respect of the Marines and is thought of as one of them and is known to everyone, as Doc.

Corpsman Up! He's the one that responds to the call Corpsman up! He is the one who'll run to you when you've taken one in the chest, the wind is knocked out of you and you're trying your damn best to move so the people behind you know you're still alive, yet not so much as to have Charlie pump more rounds into you. He is there when there is complete chaos: automatic rifle fire, hand grenades exploding, M-79 rounds being lobbed into the brush a few meters in front of you and more noise than anyone ever hoped to make on the fourth of July. When it seems like you have been lying there forever, he is the one that has exposed himself to enemy fire to run up to you to scream in your ear, “Where are you hit!!! ”If you're lucky, you can point to the place because you sure as hell can't talk. You're gasping for air because it's leaking out your lung like a tire with a hole in it. You're trying to stay out of shock and feel like your whole body is on fire. You're wrenching with pain. And bullets bounce all around your head and body because they are now trying to kill you and the Doc.

For some strange reason, God knows where the courage comes from; the Corpsman seems immune to or oblivious of all that is going on around you. His only focus is you. In the movies a guy gets hit once and that's about it, in Vietnam, there wasn't any limit to the number of times in one firefight you could be hit. Hell, you could get hit a dozen or more times if someone possessed little else to do but try to nail your young butt. It should be easy for you to see how panic and fear can work on a guy that has been wounded and is basically helpless and the people keep shooting at him (it's not fair). Fear that every round that just misses you means the next one won't. And lying helpless and unable to move or breath can cause a panic that does it's damnedest to conquer your soul and leave you pissing all over yourself in fear.

The corpsman yells for a medevac to be called. One is called by a good radioman while someone else is calling in a fire mission that may take twenty minutes before the first round comes in. A lot can happen in twenty minutes; your whole outfit could be wiped out. If the ambush is big enough and you're caught in a cross fire it could take a lot less than twenty minutes.

A badge of courage The action is hot, bullets burn your skin. They get close enough to feel without actually hitting you and that's close. The dirt and sand are red hot as bullets kick it in your face. You think, God that was close!! Please God just get me out of this one. I promise to be good from now on!! Suddenly, someone is dragging you by your collar or some piece of clothing, you're not sure what is going on but you do know that the pain is bringing you close to unconsciousness, your whole body is shaking uncontrollably, your chest has a hissing sound coming from where you think your lung is, it's spouting air and filling up with this warm substance that makes it harder to breath, you're sure that blood is now filling your lung up to the point of collapsing. Fear and panic is gone and replaced with sheer terror and shock.

Yet this Navy guy keeps miraculously dragging your body towards safety, while half the enemy forces are trying to nail him. Mother Up! You hear through your fog, you know another one of your friends has just taken a hit and could possibly be worse than you are. Coming! screams the Doc. He tells someone to keep pressure on the rag covering your chest and not to take his and off of it. He turns and heads in the direction of the last caller, while the enemy continues to do their best to nail him before he can reach his next casualty.

Maybe this is why we considered the corpsman to be one of us, although they never went through boot camp at Paris Island or San Diego, they were Marines at heart, and damn good ones. Only a fool or a hero would leave a place of safety to throw his body in harms way for someone he may not even know. I never met a Corpsman that I thought was a fool. To me a hero does things that his logical mind is telling him not to do. His logical mind says to stay put, get further down, but above all don't get up and go where someone else just got shot!

The hero ignores what his mind is telling him and goes forward in the face of the enemy fire. His only thought is to get to the guy that has called for help. He will get to him!! He may get shot himself but he will not let that guy die by himself. Sometimes they aren't alive when he gets there, but he's there and exposed to the same fire that killed the man he came to rescue.

He goes from wounded to wounded doing what he can to save their lives, doing what he can to give them a little more time. Time to get them back to an aid station where they may be saved. Let me be point man any day over being a corpsman in a Marine infantry outfit. At least I can take cover and return fire.

The Corpsman is special. The Navy offers a lot of other programs that are a hell of a lot less dangerous. Corpsmen knew going in that they will be placed in harms way. They knew that they would be assigned to the heaviest fighting areas in Vietnam, yet they volunteer anyway. They cared about human suffering and wanted to do all in their power to aid, and were willing to give their lives to their calling. Check out the Wall, you'll find a lot of corpsman on that wall. They gave their all. Many of us, who were fortunate enough to return home, did so because of their unselfish acts of heroism. In many cases they did so without any medals or rewards except the personal feeling of having done their job and done it well. Because of them, thousands of Marines today can greet each other and say welcome home.

When you go to see the Wall, a tribute dedicated to the Vietnam Serviceman who paid the ultimate price for their country, you will see a statute dedicated to the grunts. You will see an area dedicated to the nurses who served their country. What you won't see is a tribute to the Corpsman. A tribute to the men who risked their lives by exposing themselves to tremendous enemy fire, by running, by crawling, and by inching their way into the thickest of the thick of fighting, to answer a call for help. They sacrificed their safety to save others lives.

I wonder why there are no special honors awarded to these individuals.

A badge of courage These men who prevented so many of us here today from having our names on the Wall. There is a place where a statue could and should be placed. A statue of a single individual, loaded down with his medical gear. A statue representing those that were always ready and willing to give their lives in the hopes that they might save a life. Corpsmen are a special and distinct breed of men who stand out proud and strong. Their everyday acts of bravery and heroism deserve to be recognized by their brothers in arms. They gallantly served, and were unselfishly willing to give their all. Because of them, many of us were given the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

There may never be a statue in honor the Corpsman who served our country so well. And who were so important to the Marines in the field. Statue or not, I would like to personally salute you and to say to you: Semper Fi Marine, as the title is well earned, and the honor long overdue.

Thank you for your willingness of service, and self sacrifice, so that many like myself today are able to say, welcome home Doc, a job well done.

[cincymarsdad]

Terrific site - thank you very much. As I said, they seem to be the guys who bleed and sweat and save in virtual anonymity.