Corpsman Moms

I just talked to my son for the last time before he flies to his overseas destination tomorrow.  I can't believe that I will not be able to see him for 2 years, but hopefully will be able to plan a trip to visit him in the summer of 2013.  Thought that would be a good high school graduation present for my daughter too.  

Rita, dress is casual.  Some people were in jeans while others were well dressed.  Some military family members were in uniform.  We dressed like we do for church.  In April, I would just wear nice pants and top. 

Rita,,,however you are comfortable.. you will sit in bleachers for a bit then down to see your Sailor at Liberty call..I just kept in mind that this is a special occasion and after all the hard work he had endured, I felt I should dress for the occasion.  No high heels mind you.. the last thing I needed was a trip down those stairs! LOL

Have fun !

Jana...Hugs to you... will you be able to skype at all?   Where is he heading?

My son will go to Bootcamp in September and has already chose to do Hospital Corpsman. Im guessing this is the page I should chat with others on.... How is it? Any info I should know about it?

Welcome, Huntersmom! take a look at the links above the Discussion area, lots of information there, and if you have questions, ask away!

Hi all! Newbie here at Corpsman Moms. My son will be graduating from RTC on the 27th and headed for A school in SA. I was wondering if any of you have purchased the anatomy flashcards and if so, was there any particular kind? Amazon has many choices and I'd like to get him a good set. Thanks for any info!

Hi... I'm hoping someone here has had some experience with NHCA or Ft. Meade. My sailor is due to report for temporary duty there and his orders do not provide a sponsor contact number or email address. He has left several messages at various possibilities but hasn't received any responses. Anyone know from experience who he should be contacting??? Getting a little anxious. Thanks!

HuntersMom...join the boot camp group if you haven't already.  It was  an absolute lifesaver when my son was there.  There will also be a discussion for your son's ship once you know  what it is.  My son left last September...seems like just yesterday.  Once he's out of boot camp there is also a A School San Antonio group you can join once he goes there.  I don't post on this group much; I have been on Camp Pendleton Moms (my son is there now) and Okinawa Moms, since that is where he is heading next.  But there is so much information in all the groups about every stage your son will go through, and so many wonderful people that understand exactly what you are feeling at each stage you go through. 

Shinystuff...I never bought the flash cards but I did get the anatomy coloring books, which I was also told he would need, but he never used them.  He brought them home on leave and they are still on his bookshelf, unused.  Maybe I should have gotten the flash cards instead! 

It's been awhile since I was on here.  My corpsman is getting ready to graduate from Lab Tech C school in June and it looking forward to being assinged to a duty station.  He's hoping for the west coast, for some reason he's decided the west coast is better than the east coast.

Ladies, please join us at Moms with Deployed kids in Afghanistan group. Lots of experienced moms and dads there, we'll be happy to help you find answers to your questions...help you cry, scream, laugh hysterically and whatever else it takes to help keep you somewhat sane during the next few months. There will be other new moms there as well, it happens about every 7 months....

Yes, corpsmen do patrol with their Marines, read the info above about FMF Corpsman. They are a particular breed, half sailor/half Marine, all corpsman. The training they did at 29 Palms prepared them for any job needed while deployed, including the jobs of their Marines, and their own Corpsman duties.

Please remember to not share names, departure/arrival dates or any other identifying information online in any group or forum. Yes, we know anyone can find anything, but we do not want to make it easy or enable someone to connect you with your loved one and use that information in any way that could harm either you or child.

ritajan7..my daughter is in bootcamp with a PIR of 6/15..I just jumped on here as I spend a lot of time on bootcamp moms. She is headed to SA after bootcamp and I'm just wondering how long after the graduation did your son fly out?   

Thanks so much!! At least I know what to expect now.

How is your son doing? At least he survived bootcamp :) I'm crossing my fingers that my daughter is hanging in there. We have the same plan of going to visit her in SA when she is a little more relaxed.

Our SA will graduate May 7th from A school - and the last time we saw him was at the Airport after PIR in January. (I think we spent a total of 8 hours with him) I am very excited to go to San Antonio the end of this week and spend some quality time with him. This has really been a learning journey and this N4Moms web site is a dream!!! It is so awesome being able to talk with, commiserate with , and just "listen" to all the experiences we are all going thru - nobody understands like the people that are going thru it too!!! I am also thrilled he will get a 10day leave and actually get to come home. ( first trip home since leaving for bootcamp Nov 1 2011 ) Then he will be headed to FMTB in San Diego - what an adventure this has been learning how to let go ...let GOd !!!!!! Thanks to all who add to this experience by sharing your lifes and experiences on this site. 

Glenda & Kym - I am thinking about you and your sailors and feeling your anxiety!!! Safe travels to them!!!

Is there a difference between a corpsman and a hospital medic? I have heard both used and not sure what the difference is.

shelbysmom,

My cousin was an Army medic - my son is a Navy Corpsman, and from what I have gathered the training is more in depth and intense for corpsman. I don't know for sure but thinking it is similar as Glenda says. ;):)

Please take a moment and a look at the web sites posted above this discussion area, this one: http://www.metc.mil/ links to all the information about the Medical Education and Training Campus in San Antonio, which has been up and running for some time now, training Navy Corpsmen, as well as  Army and Airforce Medics. Part of it's focus is to insure each corpsman and medic has the most up to date and intense training available.

Many Corpsmen also serve with Army units as well as their traditional service with Marine units, it's a situation of simply being put where they are needed most. Always Ma Navy's call.

"Hospital Corpsman (HM) perform duties as assistants in the prevention and treatment of disease and injury and assist health care professionals in providing medical care to Navy people and their families. They may function as clinical or specialty technicians, medical administrative personnel and health care providers at medical treatment facilities. They also serve as battlefield corpsmen with the Marine Corps, rendering emergency medical treatment to include initial treatment in a combat environment. Qualified hospital corpsmen may be assigned the responsibility of independent duty aboard ships and submarines; Fleet Marine Force, Special Forces and Seabee units, and at isolated duty stations where no medical officer is available."  from: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjob1/a/hm.htm

If you google Navy military ranks,you will see the full name of each rank as a sailor advances.

http://www.metc.mil/News/bmtcp_1st_anniversary.php

METC opened a year ago, here's the story.

Corpman FB page

Good page on FB, corpsmen are the only ones who post, so not a place for us to ask too many questions...but a great photo of the Devil Docs before they deployed!

if anyone has photo of today A School graduation, please let me know...I would like to see if my son came in any ot those photos...thanks

thank you kathy!

With all due respect, ArmywifeNavymom, if you go to the website, this facility is considered a combination of all the branches of the US military. Navy corpsmen have long been considered having superior training, this is an effort to bring all the services up to the same high bar of taking care of all of our military medical needs. Fort Sam is technically an Army base, but the whole new area of training facilities and lodging for corpsmen and Army/AF medics is a whole new, separate facility. (and kept San Antonio afloat economical in so many ways during this recession!) The instructors brought in from Great Lakes and other Navy facilities are not slackers trying to come up to Army speed, they are the best in the business, now teaching all branches of the military.

 I had the privilege of meeting the commander of our Navy branch there one evening here in Austin at a great live music venue (I spotted her husbands "NAVY SAN ANTONIO" teeshirt and had to ask! She was in charge of setting up all of that for all 3 branches of the service, pretty impressive.

There's a reason that Navy Corpsmen are the most highly decorated branch and rank of all the US military. Her goal is to bring all medics up to that level.

Please take a look at the METC website listed above to get a perspective on the training going on there and the team work of all 3 services to provide the finest in medical care, both in hospitals/clinics and in combat areas, to all of our military and their families.

If that was your intention, then I apologize, but not for always being proud of the USN. I'm a Navy daughter, a Marine's sister and the mom of a vet Corpsman.

It reminded me of a story I read on this board several years ago...a Navy spouse took her kids to Camp Lajuene to watch exercises when the Army was there. They were doing that thing where they crawl on their bellys under barbed wire type stuff...a soldier got caught or hurt out in the middle of it, and yelled for his medic. Two medics crawled out there, took a look and yelled for another medic....that medic got out there, took a look and hollered "Corpsman!"....one corpsman went out there, worked on the soldier and got him out of there. The corpsmen and the Marines cheered! We were cracking up...yep, we're competitive.

The woman commander said one of her problems would be keeping that Navy pride alive as it's always been with the traditions, so she had the anchor and all the stuff moved from GL to San Antonio, so corpsmen would know they were corpsmen, not medics. Corpsmen!

Good luck and Godspeed to all you Corpsman Families and future Corpsman Famlies, We will meet  our Apprentice Corpsman tonight at the airport at about 11:55pm and spend  14 days with him  before he heads to the ship he is assigned to. It was a long Journey that started in early November of 2011. but now seems to have flown by. Thank you Texasdocmom and all others that have helped our family along the way.

Corpsman Receives Silver Star

Congrats to Doc Angell and his Marines and his mom whereever she is! Great article, love his comment about what really matters about this award to him.

Thanks for sharing...great article and I shared it with my SA

Doc Angell....His name fits him well!!

What a great story!  Thanks for posting this!

My son is in the SARC program and just graduated from the HM class in San Antonio and is now off to North Carolina.  Any information on what to expect for the next two years would be appreciated.

Sounds like those SARC corpsmen are headed to FMTB training (see the links above the discussion area) and then probably some specialized training dealing with the diving and parachutes. Use google, ladies, it's your best friend when you're looking for info about your sailor's training and job.

1proudmom, and Rita, I have to ask you to remove your posts with personal information in them. No names, locations, unit names, phone numbers or email addresses , nothing should be posted here that can connect you and your family at home with your sailor where ever he/she is around the world. We follow OPSEC regs here. Thanks. The admins of N4M will be by to do so if you don't see this message, so if  you're looking for those posts that's where they went. Thanks! 

Is there a Bethesda, MD group?

sailorAiga   here is  the link to Bethesda group....

http://www.navyformoms.com/group/bethesdanavalhospitalmoms

Thank you so much!  :D

1proudmom--maybe the class name and number?  Just guessing here

Thank You,  you are probably right.

Yep, that was it. No names, locations, arrivals, departures, any thing that can a con artist or other creep can use to connect us to our sailors. Also, if you do connect with someone whose son/daughter is serving with yours, remember....when your sailor is telling you something over the phone or by email/chat, he is telling HIS/HER mom, not someone else's. Do not share things that your sailor tells you unless your sailor specifically says it's okay. Just because you might become friends with a mom here on the boards, does not mean that your children are friends. Keep confidences that your sailor shares with you confidental. My son used to drop by to read this board and jump my case if I was too chatty! and if he read something that he thought was too much information, he called me to tell me to get it off the board. He'd use that "Doc" voice.

Also be aware that sometimes their Chiefs have been known to drop by N4M to read a bit...

I know I sound mean and bossy, but I've been on these boards for a long time, and it pays to be very stingy with information about your sailor. Loose Lips Sink Ships still pertains in today's Navy. The Navy is still finding its way with social media and the risks that it puts out there. We are not going to break OPSEC regs. Google OPSEC to read more. thanks, ladies!

Hi new to this group-my son just had his PIR on 5-18 and arrived  at Ft Sam yesterday--he starts A school in 2 weeks-he is a Reservist.

Hi, my son is a Corpsman in A School down in San Antonio.  He just picked his orders and chose FMTB.  I was looking through the groups for an FMTB one, but cannot seem to find any.  Wanted to know if anyone knows if there is one available.  I am so supportive of our son and of course very nervous, so I am doing as much research as possible.  Just nice to talk to other mom's about what to expect.....well as best as we can plan what to expect...lol!

Congratulation to your son JanRN....our son had his PIR Jan 20th.  Were you able to attend your son's PIR?  It is amazing!!!!  We have been down to San Antonio to visit him as well and what a fun time it is.  We went all over San Antonio and stayed on the Riverwalk, dined at The Chart House restaurant at the top of the needle, it was a great experience to have our son show us around where he goes all the time.