Corpsman Moms

Jean, I'd check with the A School group listed above in the links, and there's also a list of the C schools available to corpsmen as well. Your son is working with the Navy advisers to find the best course for him (and of course, the Navy) and probably has some options, and is on different lists. Many corpsman, actually probably, most corpsman go to FMTB (links are above about the training) before any other training so they are already ready to be moved greenside with a Marine unit if the need is there.

I wanted to share this new song with you.  I could have written this!  Keep the Kleenex at hand.

Calling all DENTAL moms!  I have some questions about what goes on after corpsman school.  My sailor is taking test #11 on Friday.  1) do all dental HM's do the 2 weeks of clinicals? 2) I heard they do not participate in the HM graduation, it is on Tues. Mar 22, when will dental school start? that same week or the next? 3) How much harder is dental school (my sailor has had some struggles in corpsman school)? 4) is there a graduation after dental? 5) do they get some leave after dental before their first duty station? 

Please reply even if you can only answer a few of the questions.  I am thinking of going to visit him on Friday, Mar. 25 (3 days after the HM graduation), do you think this is a good time to go?  Not sure what they would have him doing at that time??

Thanks so much for any information! 

Info on Navy C Schools

While this isn't an official link to the Navy, it does give some information. I would suggest using google to search "Surgery Tech US Navy" and it will link you to forums, web sites, etc sharing information about this C school and others.

Hello everyone!  My son is currently in corpsman A-School in Great Lakes, and he will be going to San Diego for FMTB in mid-May.  After FMTB he will be going to Okinawa for 2-3 years.  He was told this week that he won't be able to take leave after FMTB/before he leaves for Okinawa. . .can anyone confirm?  I am quite anxious about the thought of not being able to see him before he leaves the U.S., so if he doesn't get to take leave, I will more than likely visit him in San Diego.  Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

MissingSailorD - this link was posted several pages back.  Hopefully my cutting and pasting will work, if not go to page 15 and you'll see it.  If you look at page 8, it may not be until April that the classes start up in SA (if I'm reading it correctly).

METC%20Training%20Schedule.pdf 

Click on the link above that says Medical Education & Training Campus, San Antonio, Texas, it will have up to date information. No, they will not start a class in one area then transfer it  to another city in the middle.

Does anyone know if all the NAVY stuff is still in front of the school? that's being move to SA as well.

Good morning everyone!  Thanks for the welcoming thoughts and comments. 

Pam:  Thanks for the advice to join the Camp Pendleton FMTB!

Chief:  I'm learning (slowly) that nothing is written in stone.  Thanks for the reminder!  Also, I'm going to encourage our son to think about working for the recruiter when he comes home so he can earn some of his leave back.

JLC:  Thanks for the advice to encourage our son to request leave as soon as he arrives at FMTB.  It sounds like it would be beneficial to go to San Diego a few days before his graduation so we can ensure at least a few days of quality time in case he ships out right away.  Ugh.

MissingSailor:  It looks like everyone answered your question about corpsman school moving to San Antonio.  My son is currently in A-School in Great Lakes; he told me last weekend that he "heard" that the group that finished bootcamp on Feb. 11 will be the last group to go through Great Lakes for corpsman training.  Another example of how nothing is set in stone for the Navy.  LOL

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!  The snow has fully convinced me to stay indoors. . .SO looking forward to the warmth of spring!

My son has always had troubles getting his mail on base, so I usually sent packages etc to a friend's apartment.

When I met the CO in charge of the transfer and logistics of the move here in Austin, one night at a bar b que place. (Her husband had a shirt on that said
"US NAVY IN SAN ANTONIO"...so of course I had to talk the them), she said all the Navy Corpsman insignia and props, whatever is there in GL will come to SA. She said one of her concerns is keeping the Navy indentity strong for the Corpsmen since there will be mixed classes. I'm not sure that all consider Ft Sam a "army" base as much as a military base. My son is under impressed with the security there compared to Lajuene. But he is pretty impressed with the Army medics he's been working with as an instructor, he says there will be some surprised Corpsman when they start working and learning shoulder to shoulder with them.. He doesn't have many positive things to say about the AF.

Congrats firemansmom!

Try not to start worrying yet....you'll have plenty of it later...enjoy the pride in your corpsman!

Anyone familiar with Independent Corpsman?

Jacqueline for my son it was 15 months from the time he started "A" school and all of his traing with his Marines that he was deployed...

Sir Vette.. How was your weekend ? I was thinking all weekend about what you guys must be doing...

Thanks, Ruthella, I'm not sure what he is thinking about it. Like I said, this enlistment is up in a year, and the impression I got from him is that if he decides to stay in he'd be looking at IDC. I think in the long run he's looking at Phys Asst. He likes being hands on, he doesn't want to end up in administration. He's my mother's grandson, she said she became a nurse to nurse, not fill out forms on other people. So she went to work graveyards to avoid being head nurse.

I actually thing another woman has more votes than me when it comes to his decision....but she's a smart girl, so she'll give him good advice. She gave me a book for Christmas, 42 stories of moms with deployed kids....told me she had read part of it...and then hugged me. She'll be a good military mate if it comes to that.

By the time this enlistment is up, he'd have all of those, the only thing is the 2 years of E5, he got that rank a few months ago.

I read someplace that the Navy pulls candidates for PA  from the IDC list, but when I was talking with the CO here in Austin, she suggested having him sit in on PA classes to see if he was interested in that field. So, I am assuming there are classes in San Antonio as he is in her command there. His chief now is really pushing him to choose a C school or move on this. My son says "I'm a Corpsman, that's my job."  So I think IDC is interesting to him, more of what he thinks a corpsman job should be but intensified.

The most exciting thing I heard was Veterinarian school. I could foster all the dogs I want!!!!

Hi friends!  Hope everyone is enjoying an early spring thaw.  Temps in the midwest are above freezing and the sun is shining, so I am a happy camper.  :)

Firemansmom:  Sounds like both of our boys may be going to FMTB together.  My son will graduate from A School on April 12 but he said he won't start FMTB (San Diego) until mid-May.  Where will your son be going after FMTB?

MissingSailorD, I'll let you know what the outcome is.  The Navy denied it when he pursued it after boot camp, even with it in his contract.  So the mother has gone to their Congressman for assistance. 

chief88, I hope you think about joining us on our board for moms with deployed kids, it's not everyone's favorite group to need, but we would welcome you with open arms. We have amazing women posting there, like here! and your voice would be a wonderful addition. After you weather your first deployment, you would be one to stick around and share your experience with new moms, I'm sure.  You will be on a real roller coaster of emotions the next year, and you are welcome to share your fear, your joy, and we love to hear when those phone calls come in....crying and screaming allowed and normal....please know you are not alone, we know your fear. It's normal. Melting down in Walmarts, yep! that's normal too..hope to see you there when you need us.

My son said the other day that the information about challanging some college courses, etc is not necessarily true, at least where he's checked. IDC, to my knowledge, is the group from which PA candidates are chosen, and I would have to assume that there would be some way to be certified as they left the military. I know I have a good friend posting in our deployed kids group whose one son is having a hard time adjusting to civilian life, he's in school, and I was wondering if that was one of his frustrations. I know my son was talking about becoming a cop when he left the military, he didn't see much problem with the transition to that (gee, thanks, son, I get to continue to wait for the knock on the door...grrr).So, I'm very happy to hear the words about PA and IDC...no more cops in our family, please! My brother was senior DEA agent at the Murray building when it was bombed. Thank God he was playing golf for the Special Olympics that day. Cops of all sorts are such a dangerours field.

Spring is on the way. The big Monterrey Oak that dumped over 40 bags of leaves on me two weeks ago, now is budding out with tiny leaves, as are the crepe myrtles, and most importantly, the pecan tree! Budding Texas Pecans mean I can clean out the flower beds, clean out the iris trash and wait for blooms. I have one geranium that spent the cold in the house out on the patio now with budding flowers!

Group for moms with kids in Afghan/Iraq link

Wonderful welcome home video of an injured Corpsman's return.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7997069&rss=rss-kgo-video-7...

Good Morning!   Is there anyone here with a son or daughter going to or has gone through SOCM (Medic) school at Fort Bragg, NC?

SOCM,....isn't that the Army Ranger medic program? I know very little about it other than that. It would seem to me that since ALL military medical programs are moving to San Antonio, that program would be doing so as well.

Corpsman are the medics...blueside with the Navy bases/ships, greenside with the Marines. Some IA Corpsman serve with the Army.

Welcome to our world, ProudMom....Read above on the METC, San Antonio link, that might give you more of a time frame about where and when of training....it's an ongoing move...

FMTB will be at Pendleton or Lajuene, those links above as well!

This was just posted on Navy Dads yesterday...

Barring further delays, on April 17, Hospital Corps School will convene its last HM "A" School Class in Great Lakes and will graduate sometime in July. After April 17, all Sailors Going to HM "A" will go to San Antonio, Texas

FMTB followed A school for my son.