The Crew
Corpsman.com is dedicated to provide a Web Interactive space for all Enlisted Medical Personnel from all services. This is to give you all a free place to dwell, stay in contact with your family and friends, help others who have questions about your Service Specific Jobs.
HMC(AW) DARRELL F. CRONE USN(Retired) (Owner Corpsman.com)
HMC(AW) Darrell F. Crone, Joined the Navy as a Split SAM (Sea Air Mariner) 23 May 1984 in Alameda, CA. I went to Boot camp in San Diego CA, and was discharged to reserve duty until my “A” School in Great Lakes, IL which I attended in July 1985. I graduated HM”A” School, October 1985, then was sent off to Camp Pendleton, CA for a few glorious weeks of “MARINE CORPS TRAINING!” 
During my time at Camp Pendleton, I went home on liberty one weekend to sign a request to go on active duty as a “TAR” HM. I finished FMSS in November right after Thanksgiving and was once again discharged from Active Duty to reserve duty assigned to the MAG in Alameda. (I only drilled one weekend!) I was activated to the TAR program 2 January 1986 and have been on active duty since. The following are my duty stations.
Feb 1986 – May 1989 Naval Clinic NAS Dallas
May 1989 – July 1989 AVT school, Pensacola
July 1989- Feb 1992 VP-94 (Crawfishers)
Feb 1992- Mar 1995 VFA-204 (River Rattlers) (Served with VADM Cotton, My CO)
Mar 1995 – Jun 1998 NAS JRB NAVMED Clinic New Orleans
Jun1998 – Oct 2000 NARA/NARCEN Great Lakes
Oct 2000 – Apr 2003 I&I BN MED CHIEF 1st BN 14th Marines
Apr 2003- Nov 2004 Naval Hospital Great Lakes
Nov 2004 – 2007 Instructor Naval Hospital Corps School.
July 1st 2007- RETIRED, Duty Station: COMNAVHOMECOM
Places I have been sent to; Rota, Spain, Germany, France, Africa, Portugal, Bermuda, pretty much a med HM.
All of this and I could not have done it without my wonderful family,
Karen (wife) Christopher, Mikayla, Courtney and Spencer Crone. They are my guiding force for my career as well as this website.
HMC(FMF/SW/AW) TRACY P. BARLING (SYS-ADMIN/ Partner Corpsman.com)
HMC(FMF/SW/AW) TRACY P. BARLING, joined the Navy as a Split SAM, Aug 1985 in Baton Rouge, LA. On 04 Sep 85, I started Boot Camp at RTC Great Lakes, graduated Oct 1985 and completed Apprenticeship Training Deck (ATD) Nov 1985. I then reported to Navy – Marine Corps Reserve Center Baton Rouge, served there as part of SIMA San Diego Detachment. In 1987 I decided to get a different job, so I went to HM “A” School and found myself back in Great Lakes from May – July 1987. Again I returned to NMCRC Baton Rouge where I ended up on the Marine Corps side of the house without attending FMF “C” School. In April of 1988, I decided to go Active Duty. The following are my duty stations:
May 1988 – June 1990 – Navy Branch Medical Clinic Key West FL
July 1990 – Feb 1991 – HM 8432 “C” School Oakland CA
March 1991 – June 1993 – USS Ranger (CV-61)
June 1993 – Jun 1994 – USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
July 1994 – May 1997 – Naval Hospital Pensacola FL
May 1997 – Sep 1997 – Field Medical Service School Camp Lejeune NC
Sep 1997 – Oct 2001 – 2d Marine Division Camp Lejeune NC
Oct 2001 – Oct 2004 – II Marine Expeditionary Force Camp Lejeune NC
Oct 2004 – Present – 2d Marine Aircraft Wing Cherry Point NC
Deployments: 2 West PACs ISO Desert Storm/Desert Shield/Southern Watch onboard CV-61, 1 Caribbean PAC onboard CGN-9, UDP Oki with 2nd Bn 6th Marines, Med Float with 2nd Bn 6th Mar (24th MEU), OIF with 2d MEB (Task Force Tarawa), OIF with MWHS-2.
All of this couldn’t have been completed without the support, understanding and sacrifices of my family. My wife Linda, my three sons Joseph, Travis and Zachary, Step-daughter Charly and grandson Andrew.
DeeDee (Editor)
Well, I have to admit that this is a lot easier when you are doing it about someone else. But here I am telling you about myself and why I am here at Corpsman.com.
After graduating from Morrice High School in June 1984 I enlisted in the US Air Force and left on 27 December 1984 from Detroit, Michigan for Basic Training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas where I spent the winter of 1984 – 1985. From there I went to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas to be educated in the field of Air Cargo Specialist. Upon completion of this training I was stationed at Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah – assigned to the Distribution Supply Squadron – Transportation (DST) at the Air Freight Terminal in April 1985—shortly after my arrival I was injured while loading a C-141 with my crew. In April 1986 I was medically discharged from the US Air Force due to my injury. So, as you can see my military career was very short and not nearly as interesting as some others have been.
I met and married my husband Rob (bobby knoxville on Corpsman.com) while we were both stationed at Hill AFB. We celebrated our 22nd anniversary in April 2008. We have 2 sons – Dan and John – Dan enlisted in the Navy in February 2006. I currently work for a family owned chain of pet supply stores doing accounts payable and other professional gopher work.
While I was searching for a cadeusus to decorate the cake for Dan’s graduation/going away party I hit upon Corpsman.com and ended up talking to Da-Chief about the logo. He went out of his way to locate and email me EXACTLY what I was looking for. I have been a member of Corpsman.com ever since. What a great help it has been too – answering all my questions and helping me cope with my son going away to boot camp(RTC). Then later as he went to NHCS, FTMB, and off on his first deployment. I do what I can to help out around the site, answering questions when I can and pointing people in the right direction when I can’t. I also host our weekly Tuesday chat and edit the site newsletter Scuttlebutt each month.
Hope you enjoy Scuttlebutt and if you have any suggestions or comments – email me
DeeDee
Editor Scuttlebutt
editor@corpsman.com
8404 (Lead Moderator, Recruiting Info Coordinator)
Joined the Marine Corps June 1973 and attended boot camp at MCRD San Diego, California. 8404’s Military Occupational Specialty, MOS 0311 was Rifleman and attended Infantry Training School, (ITS) at Camp Pendleton, California. Upon his graduation, 8404 received orders to First Battalion 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Okinawa, Japan. While serving with ¼, The Battalion received orders to deploy as a Battalion Landing Team, (BLT) Reinforced and set sail on the USS New Orleans LPH-11
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and later transferred to the USS Ogden LPD-5 pictured below.
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8404 Became a ‘Shell Back’ on 2 June 1974 (105 degrees – 38’) and visited ports of call to the Philippines, (Manila, Subic Bay, Baguio & San Fernando), Singapore, Hong Kong, (Kowloon) and Taiwan (Taipei & Keelung). While deployed and on the island of Okinawa, Japan, ¼ underwent specialized extraction training for “Operation Eagle Pull”. This was a mission to extract the American Embassy out of Vietnam. 8404 received orders back to CONUS approximately 3 months prior to the Battalion actually deploying and executing this mission.
Fast forward a few years, 8404 also served a stint in the Army Reserves, with the 425th Civil Affairs Battalion, out of California as their Armorer.
8404 has been married for 33 years and has three boys, one of which is an HM3 and also 8404’s reason for being with corpsman.com. Like many parents, 8404 went searching for answers about the Navy and Corpsman. All 8404 knew about Corpsman was that they served with the Marines, but knew nothing of their training, capabilities and enlistment contracts. 8404 found those answers here, at corpsman.com.
8404 is also a member of the North Texas Patriot Guard Riders, (PGR) and rides with fellow PGR members as escort and attends the funerals, as honor guard for all fallen heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan.
0311_DoC (NETCAST-Co-Host Attack of Da-Chief, School info Coordinator)
HM2(FMF) Michael DiGaetano USNR
HM2(FMF) Michael DiGaetano, Joined the Navy Reserves on 23 April 1999. He was brought in under the Advanced Pay Grade (APG) Program. Under the APG program sailors did not attend “boot camp” the were sent to Naval Support Activity New Orleans (NSA NOLA) to learn basic drill, military customs, damage control, and military bearing. Since he was already a EMT-Intermediate he was not required to go to NHCS for “A” school, since that was what the APG program was designed around, was people with prior medical skills to come in the Reserves with and be a valuable member to Naval Medicine. He was granted the rate/rank of HN (E3) upon enlistment. He reported to Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center Las Vegas, Nevada. He served there with Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. He picked up Petty Officer 3rd Class on his first exam. He was then was sent off to Camp Pendleton, CA for (FMSS) in February of 2000 for a few weeks of “MARINE CORPS TRAINING!” where he received his 8404 NEC. After that he was attached to Fox Company 2n BN 23rd Marine Regiment 4th MARDIV as a Line Corpsman.
The following are his duty stations:
April 1999 – September 1999 Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton
September 1999 – September 2006 Fox Company 2n BN 23rd Marines
September 2006 – September 2007 OHSU Great Lakes Platform Landstuhl Germany
Deployments:
After September 11, 2001, 2n BN 23rd Marines were called to Active Duty in December 2001. He reported to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Under Operation Noble Eagle/ Enduring Freedom, where he will spend the next 12 months training for combat. In February 2002 he was sent to the 1st Marine Regiment Aid Station for their Regimental Combat Trauma Course (RCTC). Also in February of 2002 is where he started his PQS for the new FMF Warfare pin. In May of 2002 Fox Company 2n BN 23rd Marines was selected to go to Bridgeport CA, to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center(MCMWTC) to train for mountainous operations. Then HM3 DiGaetano was selected as the Corpsman to undergo the Assault Climbers course with the hand selected few of Marines in his company. Upon Fox Company’s return to Camp Pendleton ,the XO of the company sent HM3 DiGaetano to the new Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructors Course (MCMAP) (MAI) where he graduated as a Green Belt Instructor in June of 2002 and received the Marine Corps MOS of 8551. In November 2002 HM3 DiGaetano received his FMF qualifier and was granted to wear the new pin. In December 2002, 2n BN 23rd Marines thought they were getting ready to go home after a year at Camp Pendleton. As stated in their orders, the possibility of extension was possible. Well guess what? He got extended for another 12 months. His BN was going to Iraq. In January 2003 2n BN 23rd Marines was attached to 1st MARDIV REIN (RCT 1) and was sent to Kuwait to await the orders for the initial assault on Iraq. On 19 MAR 2003, 1st MARDIV headed north on to Baghdad. HM3 (FMF) DiGaetano while on the road North to Baghdad saw his share of casualties and injured civilians. On 08 April 2003 while on patrol in Sadam City, Fox Company saw its fiercest battle and HM3 (FMF) DiGaetano had set up a casualty collection point in one of the neighborhoods, where he treated numerous Marines and civilian casualties. In May of 2003 Baghdad was considered secured by coalition forces and 2n BN 23rd Marines was recalled back to Kuwait to wind down and come home to the US. In August 2003 HM3 (FMF) DiGaetano was released from active duty honorably and put back in reserve status.
In 2004 for Annual Training (AT) Fox Company was sent to Camp Fuji Japan to train with the the Japanese Defense Force (JDF) while there in Japan, Fox company had the opportunity to climb Mt. Fuji. HM3 (FMF) DiGaetano was chosen as the BlueJacket of the year for his Reserve Center and the entire Southwest Readiness Command for 2004.
In June of 2005, HM3 (FMF) DiGaetano was promoted to 2nd Class Petty Officer under the Combat Meritorious Advancement Program (CMAP) for actions he did in Iraq in 2003. ( and it was all retroactive ) In August of 2005 Fox Company was selected to go to the Ukraine for a NATO exercise. Fox Company was there to monitor the Ukraine Naval Infantry on their tactics and capabilities. The Ukraine was seeking membership into the European Union (EU) and this was part of the process. HM2(FMF) DiGaetano was made Lead Petty Officer (LPO) of the company and over saw everything medical that went down while there and reported it to the BN surgeon. This was also the first time any US Forces had been on former USSR soil in this capacity for many years. And there was a little tension from the senior staff. “since they told us that they were made to hate Americans” over the years. He gave medical training classes to their combat medics and they shared ideas on battlefield medicine.
In 2006 a unique opportunity arose for Navy Medicine, they were to be sent to the largest US hospital in Europe to assist the Army in taking care of the wounded coming in from “Down Range”. So for the next year HM2 (FMF) DiGaetano was at Landsthul Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Germany, where he was one of the LPO’s of the largest Medical Surgical ward in the hospital, assisting Nurses and Doctors taking care of the injured warriors coming to LRMC.
HM2 (FMF) DiGaetano is a Certified Navy Instructor NEC 9502, Tactical Combat Casualty Instructor (TCCC), and will be attending the Naval Hospital Corps School Instructors course to be qualified to teach NHCS as well.
His family, Melanie (wife) Anthony and Patrick (sons) and Gabrielle (daughter)